The site of Saturday’s Maoist carnage at Darbha in Chhattisgarh. The landmine blast triggered by the rebels formed the craters. Picture by Jaideep Hardikar

New Delhi, May 29: One reason behind Saturday’s ambush may have been the Maoist leadership’s need to quickly find a morale-booster for cadres who are leaving in droves, a letter purportedly exchanged between two top rebels suggests.

A Maoist media statement has described the weekend Bastar massacre as revenge for the killings and exploitation of innocent tribals by the outlawed militia Salwa Judum and the security forces.

But the letter, allegedly written by the Bastar attack’s mastermind Katakam Sudarshan, indicates the Maoist leadership felt frustrated and was under severe pressure because of desertions by cadre and reverses at the hands of the security forces.

The letter, written in Telugu, was apparently sent to “Gagur”, whose identity is unclear. Home ministry sources said it was found less than a fortnight ago from a house in the Jagargunda area of south Bastar.

The writer of the letter cites how several married couples among the cadres have left the CPI (Maoist) to lead easier lives.

“One comrade, Deepak Da (alias) Dev Singh (guard) ran away from the party with a village lady. In Gadchiroli division, ten members left, including Sekhar, RCM (regional committee member), Vijaya, DVCM (divisional committee member)…. One Rakesh, commander, and his wife Girija also left the party and went to their native village,” says the letter.

“Some members have either been killed or have left the party with their weapons. Those who left had been unable to face the hardship of party life and policy. Some of them have joined the enemy and are attacking us.”

The writer rues: “The enemy is attacking us from all sides and this is going on everywhere…. We are suffering losses in every corner but are still following the principles of Mao.”

He mentions how the Tritiya Prastuti Committee, an outfit of former Maoists who have turned against their original comrades, killed ten Maoists in Jharkhand. The writer says the killing of Gopal, a regional committee member, was a great loss to the party.

The letter also cites the reverses suffered in security force operations in south Gadchiroli (Maharashtra), the killing of nine members of the Khammam-Karimnagar-Warangal divisional committee in Andhra Pradesh, and that of party member Budhram in east Bastar on March 2.

“We think the letter indicates the CPI (Maoist) is under severe pressure and might carry out more attacks,” a senior home ministry official said.

Cadres may be deserting them, but the Maoists claim to have moral support from organisations in countries as far as Germany and Turkey.

Referring to Labour Day programmes, the letter claims that CPI (Maoist) cadres in 27 countries observed “Mazdoor Diwas”. It says that organisations in these 27 countries showed “their solidarity with the CPI (Maoist) movement and opposed Operation Green Hunt by the state”.