Religion and sharing of booty has widened the rift among Maoist cadres. It came to light when some Maoists distributed leaflets accusing Sabyasachi Panda.
Religion and sharing of booty has widened the rift among Maoist cadres. It came to light when some Maoists distributed leaflets accusing Sabyasachi Panda, the Orissa unit head of the Maoists, of collecting funds on behalf of the Maoists Central Committee and embezzling it.
Earlier, the Maoists were split on religious lines after the brutal murder of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati at his Jalespata Ashram in Kandhamal on August 23.
The breakaway faction called themselves the IDGA-Maoist, which, according to some posters, stands for ‘Idealise of Democrat Garila (Guerrilla) Army (Maoist)”.
The IDGA Maoists observed a successful bandh in three districts, including Kandhamal, on January 3. The Kui Samaja Samanya Samiti (the majority community in Kandhamal) publicly supports the new Maoist faction.
The Maoist divide took a serious turn when staff of a prominent engineering college from southern Orissa was arrested while going to hand over Rs12 lakh to the Maoists.
Sources said the IDGA faction had tipped off the police. The leaflets said Panda nourished political ambitions and wanted to fight the elections. It asked him to publicly apologise or face capital punishment. The leaflet alleged that Panda lynched Laxmananda without the central committee’s permission.
Sources said the major source of income for Maoists was extortion from developmental and mining works, and opium cultivation. But sharing of money has divided its cadres.
Orissa revenue secretary GVV Sharma admitted that heist and ganja cultivation was rampant in Maoist areas.
SPs working in Maoist areas admit that even the Maoists fight for their share of the booty, like criminal gangs. Even MM Punchhi, former chief justice and chairperson, commission on centre-state relations in the eastern and central regions, said Maoists were no different from terrorists with their irrational and heinous conduct.
Meanwhile, the call for a bandh given by the Kui Samaj Sammanaya Samiti, which protested to get their 34-point charter of demands fulfilled, ended on a peaceful note here on Wednesday.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}