RAIPUR, India, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Maoist rebels who operate across large swathes of India on Friday called for a strike on Jan. 26, the day the country celebrates its founding as a republic in 1950. The guerrillas, who oppose India's economic reforms, also called for a boycott of celebrations on Republic Day, which is marked by military parades, pomp and ceremony in many cities. "India is playing into the hands of capitalist Western countries and multinational companies which are fast usurping the country's poor peoples' traditional forest areas," Ganapati, a top Maoist leader who did not give his surname, said in a statement. "I call upon the masses and the country's intellectual class to join the Jan. 26 strike." During Republic Day last year, Maoists set off bombs across eastern India, killing at least two people. But official celebrations went on unhindered on the day, a national holiday. The Maoist insurgents -- who say they are fighting for the rights of millions of poor peasants and labourers as well as landless tribals who live in the forests -- operate in at least 13 states in southern, western and central India. The rebels last called for a national strike in October. During that stoppage, they killed a shopkeeper, blew up rail tracks and a government building in eastern India. A human rights group said this week 749 people had been killed in Maoist violence last year, including 135 security personnel and 285 civilians.
