INDIA: India's increasingly active Maoist guerrillas, who exercise considerable influence across a large swathe of the country, have now threatened to attack multinational corporations and large Indian companies in several states, accusing them of colluding with local governments to oppress the poor.
In what many federal security officials perceive as a growing threat to India's spiralling economic growth - second in the world after China's - Maoist leaders claim multinational corporations have triggered "state-aided brutal area domination exercises" to enable industrial interests to exploit penury-ridden tribal peoples.
Maoist committee members, who met a select group of reporters at a remote location near the India-Nepal border on Tuesday, said they intended to hit targets in southern Andhra Pradesh state, whose capital Hyderabad is one of India's booming centre for multinationals like Microsoft and IBM, as well as Coca-Cola and Pepsi Cola.
The rebels also said they would target companies in the industrial state of Maharashtra - whose capital is the financial centre of Mumbai - and in other eastern, central and southern provinces where multinational corporations are proliferating.
They planned on raiding banks and police armouries to replenish their coffers in order to expand their numbers.
"We intend to hit back strongly. We aim to turn this fear into a red tornado," a committee member said.
Maoist rebels operate in a "red corridor" stretching southwards from Nepal - which has been fighting the communist insurgency for nearly a decade - cutting through about 125 of India's 603 districts.
Thousands of Maoist rebels have stepped up attacks in these regions over the past few months, killing dozens of civilians and policemen and sparking concern over their growing power.
Last month, the Maoists stunned India - reeling under armed insurgencies in northern Kashmir province and in the north-east - when they seized Jehanabad, a large town in eastern Bihar state, for several hours and freed more than 400 prisoners from a jail, including many fellow rebels.
The Maoist leaders are capitalising on the fears of tribes worried about losing land and forest rights due to industrial projects.
"The multinational corporation incursion has already brought thousands into our ranks," a Maoist leader said.
The Maoists, who recruit cadres mostly from the largely impoverished tribal and lower-caste Hindu communities, claim to be pursuing a four-path strategy of agitation and propaganda, creating liberated zones, armed struggle in rural and in urban areas.
In their areas of operation they levy taxes, dispense justice through kangaroo courts and determine the educational syllabuses and moral behaviour of locals.