Fear Vikas, Green Tigers, Nalladandu, Red Tigers, Tirumala Tigers, Palnadu Tigers, Kakatiya Cobras, Narsa Cobras, Nallamalla Nallatrachu (Cobras) and Kranthi Sena are some of the gangs. The gangs have fiery logos featuring cobras, tigers and guns.
Hyderabad based journalist Sudhakar Reddy Udumula outlines the rapid growth of very granular private armies in the troubled area of Telangana in Andhra Pradesh:
If such caste-based private armies are allowed to survive, a majority of attacks would be directed against dalits and the landless poor. Most of the private armies would be operated by rich, upper-caste people. For them, the weaker sections are the target, [the CPI-M leader] said, adding that in addition to organised massacres, private armies use dehumanising programmes to insult the weaker sections. Private armies take the guise of anti-Maoist groups and spring up after a major attack by extremists.
The state, rather than suppressing their growth, relies on these groups to do what they can’t given fiscal constraints:
- “We have no information that the Cobra gangs are caste-based. They are reactionary forces to the Maoists.”
- ”Where is the need? The police is doing everything as per the law to tackle the Maoist menace. The police is not supporting them.” Mr Sen added, “The police will investigate (the killings) impartially. I feel that this is a natural reaction against the atrocities of the Maoists.”
Udumala has also covered the Naxal cluster of the blogosphere.
