Maoists seek applications for recruiting fresh blood

Rattled over the depleting strength of Maoists following Government’s ‘Operation Green Hunt’, the underground guerrillas have sought applications from young boys and girls who intend to join the rebel group.

The posters, asking youths to join “the armed class struggle to liberate poor and downtrodden from the landlords”, were put up by the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA), a splinter group of the CPI (Maoist). These posters, now removed by the security personnel, were pasted on the walls of the Government school at Guriya village in Imamganj, nearly 75 kilometres south-west of Gaya.

Imamganj, a Naxal-infested zone in Central Bihar, shares border with Chatra in Jharkhand. While CPI (Maoist) is active in the jungles of Central Bihar including Gaya, Aurangabad and Rohtas, the PLGA’s writ runs in Chatra where even security personnel tread cautiously.

The posters, put up by Bihar-Jharkhand Special Area Committee of the PLGA at Imamganj and Dumaria, have asked the youths, mostly college and school students (including girls), to submit their application between December 2 and January 2 and join the armed class struggle against oppressors. The underground rebel group has asked such “interested youths” to attend their foundation day celebrations on December 8.

The Gaya police and other security personnel, involved in operations against Maoists, have expressed their shock and surprise over the audacity of guerrillas’ bid to recruit fresh blood into the banned outfit.

“This is arguably the first-of-its-kind incident where Maoists have put up posters in Gaya district for recruitment of rebels,” said City SP of Gaya, AK Singh.

Security personnel sources attribute three prime reasons behind this ‘recruitment’ drive. “First, Operation Green Hunt has been quite successful in flushing out Maoists from their fiefdom. To shore up their depleting strength, the rebels want to recruit fresh blood. Secondly, Maoists bid to create ‘Bal Dasta’ and ‘Mahila Dasta’ (where they recruit children and women, train them and eventually equip them with sophisticated weapons after successful and rigorous training) is now an uphill task as these children now want to be educated and women prefer to join self-help groups like Jeevika. Thirdly, unemployment remains a major issue. So, the rebels have sought applications from unemployed college students to join armed struggle,” said the source, refusing to be identified.

Meanwhile, security has been beefed up at Imamganj and Dumaria blocks and patrolling intensified to instill a sense of confidence among locals. “Besides, the police are trying to identify those behind the ‘recruitment’ drive,” the source told Deccan Herald here on Monday.