Maoists threaten supporters of bauxite mining in Visakhapatnam

Visakhapatnam, May 13 (ANI): Maoists in Visakhapatnam district released a letter on Wednesday explaining why they killed Somalingam, the vice-chairman of Visakhapatnam Zilla Parishad.

They said in the letter that they killed Somalingam due to the huge support he extended to bauxite mining in the area. They also warned that other political leaders who support bauxite mining would face the same fate.

Chalasani Prasad, Secretary of Viplava Rachaithala Sangham of Andhra Pradesh, an organisation supporting the Maoist movement, said that the government had no right to deprive the tribals of their livelihood and accused them of harassing the tribal people.

"Government is looting them and government is depriving them. The government has mortgaged the entire wealth of the country: forest wealth, stones, water, everything, they have mortgaged to the Americans. This we seriously condemn. This should not happen. They are playing with fire, so fire naturally burns," said Prasad.

Prasad added that the government's industrialization policy is a false policy and that the country belongs to its people.

Calling the Central government "fascist" and "brutal", Prasad demanded that Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram should visit the area and see how tribals live.

"What will happen if bauxite is taken out from there? The entire Andhra will become dry like the Sahara desert. Do you like it? We forecast it because we see the problem for the people, and government is sitting in their AC (air-conditioned) rooms at Delhi. They don't know how people live in India," he said.

Thousands have been killed during the Maoist insurgency, which began in the late 1960s, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has described the Maoist threat one of the gravest homegrown threats to India's internal security.

The rebels claim they are fighting for the rights of poor farmers and landless labourers.

They have spread into the rural pockets of 20 of India's 28 states. (ANI)