Inside India's war on Maoists

0:00This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. America is changing. And so is the world. But what's happening in America isn't just a cause of global upheaval. It's also a symptom of disruption that's happening everywhere. I'm Asma Khalid in Washington, D.C. I'm Tristan Redman in London. And this is The Global Story. Every weekday, we'll bring you a story from this intersection, where the world and America meet. Listen on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. I want to put all the issues on the table that keep me up at night. The interview brings you conversations with the people shaping our world.

0:44From global leaders. I've much more than fulfilled the promises that I've made. To cultural icons. I'm just interested in how it feels to be playing songs that are 50 odd years old. Songs are like children. They're with you forever. The interview from the BBC World Service. Listen now wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

1:07Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service.

1:28This is The Fifth Floor, at the heart of global storytelling, with BBC journalists from all around the world. I'm your host, Farnak Amidi.

1:42For the past 60 years, the Indian government has been fighting a violent group of Maoists in the country. They are followers of the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong and have carried out bombings and killings in different parts of India. Now the authorities say they're on the brink of defeating this insurgency and have said that they will be fully removed by March 2026. There is one group that has been attributed with the recent success against them, known as the DRG or District Reserve Guard. They are a police unit with the sole purpose of defeating the insurgents. Jugal Purohit reports for the BBC in India and recently travelled to meet the DRG and hear from local people caught up in the crossfire.

2:30I asked him first to explain who exactly these Maoists are. You would describe them as rebels who've taken up arms against the state. They have been influenced by the communist ideology. Many people trace the origins of today's Maoist insurgency of India to something that happened in pre-independence India in 1946, when there was a revolt by peasants against landlords. It was subdued. And after independence in the 1960s in the northeastern part of India, there was again a similar revolt that started peasants against landlords, after which some leaders from the Communist Party of India joined hands to lead this revolt.

3:15And thereafter, for the last about six decades, this insurgency has been, you know, raising its head in different parts of the country. What is their aim? Well, they say that they are fighting on behalf of the oppressed. They say they're fighting on behalf of tribal people. They say they're fighting on behalf of those who do not hold land. And their essential ideology is flowing through the barrel of the gun. They are followers of the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong. And their ideology is, in that sense, the overthrow of the Indian state as it exists and replacing it, of course, by a communist state where they, in their words, will provide the rights and the entitlements to those who are not getting them.

3:59And what sorts of things have they done in their fight against the state? Well, there are several instances of jailbreaks. There are instances of bombings of buses. They have had the muscle, I would say, on the ground to even launch frontal assaults on fortified security camps. They have in the past ambushed large parties of paramilitary personnel from the Indian state. There have also been several instances of civilian killings, people who are not necessarily combatants. They have often dubbed them as quote-unquote informers of the state and they're accused of summary executions of several civilians as well.

4:42Their activities have never been a constant. They seldom come out in face-to-face fight. Their modus operandi has always been to hit and run. So wherever the administration in a certain province has reached out to the locals. The influence of these insurgents has waned. And then they try and scout newer territories. This has been going on for almost six decades in parts of northeastern India, in central India, in southern India. And every time there's pressure from one side, they melt away using the cover of forests, jungles to resurface on the other side. However, they have had periods of extreme efficacy.

5:24In 2009, the then Indian Prime Minister, none less, called them the gravest internal security threat that India faced. In 2010, at least in the recent past, has been the most severely affected year in terms of violence perpetrated by Maoist insurgents. There were almost 1 ,000 casualties and nearly 2 ,000 incidents. And what does the government plan to do now? In the Indian government's current scheme of things, they have declared that they want to end this insurgency by the 31st of March, 2026, which is barely a few months away. Now, the government will tell you that it is defending itself. The government will tell you that it is trying to reach out to its own people.

6:09But the rise of these Maoist insurgents in different parts of the country, in a sense, is also telling because these were areas where the government's own presence was weak. So the Maoists took advantage of that and they tried to establish themselves there. Now the government says it is reestablishing its presence in all these areas. It says it wants to wean people away from the influence of the Maoists. It says it wants to provide services and bring development to the areas where the Maoist held its way. These are also regions which hold immense mineral wealth. These are regions which also hold immense tribal wealth.

6:48And there's a lot of culture out there. There's a lot of history out there. So in that sense, its influence has been far reaching. Anjogal, you went to the front line where a group of people are fighting these Maoists insurgents. Can you first of all describe that region of India to us? Well, this is a highly underdeveloped region. It's a region full of forests, lush forests. It's very green. Of course, in the last few years, the government is making an effort to reach out, literally build bridges and highways to connect people. But still, on account of the deficit that exists there for all these decades, The region does look still very underdeveloped because we were there during the period of the rainfall.

7:35Many villages were simply cut off and they had no access to even something as basic as a doctor's services. People told us that they would often cross rivers on tractors, on foot by building bridges via ropes. So it does show you that while this is an extremely rich region, full of history, full of art and tribal culture, but still, this is an area which is very difficult to access. So, yes, people are still very gradually understanding just what a government, what a state really looks like, what it can do for them. There is a group that they are known as the DRG. Tell us about them. Who are they?

8:16So if we take a step back, in the Indian government's current scheme of things, they have declared that they want to end this insurgency by the 31st of March, 2026, which is barely a few months away. Now, the insurgency today largely is limited to parts of this central Indian province called Chhattisgarh, which is where we went. And in Chhattisgarh, if there's one force which has been credited by officials from the federal level to the provincial level, it is this force, the DRG, the District Reserve Guard. So DRG essentially is a group of locally recruited men and women, but it also consists of former Maoist insurgents.

9:04But what I found really interesting was that the recruitment is very, very centric to a certain district because they want to have people who understand that area specifically. They want people who understand the local dialects that are spoken. They want people who have that absolute knowledge, that ear to the ground. And these are teams which are only and only used for operations against the Maoist insurgents. Even though they are part of the police, they don't do the regular policing work that you and I understand, right? Like there's no police station where they'll sit or take complaints and adjudicate matters.

9:44These are a very specialized group of operations-only force, the DRG is. And we were able to secure permissions from the authorities to go into these camps, to spend time with the DRG, to see a bit of whatever was accessible to us, a bit of their operations as well. And were they keen to talk to you? These are men and women who have very often not even seen towns or cities. You know, they operate in the areas where they belong to. Many of them had very limited exposure to anything outside. So at first, when they understood that we were journalists from the BBC, who've come from Delhi to talk to them, and of course, we had a camera with us.

10:29So however much we were trying to minimize our presence, they did seem very shy. But because we had the permission from their authorities, we had somebody with us who was basically telling them that, no, no, it's fine to talk to them. You know, you're clear to talk to them. So it was a gradual process. And you filmed them, you spoke to a number of them, but you had to keep them anonymous. Why was that? There are a host of security as well as legal reasons why we had to anonymize them, why we had to alter their voices as well. We have a clip of a female DRG. Let's have a listen. My family members tell me that I shouldn't come there too often, so I don't go.

11:14The thing is, we can't say for sure that the Maoists have gone away. They can still surprise us. Well, obviously she's voiced by an actor and you wanted to keep her anonymous. She says that her family wants her to stay away. Why is that? She's not alone. There were many who told us something similar. The very reason for that is their family still live in remote regions where the state and the police has not established its presence very effectively. These are places where the Maoists can still come up, do their action, do a hit and run. And that's why a lot of these families are very cagey about openly associating themselves with the police.

11:53It in a way also shows you, right, just how while the state is claiming that they're on the verge of crushing this insurgency, but still for the people who live on the ground, things are still very, very real and very near to them. We have another clip of a man from the DRG. Let's have a listen to this clip. I was with my wife at her house, which is in the jungles. We were both keen to surrender and we had tried to reach out to the police, but there was no mobile network there and we could not talk to the police. Somehow the forces learned that we were at her place and reached there. I told their commander that I'd like to surrender then and there.

12:32So obviously this has been voiced by an actor as well, this particular man. He was a Maoist himself and then he surrendered. Why did he want to surrender? What happened to him? So he is in his late 20s right now. And according to his statement that he gave us, he was forced to join the ranks of the Maoists when he was a teenager. He was taken away from his family. He was schooled by the Maoists there. He was indoctrinated by them. And then he spent several years in different ranks and positions serving the Maoist leadership. something that many of the surrendered guarders from the Maoist ranks have told us.

13:12Life isn't exactly easy living in the jungles, constant fear of police or military forces attacking them. So you shift bases. There's nothing confirmed whether you will get your next meal or not. So what this man told us is that for him, there was a point where he was disillusioned. He was tired of living a life of that type. And he was longing to go back to his family. He was longing to see his parents, which is why he and his wife, they both wanted to give up. You went to a home to talk to the family of some people who were killed and the government claims they were Maoist. We have a clip of the brother speaking to you.

13:54Let's have a listen to that. It was at night that the police reached the village. They surrendered this place and fired up on people. Eight people died. They did not have any weapons on them. They were unarmed. Some of them even tried to surrender, but the policemen just did not listen to them. People were arrested, lined up, taken to the mountain and shot dead.

14:25What was his brother's relationship with the Maoist rebels? We asked Arjun. The Maoist insurgents would beat up people just like the police would. In this environment of fear, he would speak to both sides. But I want to clarify that he never picked up arms and he never took part in any activities of the Maoist rebels. He lived here and worked on his fields. We went to this village because initially when this encounter happened, it was widely reported and there were some doubts that some people had cast about whether or not this encounter was a genuine one or not. Villager after villager repeated this precise point that the person killed was not a part of the Maoist movement.

15:20He was a villager, he was a local who was living there, who was attending to his fields. and they shared with us that they had seen him interact with the police. They had seen him interact with the Maoists as well. In a sense, he was akin to a village elder who would take up causes of the villagers with whoever was there, whether it was the state or the Maoists rebels. And did you put these claims to the police? What did they say? Yes, we did put these claims to the police. And as far as the local authority in that region itself is concerned, And we've tried a really long time to get an answer from them, but they did not respond.

15:57We took it to the next level, a higher level. And the reply that we got from the police is that there is just nothing that was out of order. Everything was done in a proper manner. They did not see any wrongdoing on part of their personnel. So in their own books, this was a clean operation. One thing which we did do as a measure of abundant precaution is that we asked the police not just about that encounter, but we asked them to produce or tell us just what were the cases against this man in the past if he was a Maoist rebel. Just what were the charges against him? And we also, of course, put the family's allegations of the killing to them.

16:38But on both these counts, the administration had just nothing to offer. And in 2021, some local people protested against the government security camp that was being built in that area. Tell us more about these security camps. What are they and why the government builds them? If you ask the government, they'll tell you that, well, this is a disturbed region. There is a lot of influence of these Maoist insurgents. So the first thing that the government needs to do is to build a security camp, because only then can the area be secure and then the roads can be made and then the schools can be made and the hospitals can be made.

17:19There have been instances in the past where the Maoists have targeted schools. They have targeted road construction as well. So in a sense, the security camp becomes the very first move that the state makes to get into an area from where it has been, you know, ousted for the want of a better word. And through a ring of these security camps, the state is trying to reestablish its presence and says that we will also deliver essential services to the locals. Now, a lot of locals will tell you that they fear the police. They are scared. They do not want the police because in their experience, being face to face with the police has only resulted in beatings.

18:05Being face to face with the police has only resulted in them being treated in an unjust manner, which is why there's a lot of trust deficit and people protested when the administration was initiating its strategy to build several camps in this region. And at that point, the people said that there needs to be consultation with the locals about where you'll build these camps and you just can't do them overnight. So to oppose for all these reasons, these locals started a protest where after a brief period there was firing that took place resulting in several deaths. So we have a clip of a widow whose husband was killed in that protest.

18:51Let's have a listen. People living in their own homes too are sometimes beaten up by the police. So it was important for people to protest. And that is why my husband went there. After he reached, there was firing. Who shot him and how it all happened, I still don't know. After he was hit, they declared him a Maoist insurgent and took away his body. Did you put her claim to the local police? What did they have to say about that? Yeah, we did. We did, in fact, put her point of view and her claim to the local authorities. and there was just no response that we got from them. In terms of what action followed the death of her husband and several other people, was the state government stepping in and saying that we will do an inquiry to understand the nature under which her husband was killed and several other people were killed.

19:47This inquiry was announced way back in 2021, days after these deaths took place. But what we found out was that till now, the administration has not made public just what the findings of that inquiry were. In fact, we also asked the administration to tell us just what the inquiry had revealed about the causes, about the identity, and whether or not there was any corrective action required on the part of the state itself. But none of these questions were answered by them. Nevertheless, the local administration did say at that time that these protesting crowds were actually instigated by Maoist insurgents.

20:27This is something which clearly the locals deny. They say that they were there on their own volition. If you ask the locals, they will always tell you that they feel sandwiched from both sides. Because if you were seen by one side as being close to the other, that's trouble for them, right? So most of them said that they simply want to be left alone, to be left to their farms, to their families, to their culture, and not be forced to pick one side over the other because that more often than not ends up in them getting into trouble. Thank you, Jugaal Purohit, who reports for the BBC in India. If you want to watch Jugaal's film, just search for the BBC News India YouTube channel.

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22:44into purpose. Therapy for me is being in the boxing ring. It's just good for your soul, good for your body. This is season four of Legacy, Defiant. Search Defiant Legacy wherever you get your podcasts.

23:02This is The Fifth Floor and I'm Farina Kami D. Now let's head to Thailand where for the past 154 years, people have come together for the annual Buffalo Racing Festival. My colleague Thuong Le is based in Bangkok and she recently traveled to Chamburi province where the festival takes place to grab a front row seat. Thailand's Buffalo Racing Festival, Nguyen Kwai, is one of the most exciting annual events in Chamburi province.

23:38Dating back over 150 years, the festival celebrates the water buffalo as a symbol of Thailand's agrarian heritage. One race starts with about five or six racers. And these riders wear no protective gears and must cling tightly to the buffalo's back throughout the race. Sometimes all of them made it to the end, sometimes only half of them. Folding ups means automatic disqualifications. The winner of each round will compete in the next round till they find the champion. My first impression was the smell, to be honest. Buffalo poop was everywhere. To begin the race, each buffalo has to stay in their position, and that's easier said than done.

24:36Sometimes it took more than half an hour just to get one race started because the contestants, the buffalo, they didn't want to line up or listen to their handler. I'm also from a tiny village in central Vietnam, and I grew up surrounded by rice fields and water buffaloes. And as a kid, I used to race them and even race with my friends. But this was on a whole different level. Once the flag is wave, the buffalo just take off in a blow of motion. I was so surprised to see how this usual gentle and somewhat slow-moving creature just suddenly transformed into a racing car, reaching speed of up to 50 kilometers per hour.

25:24And watching the race was very thrilling. When we stood at the finishing line, every time the buffalo charged through, it felt like a close call, you know? and I was just so scared. When the competition ends, the winning buffaloes and their riders are announced and will be parades around the town in celebration.

25:49I spoke to one of the jockeys. He's a farmer who raised buffalo and chicken on his farm and he's been racing for nearly 16 years. He says that it can be dangerous so he always takes precautions and handles the animal with care. He got, you know, like 10 ,000 baht, which is around 250 pounds, and he used that money to raise the animals and keep them healthy. The festival attracted crowds from miles around, and I even spoke to some British visitors. In England, we have horse racing. We never have this, but we've just been talking to a guy from Vietnam. And he says, I think Indonesia, they do it with cows.