NGOs on watchlist over Maoist links

Kochi: Many NGOs in the state are under a cloud for their Maoist connections.  While the NDA  government at the centre has cut down the funds for NGOs,  the state government has put some of them, which are working for environment, agriculture and other causes, under surveillance fearing Maoists.

The government revealed its stand in an affidavit seeking to set aside a single bench judgment which had held that “being Maoist is not a crime.”   

A division bench headed by Chief Justice Ashok Bhushan is considering the case. The affidavit  projected ‘Youth Dialogue,’ a pro-Gandhian outfit, as a Maoist entity.  Similarly, ‘Njattuvela’ and  ‘Janakeeya Manushyavakasha Prasthanam’ are  also in the list submitted by the state to point out that Maoists had changed their strategy.

In the controversial Shyam Balakrishnan case, the state  claimed that Maoists were  conducting camps, demonstrations and classes  under the auspices of  NGO organisations in different names.

The modus operandi of the Maoist cadres  is to interact with social organisations and their  frontline leaders,  infuse their ideologies in them gradually and work for their implementation among the people, the state said.