A couple of western media sources recently profiled a Maoist revolutionary from Andhra Pradesh, who calls himself “Gaddar,” after the anti-Imperialist revolutionary movement from the 1910s. Through his powerful folk songs about poverty and political repression, Gaddar has become the police’s biggest nightmare as they attempt to squelch the seemingly bottomless (or at least very deep) well of sympathy for the Maoists in India’s impoverished rural areas.
Maoists have been engaged in a longstanding civil war in rural areas in eastern and southern India, which stands as a stark rejoinder to recent upbeat developments in the cities. It started as “Naxalbari” in the late 1960s, but it has been reborn in the 2000s as the People’s War. It has, by any measure, been an extremely bloody insurgency, which has left thousands of people dead in the past few years. PM Manmohan Singh recently described the movement as the current greatest threat to India’s internal security.
You can hear Gaddar singing in this NPR segment. You should really give it a listen; the guy has a voice. And there is a print version of the article with many of the same details and background at the VOA.
It’s not clear to me whether Gaddar is himself an active “soldier” in the People’s War, or simply a Maoist sympathizer; most articles on him describe him as the latter. What to do about him? On the one hand, his singing ought to be protected as freedom of speech, and the lyrics of the songs in the NPR piece are all about suffering, not incitement to war. On the other hand, isn’t he indirectly inciting people to commit acts of violence simply by supporting the Maoist movement?
Looking at his wiki profile, its interesting to see that he wanted to become an engineer, that universal brown profession! And from the wee bit of telugu that I have managed to pick up, I understand that his kids are named after the sun, The moon and the stars! Hmmm.. Btw Wiki also mentions that he was prevented from singing in public till recently. So I guess, as far as the law of the land is concerned, he was not “singing” and if he has been, then the law did not know that he was.
Thank you, I didn’t think there would be a Wikipedia profile for a notorious Maoist figure.
At the bottom of the Wikipedia page are links to songs he did for Telegu movies! If anyone reading this knows Telegu, it would be great to have some translation help on the content of those film songs…
fantastic post. he is a local legend indeed.
I have learnt one thing – beyond the romantic myths – beware of those who raise the banner of the gun for revolution in India – it always means innocent people will die.
If only he had become one…
If only Hitler had stuck to painting water colors – it’s rumoured he was good at it. He would have been an ok painter, married, had children and everyone would have lived happily ever after. But no..he had to go out and save the Aryan race. And millions perished because of that.
If only Che Guevara had stuck to carpentry. He was pretty good at it. His wife and children were happy when he came home smiling every evening. But no.. he wanted to save the workers of the world. He left his family to starve to death, and in the end ended up dead in a ditch in a remote jungle.
If only Stalin had stuck to… If only Mao had stuck to…
The world is burdened with people who want to …well, save the world. Just give me a man who does what he’s good at, takes care of his family, minds his own business, and lets other mind their own.
M. Nam
The cause of the Naxal movement (violent revolution) was objective at first, but has become an excuse for Maoist to commit violence against the “burgeois government”. An element of truth is being exaggerated and used as a tool to propogate an ideology – anti-Imperialist, anti-govt. etc… (and other communist agendas).
If the naxals do have any serious cause of concern with broad people support, democratic procedures should be followed. Instead, since the cause lacks support, Gadar movement resorts to “big-bang”, “violent”, “anti-Govt” ways to have themselves heard… something like the funda’s in RDB.
That is the pattern of most insurgencies and terrorist movements. A grain of truth and legitimate comcern leads to chains of violence that ultimately become self perpetuating – they exist to kill and kill to exist.
I heared this NPR story on “All things Considered” yesterday on radio. I dont know enough about the Naxal movement to make an intelligent comment. But from the story it appeared that its anti-govt. Now isnt it ironic that India which has a lot of minority rights enshrined in its constitution, will need an armed struggle for minority rights ??
I am not aware, but is Maoist ideology alive in China?? They might be needed more over there.
Ah, one of histories great conundrums: whether one should extend liberal freedoms to those who would use their freedom to destroy liberty. Kinda like democracy giving us a Hitler or Hamas. We know the German solution to this but I think theyÂ’ve gone too far. ItÂ’s a judgment call, but I think one must fault on the side of liberty.
MoorNam said:
Maybe what we actually do need is more people to speak up and oppose the forces of tyranny, oppression and repression wherever they may rise and reside? You might not consider fighting tyranny your business, but I certainly consider it mine.
MN – Just curious if you think the same about Gandhi/Nehru, etc…it’s one thing to say you agree or don’t agree with a person’s cause, but quite another to imply that no one should care about making the world a better place and just mind his/her own business.
Gaddar represents 30% of the Indian population living under the poverty line without any visibility , stake or representation in the “development” process. The very rich (feudal landlords and big industrialists) allied to the urban upper middle class has hijacked the “development” process. Anybody travelling in rural India can see the lack of inclusive development which pushes entire families towards big cities and it’s slums! There is no political will in India to address the economic and social issues in an inclusive way. We are just aping the West without learning from their mistakes! Violence is never a solution but it is a symptom of a non-functional “democracy”! And police counter-violence will not solve the deep-rooted problems of social injustice and the lack of empathy ingrained in our caste/class system. The lack of empathy of some comments is an eye-opener on where each of us stand…
dost & PropaMcGandhi:
I think you’re missing MoorNam’s point. He’s not making an argument against fighting tyranny. But rather posing a rather profound question: How is it that men of clearly great intellect and good intentions can descend into such a madness that they would create various dystopias like the Soviet Union, Castro’s Cuba, or Mao’s China? It a question for the ages, as Nietzche said: “those who fight monsters must be careful not to become one themselves.”
When I wrote this post I was hoping to somehow avoid a debate about whether Maoism is good or evil. Personally, I find it a repellant ideology that has left a lot of corpses littered around the globe. Most people who have studied 20th century history will tell you that it has not proven to be a good path forward anywhere it has been tried.
What interests me about Gaddar is the way he puts a human face on this movement, which for most middle class people is simply a faceless “enemy.” It’s through the charisma of people like him that you get thousands and thousands of people out at big demonstrations in Hyderabad (where I believe the above photo was taken). If it were just a few isolated guerillas with Chinese weapons, they wouldn’t last long. The size of that crowd out in the open tells you something about what the Indian government is dealing with. The Maoists’ recent electoral victories in certain regions of West Bengal is also part of it: the rural poor are very, very unhappy with both the Congress Party and the BJP.
Again, I’m not defending him, or his ideology. I’m just saying we need to take seriously an uprising that is verging on going nationwide, with millions of followers and the potential to totally destabilize Indian democracy. Even if it’s only a matter of “understanding one’s enemy.”
Amardeep, thanks for the post. Couple of things I wanted to point out. I think the people’s war group (PWG) is older than the 2000s. Growing up in Andhra Pradesh(AP), I remember it making news on a regular basis during the 90s adn late 80s as well. Though the definition of PWG is more vague now with factions that range in their levels of violence. Among the more popular incidents they have been implicated in are, an attempt to kill the previous chief minister of AP Chandra Babu Naidu, assination of K.S.Vyas in, a distinguished police chief, in broad day light. However, as you mentioned, Gaddar’s exact affiliation (if there is one) to PWG has always been unclear. Successive state governments of AP have tried and failed to keep him locked up – either for lack of political will or evidence or both. Gaddar dropped out of the engineering school at the Osmania University in Hyderabad. He has a talent for writting songs that contain simple words and straight messages – I think a neccessity for his popularity. It is also not clear that any of his songs incite violence, as matter of fact he considers himself a Gandhian – or so he says. I believe this is still true, a typically visit by him to any city in AP often fills up university stadiums – I also remember traffic problems and rallies. Here are a couple more links from rediff on Gaddar
http://www.rediff.com/news/apr/23gaddar.htm
http://www.rediff.com/cms/print.jsp?docpath=/news/2005/aug/31spec1.htm
Manmohan Singh is right in saying that Naxalism is a serious problem in India. I do believe that the upbeat news from post-liberalization India is genuine and people’s lives across the spectrum have improved and continue to do so. However, it is also true that the contrast in life style (or the perception of it) is starker now. There are sections of the population for whom the recent economic boom has done little – small farmers and retirees come to mind. It is not difficult to imagine why Maoist ideals are popular, and becoming more so, in certain segments of the population.
If I can find enough time, I will post translated versions of a couple of his songs in a later comment.
aptly spelled cause he is a gaddar. I have talked w/ a fair amount (~15)of maoist sympathesizers back in india. Patterns do emerge Almost all of them (a) were failed students or professionals… This is a serious point either they were no good at what they chose to do or they did not want to do it anymore, and some how these people find them selves traveling rural india(along w/ some others like me….) (b) absolutely clueless about history or politics Too many examples to list here, One idiot did not even know how rajya sabha worked (c) are energetic I kid you not when i say this.
And in general lot of other clueless people have voted their sympathisers into power as well as watched them shake their asses on the screen eg Mithun-Gun-Da
Mohan,
You seem to have lot of misapprehensions about people who are well off in a society. Stereotyping seems to be your forte. FYI, there are well off people on this planet who have not inherited their wealth from their forefathers. Another gospel of your kind seems to be that rich make money by exploiting the poor. Both the above statements are true in many scenarios. But they are also equally false in other scenarios. Providing examples about this is beyond the scope of the current discussion.
Gaddar does not represent anybody in the society till he fights in a peaceful, free, and fair election and wins. There are enough sycophants in India who can prop up any joker as their choice and make him/her seem like the new messiah of the poor people. Just because Gaddar goes around singing songs that makes you salivate and soothes your guilty conscience for the poverty around you, does not mean he has the brains to set policies that uplifts Indian poor. A revolution is not needed to lift the poor in India. There are enough realisitic examples in the world that shows that right socio-economic policies, backed by good implementation does more to uplift poor than hare-brained schemes of revolution.
Yes, I lack empathy for people like Gaddar because I know what damage people who can write few lines of soul-searching music or poetry can do to a society in the name of social piety and equality. It is better that they remain poets and musicians and nothing more. Economics and policy development needs more than poetry and good intentions.
Regards,
Anindo, Sorry for the misunderstanding! I was writing about empathy for the 30% living under poverty line. I made it clear I am against violence. Regards
Anindo, I find it ironic that you would object to someone overgeneralizing and then use phrases like “your kind.” In any case, to play devil’s advocate, the analysis of rich poor is better when conducted from a social analysis rather than a personal standpoint. The people, classes, and states who are wealthy today have access to capital that was fostered by a system that relied on colonialism, imperlialism, and slavery, among other things. As a result, the argument is that they owe a historical debt. More over, if you want to be utilitarian about it, you can remove the whole moral and historical debate from this and talk about what would best secure the well being of the poor, as long as it’s really about hte well being of the poor. Personally, I don’t think the rich can be trusted to voluntarily turn over resources to the poor because that’s not how people work–at least in this system.
The definition of exploitation is also an issue–some argue that to the extent that you’re pulling profit out of an activity rather than it going either back into the activity or to the people who labored for it, that’s exploitation. This is a more technical definition of exploitation that you can contest, but it’s not enough to simply say that people are “not” exploiting labor just because they’re nice about it. For example, college student basketball players in the NBA may be, dollar for dollar, among the most exploited people in the United States–however that doesn’t mean that they’re being forced not to have children or worked 18 hours a day or face starvation. Just that other people are making a hell of a lot of money off of them without them seeing adequate return.
Interesting that you all have managed to have a dicussion about Maoism without mentioning the word “Nepal” once at all.
I don’t find myself agreeing with MoorNam often, but he has a point. And a simple one at that. It’s just that social revolutions tend to be more retrogressive than progressive – especially small ones, with limited appeal, and those that stem from the charismatic personality of one person. These are not sustainable and in the end turn out to be a collosal waste of human capital. The Indian freedom struggle, or for that matter, the American one was a struggle for independence –not a class conflict — and there isn’t much of an option apart from a revolution in such cases since there is very little/no public representation of the colonised among the colonisers.
Apologists for class-based social revolutions presume that the wealthy or the powerful are necessarily corrupt and selfish, and would therefore do nothing to alleviate the living conditions of the poor. Paradoxically enough, Maoism — and its allied ideologies — while claiming to give equal rights to the impoverished assume that everyone, including the ones that are newly empowered, will make selffless socially optimal decisions. Thus, inherent to the success of any such grand scheme is the assumption that a bloody revolution at gunpoint will suddenly transform everyone into selfless, responsible citizens. But does a revolution change the culture and attitudes of people? Definitely not.
Oh yeah…. and when will be stop using phrases like ‘aping the west’ in these contexts? Last time I checked Marxist-Leninist thought was pretty western too. Or does having an asian country adopt it tilt the scales eastward?
Naxalbari zindabad! The revolutionary movement is led by the Communist Party of India (Maoist), which is a merger of the People’s War Group and the Maoist Communist Center. It is the main Maoist group in the country. See this magazine that supports the revolutionary movement: http://www.peoplesmarch.com . The cause of the revolutionaries is just. The Indian government and its landlord gangs are imprisoning tens of thousands of poor peasants in concentration camps to isolate them from the guerrilla army, which they deeply support.
Absolutely Saurav. I don’t particularly agree with the notion of ‘historical debt’ because it raises questions like ‘how far back in time do we want to go’? And who’s keeping such accounts?
The ideal utilitarian solution would be to create mechanisms such that self serving actions also translate to globally optimal solutions. However, I concede that is far easier to do in theory than in practice. My issue with ‘revolutionaries’ such as Senor Gaddar above is that they have a roseate post-revolution view of the world where everyone is a niceguy. That hardly ever lasts.
Its not a big deal to have a crowd of several thousand people in India. Hell, I perhaps had a comparable crowd for my wedding. And what electoral victories have the maoists won recently in WB (or anywhere in India for that matter) ? There is a difference between the CPIM and CPI(M) you know 🙂 hint: They dont like each other a lot, and if given half a chance, will kill members belonging to the other group.
Or does he hide the vicious things that maoists/PWG do in the name of revolution under a veneer of Charisma and half truths ? Vicious things like say blowing up marriage parties in Maharashtra http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/may/16naxal.htm
Sudeep
It’s amazing how quick almost EVERYONE is to dis the Naxalite movement in India and the dreaded “Maoists”. Actually, it’s really pathetic.
First off, calling them “Maoists” is a ridiculous simplification. Clearly there is a serious Maoist influence, but this is a highly indigenous movement. The movements in Nepal and the “Red Corridor” have fundamentally been generated by the circumstances of what’s going on in those regions – violent caste and class warfare.
Second, why the total paranoid fear of armed movements? No revolution ever happened without violence. Not one. Oppression is violent, so often violent action is an appropriate means of fighting that oppression.
It’s disturbing to me that many are quick to denounce this as “one’s enemy”. Who exactly is your friend, then? The Indian government? With an apparent total ignorance of the complexity of these movements, you follow the exact same bullshit rhetoric Bush and his friends do when you denounce them as “terrorists” or speak of insurgencies with such academic, white-liberal-esque disdain.
Oh wait, never mind. It’s because of Gandhi, right? Great-Gandhi-whose-holy-name-must-never-be-defiled? And the “philosophy” of nonviolence?
Saurav:>>the analysis of rich poor is better when conducted from a social analysis rather than a personal standpoint.
The analysis of rich poor is verrry convinient when conducted from a social analysis rather than a personal standpoint, because then you would not have to answer…
Let me roll off the names of some rich folks in India: Laxmi Mittal, Azim Premji, Narayanamurthy, Tendulkar, ShahruhKhan, Subhash Ghai…
What capital did the above people rely on?
M. Nam
Nice over-generalization Ranjit. Here, have some Amul butter.
Ranjit,
As an example, consider the Telengana region of Andhra Pradesh. The Naxalites are strong there. But other parts of India are backward too. But the Naxalite movement is not strong in those parts. What is it about Telengana that is spawning or sustaining the Naxalites?
Somebody remarked that oppression happens when the one group (the oppressor) controls the resources that rightly belong to another group (the victim). From this point of view, what are the resources of the Telengana region? Who is the oppressor? Can the oppression not be solved if Telengana is made into a state, just like Jharkand was carved out of Bihar, or Uttaranchal out of Uttar Pradesh?
In the questions above, I am merely quoting Telengan as an example. Please feel free to substitute any other Naxalite-infested region instead of Telengana
Amardeep, I guess we have to resign ourselves to the fact that people will misuse the freedom of speech. Much in the same way as the KKK openly marches through streets once in a while — like they recently did in Austin, TX to support the defense of marriage and the American way of Life.
No, lets substitute one rhetoric for another then. I have known Maoist politicians in West Bengal that routinely offer food and cash for an audience. One would expect people to cut their losses after 30 years of standstill stagnation thanks to what is ironically termed a ‘movement’.
As an American, my issue with people who critique them is that sometimes, even when they’re calling for the overthrow of the state and even when you don’t support the overthrow of the state, their capacity to bring to power the concerns of many of those who are least valued in the state is an important contribution. And without that, those people are lost from the dialectic. Not everyone is meant to design policy but still can be seen to serve a useful and important social role.
I read this mostly from an American perspective, because I’ve seen what’s happened with the total lack of representation for poor people in the U.S. and outside in terms of resource allocation over the past 25 years. Why is there malaria in the third world or poverty among undocumneted immigrants while wealty and middle class people in wealthy countries are getting tax cuts and conducting wars?
I don’t know enough about India to answer this question. But in a global sense: infrastructure (roads, electricity, etc.) that allows them to conduct their businesses; foreign or domestic or government investment in the form of direct payment or tax exemptions or access to credit or whatnot; secondary industry that allows them to reproduce and distribute their products; land on which to conduct their products; government credibility to back up the value of their paper money and reinforce their interests; the space to make investments so they can rely on interest income rather than salary, etc.
All of these things are the product of a historical and social process, not “individual” accomplishment.
My point more generally though is that a particular person might go from being extremely poor to extremely rich or vice versa (or both), but there still remains a stratum of powerful people at the top. So it would seem to make more sense to look at this socially rather than through the lens of an individual person’s life.
Saurav, apologies about the usage of that word. Lately, I am having too many altercations with the socialists.
I do not believe in paying back historical debts. As DDA pointed out, how far shall we go back and whom shall we accuse. It is an exercise in futility.
Of course, Ranjit will not know anything about non-violent revolutions. He is almost the quintessential definition of a demagogue. Here are few more examples of what I term as revolutions. Ranjit might not agree with me. They did not spill anybody’s blood.
http://www.lijjat.com/index1.asp http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shramik_Vidyapeeth http://fecolumnists.expressindia.com/full_column.php?content_id=87933 http://www.sikshana.org/
DesiDude, I hope you’re not generalizing this to include everyone who has ever believed in social transformation that needs to happen outside of the established political channels. There are many, many, strategies, and tactics besdies a “bloody revolution” that will transform everyone. There are lots of thoughtful radicals out there and they come in all stripes–anarchist, social democrats, socialists, etc.–who have ideas about processes of social change that are much more nuanced than this. For example, read Piven and Cloward, Poor People’s Movements or look at the work of the Zapatistas.
Manmohan Singh is right in saying that Naxalism is a serious problem in India.
That’s quite the understatement. In fact, the PM said that it is the Number One problem facing the country today: more serious that the threat of terrorism, the war in Kashmir or the North East. And I can see why he would say that, with almost 27% of the country’s total districts being affected. The government’s response so far: a tit for tat policy with the formation of a ‘counter revolutionary’ force called Salwa Judum. For a comprehensive analysis at the problem, have a look at the May 15 issue of Outlook.
I fully support the vocalisation of their demands. It’s not the talk, its the guns I take issue with. For a representative sample, look at Klement’s blog. Or Nepal for that matter.
I couldn’t resist this offering on SM’s 1 yr 9 mo celebrations…
Some Definitions:
The condition of finding yourself compulsively checking posts on SM all day… SEEPIA MUTINY
When (as just about always) an issue cannot be resolved, we’re in the throes of a… SEPIA MOOTINY
When you lurk much, but post little on SM you’re… DOING A SEPIA MOOH-TINY
Yours with wink Ms Fink
And yes, oh yes
When issues begin to get too emotional the thread gets reduced to a… SOAPIA MUTINY!
Well, largely, it’s the contemporary and the future that matter more to me. More to the point, “historical debts” are often a vehicle for articulating present day claims (e.g. reparations for slave descendents) that are, at least in part, the result of historical trajectories. States like the United States and Britain and France that have engaged in fairly recent colonialism should arguably be more conscious of their obligations and in that way would ideally be more receptive towards present day fixes.
However, beyond that, we all need to have a historical anaylsis (as well as a social one) if we’re going to talk about these issues seriously and so the question you raise is not futile in my mind. It’s not about history as time passing as much as looking at the historical development of industry and industrial conditions and appreciating all that went into them. For example, in looking at the development of every city in the Western United States that relied on the railroad to grow, it might perhaps be worth reminding the elites of those cities that their lives might be far different if Chinese and Irish laborers hadn’t sufffered to build those railroads.
Messed up my links in the above posts. Here are the correct ones.
Lijjat Shrameek Vidyapeeth Indian telecom revolution Sikshana
Yes, I agree to these points to some extent. That is why we have to create these conditions in India and disruptive movements like Naxalism is not going to let it happen.
all failures why not add MAO, PP(aka saloth sar) at it
Disclaimer: My comment here is naive. I don’t have much knowledge on the Naxal movement
I think India has all kinds of problems from day one.. Naxalism was probably there from the 60s.. Yeah they do kill a few policemen / villagers etc.. And then a cyclone kills 10000 people and everyone forgets..
I think after a while Naxalites would get bored and join the mainstream.. If you think about it, Congress is now sharing the government with a Bodo group in Assam that was fighting the govt. with arms just 2 years back.. Democracy (if practised in the true sense) has a way of winning over people.. 🙂
I know of a person, I’ve seen him in my ancestral village who got caught bombing a Nehru statue (of all things) in Tamilnadu for some Tamil Liberation Army (or something). He was in jail for a few years, the last I heard was he joined some computer institute now..
I’m not personally a big fan of guns or violent social conditions, because I’m probably not discreet enough to stay alive 🙂 However, purely from an analytic standpoint, my point is just that vocalization is not always enough to secure a remedy. Just consider Burma or Western Sahara. The question is whether the folks that support Gaddar and that Gaddar supports are facing a situation that’s different in kind or just degree.
amardeep,
it is not everyday that i get to see the balladeer gaddar’s name in the media. so, thanks. i speak telugu, have been influenced deeply by gaddar’s songs, been friends with stringent followers of his word and see very clearly the difference between the song and the gun. gaddar’s songs do not explicitly call for violence, thats my opinion at least. he infact replaced the gun that used to carry with a lathi (less dangerous but a symbol of resistance against the man nonetheless). i have translated one of the songs from the film “Rangula Kala” (Dreams of Colour). It is a very literal translation. My poetic lyricism is negligent. This song, incidentally, was written by a very close friend of my family G. Anjaiah.
Bhadram Koduko! Careful son!
Careful Son My son Komranna People, son My son Komranna, (be) a little (careful) Where one gets on a rickshaw to exiting one to riding one to turning one People son My son Komranna, a little (careful)
Our village, yet not ours our village, yet not ours this is the City, son My son Komranna, a little (careful) People, son My son Komranna, a little (careful)
Unable to bear the atrocities of big landlords in the village we have come to the City clutching our stomachs My son Komranna, (be) a little (careful)
Big Landlords in the village Big Officers in the City Their workings are the same My son Komranna, (be) a little (careful)
In big bungalows live big snakes In black markets live black cobras Where (four) people meet lives the God of Death, Yama. My son Komranna, a little (careful)
The village and the city are the same We are the only ones to suffer There are many troubles in the homes (huts) of the poor But, there is a path that will make your troubles go away Look at the path, ride your vehicle, move, my son!
People everywhere in the village People in the City Uncover your (good) character and join the people My son Komranna, a little (careful)
Democracy (if practised in the true sense) has a way of winning over people.. 🙂
Well said 🙂
Its nuanced…Bodos were never a communist org but communalist and supported by china…
People like gaddar will get elected some day through different set of dynamics. for that all you can blame are the buffoons who listened to him and do think he has capacity do something.
Certainly not. Look at my Amul example or Anindo’s Lijjat example.
People like gaddar will get elected some day through different set of dynamics. for that all you can blame are the buffoons who listened to him and do think he has capacity do something.
Right, but I don’t see any problem with it as long as they get elected in the proper democratic way.. and begin to respect the democratic ideals..
the problem is a) he is a moron. What is his accomplishment ? Does he understand any process… Has he managed any business ? Nothing…. Then we shall See more acts like rural employemt gaurentee acts.
Oh and his sympathy lays with another group and he will encourage them to be more hardliners(analogous to lal dainga)
Open ended suggestions like this can easily be interpreted as: Go, get a gun, and do something.
M. Nam
where is spoor lam?