Opium is religion of the Communists

[Guest guest]

Opium is religion of the Communists 

    

  If you think violence was the only thing Naxalites are known for, 

visit Jharkhand to see "farmers" in comrades. Not wheat or rice, 

they cultivate opium. 

  This correspondent's recent visit to Chatra, a Naxalite hotbed of 

the "red brigade" in Jharkhand, early this month, revealed Naxalites 

were growing opium in fields of local farmers. 

  With severe drought conditions every year, opium is a great crop 

for cash-robbed farmers of Chatra and neighbouring districts that 

share border with Bihar. Opium farming is prohibited, but the local 

farmers have no other choice. 

  The question that arose was why Naxalites were involved in opium- 

farming when they could generate enough money charging levy on local 

contractors and businessmen. 

  I was told an opium plant gets ready in just three months and a 

kilogram of opium generates at least Rs 30,000 to the producer. 

Besides, a kilogram of opium can be yielded in a mere 1,000-square- 

foot area.  

  The demand for opium is such that it sells like hot cakes, even in 

the international market. But, it is not just this which forces 

Naxalites to farming. 

  The Naxalite-infested areas of Jharkhand are underdeveloped. 

Whatever the government's claim might be, the fact remains that 

there are no roads, no bridges and no schools in the interior parts 

of the state. 

  Usually, the Naxalites demand from a contractor 30 per cent of the 

total amount sanctioned to him by the government for construction of 

roads, dams, buildings and bridges. 

  This had been the major source of income for the rebels ever since 

Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar in 2000 and there was a boom in 

the construction industry. Besides, the contractors also have to 

"please" government officials for granting them the contract. 

  With the construction business fast turning out to be non- 

profitable, the contractors recently started looking for other 

options, forcing the Naxalites to think of something more than just 

charging levy. 

  In fact, there were instances when the contractors refused to take 

up work in Naxalite-infested areas as they had to cough up a major 

part of their income for nothing. 

  Bihar shares borders with Nepal, one of the biggest markets for 

opium. The police says the Naxalites smuggle opium from Jharkhand to 

the neighboring state of Bihar and finally route it to Nepal. The 

Nepalese Maoists also help their counterparts in India smuggle 

opium. The Naxalites have their own network in Jharkhand, Bihar and  

  Nepal, which makes opium farming a "low-risk affair" for them.  

  The income from opium farming is shared by the farmers and 

Naxalites. In return for a brisk business, the farmers provide 

security cover to Naxalites from the police. Recently, when a police 

team reached Simaria block in Chatra to destroy opium crop, the 

farmers attacked them. The administration believes assailants 

enjoyed the support of Maoists. 

  Besides that, opium is used to prepare narcotic drugs like heroin, 

the concern of the administration is that it is hard to track those 

involved in the business. 

  The deputy commissioner of the district told this correspondent 

that they have sent an SOS to the Centre and state officials to take 

immediate action to stop opium farming. The local SP, Sashinath Jha, 

also admits that Naxalites were involved in opium farming and 

Simaria's case could be just the tip of the iceberg, dropping enough 

hints that opium farming and subsequently its smuggling could be 

going on in other areas of the state as well. 

  But the local farmers have a different story to tell. According to 

them, the state government had imparted training to local farmers 

and, now, when they were make good money out of it, the officials 

were creating trouble. 

  "The government had trained and informed us about the benefits of 

opium cultivation," says Anil Dangi, a local farmer. 

  Some farmers, who dismiss the theory that they are hand in glove 

with the rebels, also produced a book of the agriculture department 

in support of their claim that said opium was a medical plant. 

  But the involvement of Naxalites in opium farming was proved when 

a Chatra-based journalist with a vernacular daily, who had come out 

with a story on opium farming in his newspaper, had to appear in a 

kangaroo court (jan adalat) of the Maoists to ask for forgiveness. 

This journalist had to assure the Maoists that he would never (and 

never) come out with a report on opium farming. 

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