 KIRAN PANDAY |
The Maoist fighters, who have been languishing for the last three years in various cantonments, are being exploited by their commanders. The party that wants a classless society is showing double standards. The former fighters have had enough and are planning a revolt. Just last month over 50 fighters from seven cantonments defected to Matrika Yadav's party.
Battalion commander of the Rambriksha Memorial Brigade, Mahottari Kumar Rai had misused power for a very long time. When his fighters mutinied last month the Maoist top-brass took action against him. Similarly, the fighters at Bishal Kumar Memorial Brigade have also complained of exploitation by their commander Subir. Fighters say this happens in all the cantonments. Kali Bahadur Rai ('Bibid') was transferred from the Third Division to the Fifth but the exploitation hasn't stopped.
Some fighters are showing signs of trauma and depression and are under medication. High-level commanders do not live in the cantonments, although they should. The fighters never receive the Rs 5,000 allowance that the government provides them in full amount. In addition up to Rs 110 is provided as 'mess expenditure'. The commanders have said that the amount is not enough and have started deducting from the fighters' allowance. They also say that a part of the allowance is to go to the YCL, but the YCL commanders complain that they haven't received anythying. More money is deducted from the fighters when a family member comes to visit and stays with them for a few days. No such rules apply to the high-level officers in the PLA when their family members visit. Moreover the commanders have started different canteens where they cook better food than the kind the fighters eat.
"The government pays us all the same amount of allowance, yet we can't even save Rs 400 to send home and the commanders never seem to run out of money," says another disenchanted fighter from the First Division. The Maoist leadership is well aware of this exploitation, which is why some commanders are transferred.
