- 10 Apr 2004 01:37
#145619
News Online looks at the People's War Group, linked to an attack that has left 26 police dead.
The People's War Group (PWG) was formed in 1980 by a school teacher, Kondapally Seetharamaiah, in southern India.
An outlawed group, it began as an armed peasant movement that advocated revolution in the Indian countryside
It is mainly active in Andhra Pradesh state but also has a presence in Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.
It has also developed links with other Maoist rebel groups in Bihar and Nepal.
The PWG was inspired by the Naxalbari movement of West Bengal - a student-led communist agitation of the late 1960s.
Seetharamaiah left his job at a school in Andhra Pradesh to become a left-wing activist.
He chose to follow the Maoist dictum of bringing about a "revolution from the barrel of a gun" and started recruiting men for his group.
The group then projected itself as the voice of the poor and landless and fought oppressive landlords.
But over the years, it graduated to a level where it started targeting the state and the security forces.
Turning point
The PWG enjoys a stronger presence in areas which have seen little economic development and are dominated by dalits, or those on the lower rungs of the Hindu caste hierarchy.
It draws much of its support from the landless poor. But critics say the majority of PWG victims too are poor.
The rebels, however, say they were killed because they were helping the police and security forces.
1987 was a turning point for the PWG when its activists kidnapped a group of senior bureaucrats.
The PWG also acquired sophisticated weapons and expertise in laying landmines around this time.
It declared an armed struggle against the government and demanded that an independent communist state be carved out of Andhra Pradesh and some neighbouring states.
In October 2003, the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Chandrababu Naidu, narrowly escaped a landmine attack blamed on the PWG.
Spreading links
The group declared several areas under its sway, calling them "guerrilla zones".
It still maintains several of these in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh, the Dandakarneya region in Chattishgarh and in Orissa.
The PWG also acquired sophisticated weapons and expertise in laying landmines around this time.
It declared an armed struggle against the government and demanded that an independent communist state be carved out of Andhra Pradesh and some neighbouring states.
In October 2003, the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Chandrababu Naidu, narrowly escaped a landmine attack blamed on the PWG.
Spreading links
The group declared several areas under its sway, calling them "guerrilla zones".
It still maintains several of these in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh, the Dandakarneya region in Chattishgarh and in Orissa.
MOVED
Anymore posts regarding the Maoist Revolution in India should be posted in the Asia-central forum.
The People's War Group (PWG) was formed in 1980 by a school teacher, Kondapally Seetharamaiah, in southern India.
An outlawed group, it began as an armed peasant movement that advocated revolution in the Indian countryside
It is mainly active in Andhra Pradesh state but also has a presence in Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.
It has also developed links with other Maoist rebel groups in Bihar and Nepal.
The PWG was inspired by the Naxalbari movement of West Bengal - a student-led communist agitation of the late 1960s.
Seetharamaiah left his job at a school in Andhra Pradesh to become a left-wing activist.
He chose to follow the Maoist dictum of bringing about a "revolution from the barrel of a gun" and started recruiting men for his group.
The group then projected itself as the voice of the poor and landless and fought oppressive landlords.
But over the years, it graduated to a level where it started targeting the state and the security forces.
Turning point
The PWG enjoys a stronger presence in areas which have seen little economic development and are dominated by dalits, or those on the lower rungs of the Hindu caste hierarchy.
It draws much of its support from the landless poor. But critics say the majority of PWG victims too are poor.
The rebels, however, say they were killed because they were helping the police and security forces.
1987 was a turning point for the PWG when its activists kidnapped a group of senior bureaucrats.
The PWG also acquired sophisticated weapons and expertise in laying landmines around this time.
It declared an armed struggle against the government and demanded that an independent communist state be carved out of Andhra Pradesh and some neighbouring states.
In October 2003, the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Chandrababu Naidu, narrowly escaped a landmine attack blamed on the PWG.
Spreading links
The group declared several areas under its sway, calling them "guerrilla zones".
It still maintains several of these in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh, the Dandakarneya region in Chattishgarh and in Orissa.
The PWG also acquired sophisticated weapons and expertise in laying landmines around this time.
It declared an armed struggle against the government and demanded that an independent communist state be carved out of Andhra Pradesh and some neighbouring states.
In October 2003, the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Chandrababu Naidu, narrowly escaped a landmine attack blamed on the PWG.
Spreading links
The group declared several areas under its sway, calling them "guerrilla zones".
It still maintains several of these in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh, the Dandakarneya region in Chattishgarh and in Orissa.
MOVED
Anymore posts regarding the Maoist Revolution in India should be posted in the Asia-central forum.