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<div class='ite_mg_banner ads__container'><div class='it_mg_bnrBox'><div class='ite_bnr_cont'><div class='ite_cont_dtl'> <h4>Get <span class='bold_text'>37%</span> off on an annual Print +Digital subscription of India Today Magazine</h4><a href='https://subscriptions.intoday.in/indiatoday?utm_source=top-web-banner ' class='ite_subscribe_btn origin_conscent_url' target='_blank'>SUBSCRIBE</a></div></div></div></div>

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<i><div class="itg-mosimage"><div class="itgimage"><amp-img  src="https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/media2/indiatoday/images/stories/1981September/democracy_-1_110613024141.jpg" alt = "" height="425" width="650" class="" layout="responsive"></amp-img></div>Patnaik:</div>Naxalite leader Nagabhushan Patnaik, 47, was paroled on medical grounds last May after serving 12 years - three in death row - for the murder of a Srikakulam landlord. An unbending revolutionary, Patnaik, a lawyer, neither defended himself nor accepted state counsel at his trial, although evidence and procedures were questionable; during his incarceration he dissociated himself from mercy petitions filed on his behalf. </i><br><br><i>In prison, he suffered from bronchial asthma, diabetes, damage to the digestive and nervous systems and concealed TB. In February he developed persistent fever and the Andhra Pradesh Government reluctantly sent him to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.</i><br><br><i>After release he spent a month in his native village, Gunupur in Orissa, before being admitted to a hospital in Cuttack. His health has improved since and he is eager to resume political activities. He gave his first press interview to</i>H. Balakrishnan<i>for</i>India Today<i>from his hospital bed in Cuttack. Excerpts:</i><br><br><b>Q. What impact did the 12-year-long incarceration have on your psyche?<br>A.</b>If you want to know about the rigours of prison life, I'd like to tell you that one who believes sincerely in Marxism-Leninism would never break under enemy repression. My health was broken but never my spirit. They could not, because I had prepared myself to the end rather than bend or break.<br><br><b>Q. Was there any attempt to bend or break you?<br>A.</b>Definitely. During police custody they tortured me. In the early period they kept me handcuffed and fettered 24 hours by tying me upside down to the bars of the door, keeping me under solitary confinement lock-up with three sentries round the clock, away from even the central jail.<br><br>This, when I was a remand prisoner not even under conviction - and lasted three and a half months. Subsequently as a condemned prisoner, I was kept under solitary confinement for three-and-a-half years. I had no access even to news. However, during the latter part, we struggled for better conditions in the prison and managed to lead a somewhat better life.<br><br>This included other prisoners also since we never sought a special status for ourselves as political prisoners. The tortures I suffered were nothing compared to what most of my comrades had undergone. Yes, these had their effect on our body and mind, the social ostracism of the family outside, due primarily to the social fear of the police.<br><br><table><tbody><tr><td> "Marxism-Leninism brooks no individual terrorism. We are not worshippers
 of violence. We do not skulk away from our responsibility of launching 
revolutionary violence to meet counter-violence."</td></tr></tbody></table><b>Q. What form did the social ostracism and the state taking it out on the family take in your case ?<br>A.</b>One of my brothers was made to run from pillar to post and transferred to remote areas in his government job; another was arrested. A sister of mine had to remain unmarried for a long time because I happened to be called a Naxalite. The police constantly haunted my house, carrying out frequent searches. My library was completely burnt down.<br><br><b>Q. Many organisations and individuals campaigned for your release. Do you think this influenced the Government''s decision?<br>A.</b>In actuality, the Government has never released me. It is the Supreme Court which has released me on unconditional parole. Today, I am still deemed to be a prisoner on parole. The free air I am breathing is not the result of the executive exercising its prerogative but the judiciary acting, I presume, due to the impact of democratic forces.<br><br><b>Q. How would you rate the judiciary compared to the executive in this context?<br>A.</b>Now that the party policy has changed it does not mean that we have faith in the judiciary under the present dispensation.<br><br>In India you have a one-woman rule by a person who has scant respect for the so-called parliamentary institutions - her open quarrel with the judiciary and the press, her aspiration for a presidential system, her desire for a dynastic rule these abundantly show that it is an authoritarian rule. It only goes to show that what we have is 'sham democracy'.<br><br><b>Q. Would you say we have 'sham judiciary'?<br>A.</b>Judiciary is supposed to be one of the pillars of democracy in the Westminster model. But what is your literacy rate, the consciousness level? Where is the involvement of the majority, who live in the country-side, in the political processes, in the manifestos of the political parties?<br><br>What is the proportion of people who are perpetually under the breadline? What is the per capita consumption? If it is true democracy, with true adult franchise, would the 95 per cent majority comprising the workers, peasants and the white-collar poor, ever vote for the minority to rule over them?<br><br>So it is not true democracy but sham democracy. Hence all the institutions of this are naturally sham. Due to its authoritarian nature the executive has no respect for its own judiciary nor its autonomous nature. As this sham democracy manifests itself to us we would like to accept it in such a way that we could use its innate contradictions to further our cause.<br><b><br>Q. Would you say the speed of development in this country is too slow? Did you want to hasten the process through your movement?<br>A.</b>Our conception of development is entirely different and is based on a scientific philosophy, that is Marxism-Leninism. We have our sight set on the course of human development. Whatever development you speak of under the Indian planning sky is not true development.<br><br>It is only a masquerade of planning to divert the revolutionary involvement of the people. Can you call it development with such soaring prices and rising unemployment? What kind of industrial development is this? The speed of development cannot be achieved since the development itself is not real. The show of development in land reforms, industrialisation, planning and all that has never worked in the interests of the broad masses.<br><br><b>Q. You said recently that individual terrorism is not in conformity with Marxism.<br>A</b>. It is true that Marxism-Leninism brooks no individual terrorism. We are not worshippers of violence, but we do not mince words. We do not skulk away from our responsibility of launching revolutionary violence to meet counter-violence.<br><b><br></b><table><tbody><tr><td>"I have no fear. We have only class enemies and no individual enemies. 
Class enemies as such would never dare to come upon me, because we have 
the vast support of the masses." <br></td></tr></tbody></table><b>Q. What course would the new phase of your movement take? With most of the leaders dead or politically faded, would you he able to mobilise the masses? Once you go back to the field would you start something constructive?<br>A.</b>It is not individuals who make history. Leadership cannot be imposed from above as is sought to be done in this country-the Rajiv-Sanjay syndrome. Leadership should be thrown up by mass struggle. So though our present leadership is small it does not count much for the progress of the movement as such.<br><br>As to what course our movement would take, I'd like to tell you that basically it would be the same as before - the people's protracted war. We cannot say that we would reap the benefits during our lifetime. There may be a sea-change in the international arena, the outbreak of a Third World War in such cases we could definitely say that the fruits of revolution can be had in our lifetime.<br><br>See what happened after the First and Second World Wars. One-sixth of the world's population and one fourth of humanity were emancipated after these two wars. After the Third World War, it is likely that the world's largest remaining nation would be emancipated.<br><br><b>Q. You don't disown your role in the violent past of the (Naxalite) activity? Don't you call it murder?<br>A.</b>Definitely, it was not murder. It is the punishment inflicted by the masses. Though we thought that by this we would be furthering the cause of our struggle, it did not, so we are correcting ourselves. In fact, we have to change our course from eliminating individuals to the path of agrarian revolution, the peasant struggle, involving the masses.<br><br><b>Q. You are going hack to the same place where you were involved in a good deal of violent activity during which you must have made a lot of enemies. Do you not apprehend that there may he people who might harm you?<br>A. </b>No, I have no fear. We have only class enemies and no individual enemies. Class enemies as such would never dare to come upon me, because we have the vast support of the masses.<br><br><br><div id="tab-link-wrapper-plugin"><div class="authors__container"><div class="authors__by"><div class="authlable">Published By: </div><div class="authdetaisl">AtMigration </div></div><div class="published__on"><div class="authlable">Published On: </div><div class="authdetaisl">Nov 6, 2013 13:57 IST</div></div></div><div class="sendros">--- ENDS ---</div></div>

interview

Interview

<i><div class="itg-mosimage"><div class="itgimage"><img  title=""  class="" alt="" src="https://akm-img-a-in.tosshub.com/sites/media2/indiatoday/images/stories/1981September/democracy_-1_110613024141.jpg" loading="lazy" /></div>Patnaik:</div>Naxalite leader Nagabhushan Patnaik, 47, was paroled on medical grounds last May after serving 12 years - three in death row - for the murder of a Srikakulam landlord. An unbending revolutionary, Patnaik, a lawyer, neither defended himself nor accepted state counsel at his trial, although evidence and procedures were questionable; during his incarceration he dissociated himself from mercy petitions filed on his behalf. </i><br><br><i>In prison, he suffered from bronchial asthma, diabetes, damage to the digestive and nervous systems and concealed TB. In February he developed persistent fever and the Andhra Pradesh Government reluctantly sent him to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences.</i><br><br><i>After release he spent a month in his native village, Gunupur in Orissa, before being admitted to a hospital in Cuttack. His health has improved since and he is eager to resume political activities. He gave his first press interview to</i>H. Balakrishnan<i>for</i>India Today<i>from his hospital bed in Cuttack. Excerpts:</i><br><br><b>Q. What impact did the 12-year-long incarceration have on your psyche?<br>A.</b>If you want to know about the rigours of prison life, I'd like to tell you that one who believes sincerely in Marxism-Leninism would never break under enemy repression. My health was broken but never my spirit. They could not, because I had prepared myself to the end rather than bend or break.<br><br><b>Q. Was there any attempt to bend or break you?<br>A.</b>Definitely. During police custody they tortured me. In the early period they kept me handcuffed and fettered 24 hours by tying me upside down to the bars of the door, keeping me under solitary confinement lock-up with three sentries round the clock, away from even the central jail.<br><br>This, when I was a remand prisoner not even under conviction - and lasted three and a half months. Subsequently as a condemned prisoner, I was kept under solitary confinement for three-and-a-half years. I had no access even to news. However, during the latter part, we struggled for better conditions in the prison and managed to lead a somewhat better life.<br><br>This included other prisoners also since we never sought a special status for ourselves as political prisoners. The tortures I suffered were nothing compared to what most of my comrades had undergone. Yes, these had their effect on our body and mind, the social ostracism of the family outside, due primarily to the social fear of the police.<br><br><table style="margin-left: 8px; background-color: rgb(229, 229, 229);" align="right" border="1" width="300" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="3"><tbody><tr><td> "Marxism-Leninism brooks no individual terrorism. We are not worshippers
 of violence. We do not skulk away from our responsibility of launching 
revolutionary violence to meet counter-violence."</td></tr></tbody></table><b>Q. What form did the social ostracism and the state taking it out on the family take in your case ?<br>A.</b>One of my brothers was made to run from pillar to post and transferred to remote areas in his government job; another was arrested. A sister of mine had to remain unmarried for a long time because I happened to be called a Naxalite. The police constantly haunted my house, carrying out frequent searches. My library was completely burnt down.<br><br><b>Q. Many organisations and individuals campaigned for your release. Do you think this influenced the Government''s decision?<br>A.</b>In actuality, the Government has never released me. It is the Supreme Court which has released me on unconditional parole. Today, I am still deemed to be a prisoner on parole. The free air I am breathing is not the result of the executive exercising its prerogative but the judiciary acting, I presume, due to the impact of democratic forces.<br><br><b>Q. How would you rate the judiciary compared to the executive in this context?<br>A.</b>Now that the party policy has changed it does not mean that we have faith in the judiciary under the present dispensation.<br><br>In India you have a one-woman rule by a person who has scant respect for the so-called parliamentary institutions - her open quarrel with the judiciary and the press, her aspiration for a presidential system, her desire for a dynastic rule these abundantly show that it is an authoritarian rule. It only goes to show that what we have is 'sham democracy'.<br><br><b>Q. Would you say we have 'sham judiciary'?<br>A.</b>Judiciary is supposed to be one of the pillars of democracy in the Westminster model. But what is your literacy rate, the consciousness level? Where is the involvement of the majority, who live in the country-side, in the political processes, in the manifestos of the political parties?<br><br>What is the proportion of people who are perpetually under the breadline? What is the per capita consumption? If it is true democracy, with true adult franchise, would the 95 per cent majority comprising the workers, peasants and the white-collar poor, ever vote for the minority to rule over them?<br><br>So it is not true democracy but sham democracy. Hence all the institutions of this are naturally sham. Due to its authoritarian nature the executive has no respect for its own judiciary nor its autonomous nature. As this sham democracy manifests itself to us we would like to accept it in such a way that we could use its innate contradictions to further our cause.<br><b><br>Q. Would you say the speed of development in this country is too slow? Did you want to hasten the process through your movement?<br>A.</b>Our conception of development is entirely different and is based on a scientific philosophy, that is Marxism-Leninism. We have our sight set on the course of human development. Whatever development you speak of under the Indian planning sky is not true development.<br><br>It is only a masquerade of planning to divert the revolutionary involvement of the people. Can you call it development with such soaring prices and rising unemployment? What kind of industrial development is this? The speed of development cannot be achieved since the development itself is not real. The show of development in land reforms, industrialisation, planning and all that has never worked in the interests of the broad masses.<br><br><b>Q. You said recently that individual terrorism is not in conformity with Marxism.<br>A</b>. It is true that Marxism-Leninism brooks no individual terrorism. We are not worshippers of violence, but we do not mince words. We do not skulk away from our responsibility of launching revolutionary violence to meet counter-violence.<br><b><br></b><table style="margin-right: 8px; background-color: rgb(229, 229, 229);" align="left" border="1" width="300" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="3"><tbody><tr><td>"I have no fear. We have only class enemies and no individual enemies. 
Class enemies as such would never dare to come upon me, because we have 
the vast support of the masses." <br></td></tr></tbody></table><b>Q. What course would the new phase of your movement take? With most of the leaders dead or politically faded, would you he able to mobilise the masses? Once you go back to the field would you start something constructive?<br>A.</b>It is not individuals who make history. Leadership cannot be imposed from above as is sought to be done in this country-the Rajiv-Sanjay syndrome. Leadership should be thrown up by mass struggle. So though our present leadership is small it does not count much for the progress of the movement as such.<br><br>As to what course our movement would take, I'd like to tell you that basically it would be the same as before - the people's protracted war. We cannot say that we would reap the benefits during our lifetime. There may be a sea-change in the international arena, the outbreak of a Third World War in such cases we could definitely say that the fruits of revolution can be had in our lifetime.<br><br>See what happened after the First and Second World Wars. One-sixth of the world's population and one fourth of humanity were emancipated after these two wars. After the Third World War, it is likely that the world's largest remaining nation would be emancipated.<br><br><b>Q. You don't disown your role in the violent past of the (Naxalite) activity? Don't you call it murder?<br>A.</b>Definitely, it was not murder. It is the punishment inflicted by the masses. Though we thought that by this we would be furthering the cause of our struggle, it did not, so we are correcting ourselves. In fact, we have to change our course from eliminating individuals to the path of agrarian revolution, the peasant struggle, involving the masses.<br><br><b>Q. You are going hack to the same place where you were involved in a good deal of violent activity during which you must have made a lot of enemies. Do you not apprehend that there may he people who might harm you?<br>A. </b>No, I have no fear. We have only class enemies and no individual enemies. Class enemies as such would never dare to come upon me, because we have the vast support of the masses.<br><br><br><div id="tab-link-wrapper-plugin"><div class="authors__container"><div class="authors__by"><div class="authlable">Published By: </div><div class="authdetaisl">AtMigration </div></div><div class="published__on"><div class="authlable">Published On: </div><div class="authdetaisl">Nov 6, 2013 13:57 IST</div></div></div><div class="sendros">--- ENDS ---</div></div>

Naxalite leader Nagabhushan Patnaik was paroled on medical grounds after serving 12 years - three in death row - for the murder of a Srikakulam landlord.

India Today

We have sham democracy: Nagabhushan Patnaik - India Today

Marxism-Leninism brooks no individual terrorism: Nagabhushan Patnaik

We have sham democracy: Nagabhushan Patnaik

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Marxism-Leninism brooks no individual terrorism: Nagabhushan Patnaik

Naxalite leader Nagabhushan Patnaik was paroled on medical grounds after serving 12 years - three in death row - for the murder of a Srikakulam landlord.

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