Poonam I Kaushish
It’s the season of banalities in politics. An outsider would be excused for thinking that India’s biggest crisis is not its acute governance deficit, policy paralysis, depreciating GDP, security imperatives but cricket and more cricket, stupid! Given 24/7 electronic media and newspapers space obsession with the IPL spot-fixing scandal. Alas, lost in the seamless and mindless meandering babble, is the brutal reality that the 1967 peripheral peasant threat nee Naxalites have now reached a critical mass: political doorstep.
For the first time the Red Brigade did the unthinkable, nearly annihilating the Congress top leadership in Maoist-infested Chhattisgarh’s tribal-dominated Darbha region instead of policemen and local public representatives 10 days back. Among the 28 killed were the Party’s State President Nand Kumar Patel, his son and Salwa Judam founder Mahendra Karma and critically injured 30 others including former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister VC Shukla. In one stroke the Maoist had brought the political class to its knees.
Predictably post the rash of blink-and-miss high-level visits of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi and right consoling decibels interspersed with ‘we-will-hit-back-with-a-vengeance’ bravado, came the political diarrhea of tu-tu-mein-mein, finger-pointing and politricking.
While the Congress squarely blamed the State Government for “deliberately” providing lackadaisical security as the Intelligence Bureau had warned of a major offensive in the region. The BJP hit back by talking of ex- Chief Minister Ajit Jogi’s alleged involvement and accused its rival of trying to encash the tragedy in the Assembly elections in November.
Duty done, the killing was dusted off the political radar. Raising a moot point: How does the Centre intend fighting the war? Does it know the DNA of the Maoists? Have an iron-tight anti-Naxal policy in place? A realistic and accurate assessment of the challenge? Does it know what fuels their movement? Are the Reds driven purely by the “robbing Peter to pay Paul” syndrome? Can an honorable cause and an eventual utopian outcome justify violent means? Is violence consistent with the norms of democracy?
The tragedy is that the Government is clueless of how it should tackle the growing menace. At last count Maoists had spread their deadly tentacles in 20 States and 223 districts- and is showing no signs of exhaustion. (7 States have already slipped beyond State control). Worse, they have assumed alarming proportions and intend ratcheting up the stakes at a potent level to destroy democracy and replace it with anarchy.
According to intelligence sources, the Reds have links with the Lashkar-e-Tayiba, HUL and other Islamic terror outfits and enjoy patronage from China. Simultaneously, they want to transmute the social structure through the barrel of the gun and are getting moral & material support from the Nepal, Pakistan’s ISI and China. Their ambition is to have a ‘Red Corridor’ from Pashupati to Tirupati.
Not only that. As the Reds becoming mightier and deadlier with each killing, the police helplessness is obvious. They have killed over 3,670 people since 2005, equaling three deaths every two days according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal. Shockingly, only one Naxal gets killed for four deaths among security personnel and civilians.
Add to this, the Maoists have seized over 3000 weapons including AK 47’s, bombs and RDX in the last four years. Highlighting, the Government ill-preparedness, our intelligence apparatus’s in-effectiveness and the abysmal lack of Centre-State coordination.
If this is bad news worse follows. There are split signals from the powers-that-be. Two senior Union Ministers want a continuation of the “soft approach of talks tempered with grassroots development” while not a few feel a hard line followed in Andhra’s famed Greyhounds annihilation of the Naxals should be pursued.
They advocate taking a leaf out of late West Bengal Governor Dharam Vira’s book in the sixties when Naxalism first reared its head in the state. Said he, “There is no place for a live Naxal in my jails.” Or what policemen Julius Ribeiro and KPS Gill’s an-eye-for-an-eye policy in Punjab during the Khalistan movement during the eighties.
Importantly, the issue is not the latest crisis because this is not going to be the extremists last. What matters is that it exposes the Government’s, Centre and States, soft under-belly. Sadly, for over a year, the Government has talked ad nauseum about its ‘anti-Naxal strategy’ couched in jingoistic jargon of “clear, hold, develop, a four-legged race” etc.
Used grand language like tackling terror “on the political, security and development fronts in a holistic manner”. Sic. Failing to realize that this blow-hot-blow-cold tactics has cast a long shadow on the security forces fight against Red terror both of the Centre and the States.
Not only has it affected their morale, made them vulnerable in the absence of clear instructions from the top but also emboldened the Naxalites to carry out more brazen strikes, bringing newer areas under their control. Resulting in mounting number of attacks and surging casualties.
Undeniably, the polity’s powerlessness to deal with hard targets strongly has given us the soft State image whereby everyone takes us for a ride. Worse, the Administration is unable to enforce its writ throughout the country, a natural sine qua non of a State. Remember, it is no use having the instruments to enforce law if one lacks the ability to put them to effective use.
At the same time it is also true that the Adivasis are a disadvantaged lot. Chhattisgarh’s Bastar which lies in the heart of Maoist territory ranks as one of the poorest districts in the country. Sans basic amenities, roads, no medical facilities and means of income almost non-existent.
However, beyond the Adivasis’ abject poverty is a skillfully orchestrated charade that serves the interests and ulterior motives of the Red brigade. Recall, prior to the State’s anti-Naxal operations and Salwa Judam in 2005, the Reds were busy hampering development and creating a fear psychosis. Bluntly, the Maoists facade of social movement hides a sinister design: usurpation of political power.
What next? The time has come for New Delhi and the badly-affected States to get its priorities undertake joint operations and set up joint unified commands for continuous monitoring of the arms profile of various Naxal groups. Urgently needed along-side, is identification of sources and networks, coordinated intelligence gathering, and a well-equipped police force, if this grave security threat is to be combatted.
The Centre cannot pass the buck to the States, both have to seize the moment and take the Maoist bull by the horns. Our netas need to display some spine and punish the Naxals. The only way to hit back is to carry the fight into the enemy camp. It is not enough to assert ‘we have might and muscle. One has to display that power.
Send a clear message that senseless violence wouldn’t be tolerated. Remember, nations live or die by the way they respond to a challenge. Do our leaders have the stomach? The ball is in the Government’s court. Can the UPA walk its talk? INFA
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