Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) leader C. P.
Gajurel (known as Comrade Gaurav) has been
transferred to the Jalpaigudi Police Station in
the Indian state of West Bengal to face charges
of waging war against India.
Following his arrest on a passport violation in
August 2003 as he was about to leave India,
Comrade Gaurav served a very unusually severe
three-year sentence and was to be released last
18 September. He was rearrested before he could
leave the prison grounds. The massed, determined
presence of supporters that morning prevented the
West Bengali police from simply kidnapping him
without any respect for legal procedures, and a
series of courtroom motions and countermotions
followed. However, the Madras High Court in
southern India overruled his appeals, and he has
been taken to the north-eastern state.
Ironically, the West Bengal government, which is
so keen to try the Nepali comrade on charges of
encouraging revolutionary activity in India, has
been run for decades by the Communist Party of
India (Marxist). Despite its name, this party has
nothing to do with Marxism and in fact has
persecuted revolutionaries since the Indian
Maoist movement first began to emerge in the
1960s. More to the point, it is aligned with
India’s current governing coalition of
parties. Speaking about these new charges,
Comrade Gaurav’s lawyer, A. Rahul, told the
media, This just goes to show that India
does not want the Maoists to come to power
(in Nepal). India is refusing to release the
Nepali Maoist leader so as to use him as a
bargaining card in a bid to maintain its grasp
over Nepal, he said.