'Hollywood action films part of Naxal training manual'

Raipur: Action and war films from Hollywood, the entertainment mecca of 'capitalist' USA, are being used as a training tool by Naxals, a senior police official has said. Recently, a CRPF jawan's body was found with an explosive

device surgically implanted inside. Authorities said that this tactic was straight out of the Oscar-winning war film 'Hurt Locker' (2008). Chhattisgarh Police recently recovered CD players and CDs of Hollywood movies from a Naxal training camp in Bijapur district. These were action films, depicting commando training, bomb making process and warfare strategies.

"The forces recovered eight CDs of Hollywood movies when they busted a Naxal training camp in forests of Pidiya village," said RK Vij, Additional Director General of Police, Naxal Operations, said. "CDs of the movies like 'Behind Enemy Lines', 'Delta Force', 'Die Hard', 'Matrix' and 'God Must Be Crazy' were among those recovered from the site," Vij said. "Prima facie, it appears that Naxals were using CDs for training tribals," he said.

"The proactive measures by security forces have made it difficult for Naxals to hold mass training camps. So they may be taking the help of action films," he said. A senior official with Intelligence Bureau also said, on the condition of anonymity, that ultras were using Hollywood movies to "learn offence strategies and to get know-how about the latest weapons for the past several years".

"The recent incident in Jharkhand where Maoists surgically implanted bomb inside the stomach of a CRPF personnel (killed

in an encounter in Latehar district) was taken from a Hollywood movie," the official said. "If they are showing films like 'Behind Enemy Lines' and 'Die Hard' for commando training, they are also using movies like 'God Must Be Crazy' (which pits African tribal characters vis a vis the westerners) to hit the sensitivity of tribals," the official said.

"Naxals generally watch Hollywood movies to learn bomb-making process from foreign countries, and to keep themselves updated about new weapons. They don't have experts in jungle warfare training, so by watching Hollywood movies they copy attacking strategies," said Girish Pandey, Professor, Defence Studies at Government Science College in Raipur. Similarly, cultural wing of tribals, Natya Manch, uses popular films as a propaganda tool to brainwash the tribals, he said.