Rally Behind the Peoples of India Against the Hindutva-Fascist Modi Regime! Stop Operation Kagaar!

Statement of the ILPS in collaboration with the ILPS Commission on indigenous peoples and national minorities

Today, March 28, ILPS enjoins the peoples of India, especially in the Central and Eastern regions, in condemning the Modi regime’s violent crackdown against peoples’ resistance under the banner of Operation Kagaar. This frustrated attempt at crushing the just peoples’ movement has been a vicious hallmark of the Hindutva fascism of the Modi regime and has led to countless violations of human rights and International Humanitarian Law.

Operation Kagaar commenced with the killing of a 6-month old Adivasi named Mangli Sodi on January 1, 2024; she was shot while being breastfed by her mother. The killing of Sodi marked the start of a string of violence against the Adivasi people, peasants, religious minorities, and activists that continue to this day. 

Directly translating to “final solution,” the Indian government claims that Kagaar will put an end to “Maoist extremism” in India by March 31, 2026– a vow that has been more frequently repeated in the past couple of months and has been used as pretense for an escalation in state violence against Adivasi civilians, activists, and hors de combat revolutionary fighters.

At the start of 2024, the Indian state began deploying more or less 60,000 fascist military and paramilitary troops across 200+ districts in the Central and Eastern regions, with numbers growing by the day. During sweep military operations that span across 20-25 villages, 1500-3000 troops are stationed in each village at a given time. In more extreme cases, numbers can go as high as a 3:1 troops to villager ratio. 

Between January 2024 and March 2026, arrests against suspected rebels and “sympathizers” have gone up to 1,033+, 900+ forced surrenders, and over 750 cases of extra-judicial killings. Due to extreme militarization and repression, actual numbers might be higher than reported.

The Role of Operation Kagaar for Imperialism and India’s ruling class

Operation Kagaar is part of Narendra Modi’s Hindutva-fascist fantasy, together with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) – the ruling party in the Indian government – and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a Hindu nationalist, right-wing paramilitary organization of which Modi is a member. 

“Hindutva” is a fascist ideology that aims to establish an India with a single Hindu nationality, culture, and religion through the suppression and even extermination of religious and national minorities such as Muslims, Christians, Adivasis, and nationalities in the Northeast along with those in lower castes such as Dalits. Hindutva thought draws direct inspiration from the fascist ideologies of Europe such as Nazism and Italian fascism. There are 700+ indigenous groups throughout the country using 121 languages (1000+ if variations are included); and 14% of the population are Muslims — they are the minorities Modi and the BJP-RSS wish to erase and destroy under the Hindutva-fascist rule.

For foreign monopoly capital, Operation Kagaar is a necessary step to open up the mountains and forests of Central and Eastern India, regions that are rich in minerals and other resources like iron ore, coal, and bauxite – resources necessary for industry, energy, and arms production. 

For a long time, mountainous areas like Abujhmad and other areas remained closed off from foreign capital investment in mining, logging, and other activities. Often dubbed as the “red corridor”, these regions have been bastions of revolutionary peoples’ resistance and self-governance, and have proven effective in safeguarding Adivasi lands from imperialist plunder.

Thus, it comes as no surprise that US imperialism and its allies have been extending utmost support for Modi’s reign of terror. In the last two years, the US exported $5-6 billion worth of arms to India, including drones, missiles, and helicopters that are now used in the conduct of Operation Kagaar. Furthermore, 34% of Israel’s total arms export between 2019-2024, was exported to India, making India the biggest market for Israel-made arms.

Operation Kagaar, like all counterinsurgency operations designed and funded by US imperialism, is bound to fail. Such programs have a delusion of ending the just revolutionary wars waged by the people through barbaric violence, all while willfully disregarding the urgent political, social, and economic roots of armed conflict.

The peoples of India, the revolutionary movements not only in Central and East India, but across the whole country, including fighters for national liberation have shown steadfast resolve to fight against the Hindutva-fascist rule of Modi. These struggles must be supported and amplified by all freedom-loving people across the world for their great importance in weakening imperialism where possible. 

The League calls upon its members, chapters, allied organizations, and movements around the world to rally support behind the peoples of India against Operation Kagaar. In doing so, we must work to expose the hand of American imperialism and Israeli Zionism for arming and funding this war waged against Adivasi Indigenous peoples, Muslim national minorities, landless peasants, workers, and the young people of India.

Stop Operation Kagaar!

Signed,

International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) and the ILPS Commission on Indigenous Peoples and National Minorities (ILPS Commission 10)