C.P.M. ATTACK ON TRIBALS & CHRISTIANS

Bombay: CPM attack on tribals and Christians in the Thane district of Maharashtra is reaching a crisis point. Some Jesuit priests who have fallen out of the church because of their radical Marxist views, are helping the Warli tribals. But this was very much resented by the CPM which once controlled them. As the Kashtakari Sanghatna, the organisation of these radical Christians, proved more responsive, the tribals slowly switched on their loyalty from the CPM to the militant KS. And this led to series of clashes not only between CPM and tribals but many a time Jesuit priests were also attacked. The prestigious English daily. Times of India, has come out with several reports of such clashes. The latest occurred on June 7, 82 when two priests and two tribals were attacked by CPM activists in the Dahanu taluk of Thane dt. Fr. Oscar Perirs of the Dhynamata Sedan said in a statement that the four had gone to Bordi to bring three tri bal students to be admitted to a hostel, Fr. Salu Rodrigues, Fr. Blaze De’ Mellow ware the two admitted to hospital with head injuries along with the tribals. Fr. Perira said this was the sixth attack on them since Oct. 1980. According to the Times of India CPM had let loose a “vicious reign of terror in the tribal areas. The CPM-led Kisan Sabha wants to see that the tribals get out of the KS.” The Jesuit priest-led KS is supported by Bhoomi Sena and many other organisations but CPM is isolated as it has turned anti-tribal according to the tribal representatives. KS said as a result of the CPM attack over 140 families of tribals have suffered. Such attacks on tribals by the CPM has made the party quite unpopular and the KS has become the single biggest organisation of the tribals. Mrs. Godavari Parulekar. CPM leader and member of its Central Committee, was leading these Warii tribals. She had even written book on them. The anti-tribal role played by CPM in Thane, Tripura, West Bengal and elsewhere. its anti-Dravida Kazagam and pro-Brahminical role in Tamil Nadu, its total silence on the growing atrocities on Untouchables, Muslims, Christians, its apathy towards the problems of the OBCs as highlighted in the Mandal Commission report, has worried the CPM cadres. A number of them are accusing the party leadership of the party getting increasingly alienated from these revolutionary sections. The mass-circulated weekly, Sunday. (June 6-12) said in Thane CPM sees KS as a threat to its existence. The June 10 attack on tribals “came from CPM goondas hired by landlords.” Godavari Parulekar was once “called Rani Godavari because of the work she did there. But today she has become a jaded queen with hardly any following among the masses”.