According to a recent study, Naxals have given up on the idea of revolution, and are busy using gullible people to make money. A research paper authored by PV Ramana for Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis (IDSA) has exposed the hypocrisy of top Naxal leadership. In a research paper it has been discovered that the top leadership is using the Naxal movement as a vehicle to enrich themselves, while poor disillusioned youth are sent to sacrifice their lives in the jungles. It has been found that top Naxal leadership are diverting the funds and paying in lakhs to get engineering and medical seats to their relatives in private colleges.
In order to curtail the menace of Left Wing Extremism (LWE), the Home Ministry officials have decided to choke their funding. The government is going to set up a multi-disciplinary group comprising officers of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), National Investigation Agency (NIA), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Central Board of Direct Taxes, Intelligence Bureau (IB) and state police.
For the top leadership, the ideals have been thrown in the dustbin while they have changed the organization into an extortion racket. Statement issued by Home Ministry on Monday, reads, “The Left Wing Extremism (LWE) movement in the country is financed through a network of dubious activities, which include illegal levy collected from private contractors including those involved in execution of government works and schemes, mining contractors, transporters and owners of small and medium industries. Similarly, funds are said to be garnered through collections from illegal stone crushing and distribution of Naxal ideology papers.”
The Maoists have been collecting approximately 140 crore every year. Huge amounts of money collected from extortion is diverted towards amassing personal wealth. Officials have told that intelligence agencies have tracked few alleged cases of funds being diverted by Maoist leaders. After seizing some of the money and property, the home ministry has released a list. The list includes the names of Pradyuman Sharma, a member of the Bihar Jharkhand Special Area Committee (BJSAC) of CPI (Maoist) and he allegedly paid Rs 22 lakh in 2017 as tuition fee for his relative in a private medical college. The second name in the list is of a senior CPI (Maoist) leader from Bihar-Jharkhand, Sandeep Yadav, who allegedly exchanged Rs 15 lakh during the demonetisation drive in November 2016. The last name in the list is of a Naxal leader from Jharkhand, Arvind Yadav. He allegedly paid Rs 12 lakh as fee for his brother to study in a private engineering college.
The ED has registered the cases under the Prevention of Money laundering Act (PMLA) against all the three aforementioned Naxals. ED has also registered a case against one more Maoist leader, Musafir Sahani. ED has seized property worth Rs 1.5 crore, 32 acres of land and cash amount of Rs 2.45 crore, including Rs 1 crore, during the demonetization exercise.
This is something that was suspected all along- a nexus of unethical businessmen, journalists and academicians running an extortion racket in the name of equality , at the expense of poor tribals. The report exposes this hypocrisy of Naxals and puts a serious question mark on their intentions towards a revolution.