Jyeshtha Pournima
By Dina Nath Mishra
The Maoist militia is gradually posing to be a real threat to the authority of the State. It has already created a large number of liberated zones where Government jurisdiction is minimal. The police force stands demoralised and is confined to their stations for safety in Naxal-hit areas.
The success of Maoists in Nepal has boosted their morale and they are now changing their strategy. Even though Maoist guerrillas are limited to 30000, they can paralyse State Governments with their systematic gameplan. Surprisingly, Home Minister Shivraj Patil showed his ostrich like attitude on March 19 and reported in Parliament that a mere 14,000 villages, accounting two per cent of the total number of 650000, were affected. He even failed to mention their presence in urban areas.
When the UPA came to power in 2004, Maoists presence was in only 53 districts. By 2005, the number grew to 126 districts in 12 States. The Home Ministry cleverly concealed facts. I can’t understand the reason behind hiding the real situation.
It is a fact that in Andhra Pradesh, in addition to some eastern States, Congress contested Assembly elections with an understanding with Maoists. This was the primary reason for its electoral win. Emboldened Maoists marched armed into Vijayawada and their leaders held talks with the Chief Minister.
India is known as a soft State and by removing POTA, the UPA Government declared from the rooftops that the country was even more vulnerable. The second development that contributed to growth of the Naxal movement was unity of all splinter groups. They started planning to enter the second phase of their revolution. Earlier, they operated from dense forests and mountains, subsequently they started operating from trenches and demonstrated their destructive capacity in hundreds of clusters in various States.
I would like to recall some devastating incidents:
- Jehanabad Jail was broken into and hundreds of Naxalites freed. The police could not stop them. In fact, the police force in all affected States is outnumbered by Naxalites. They are also well-trained and have better weapons.
- A fortnight back, four Chhattisgarh districts plunged into darkness after Maoists blew up a 2 KVA power station. The mining industry faced closure for several days.
- Last month, Naxalites committed a daylight bank robbery of Rs 5.5 crore in Saldigih along NH 33.
In Orissa, Maoists raided the Nayagarh district police headquarters. ‘Operation 22’ was clinically precise, meticulously planned and finely executed. It was the largest ever loot of weapons and ammunition in the history of the sub-continent.
Till now, the Chittagaon armoury raid during the Independence movement was considered the largest. Maoists fled with 1100 weapons, including pistols, AK-47 self-loading rifles, INSAS rifles and light machine guns. They infiltrated during the day, blocked all approaches to the town, laid siege to police chief and district magistrate residences and launched simultaneous attacks on the district armoury. This can be termed as a successful challenge to the state’s authority.
In many States, they have an edge over police administration. Police stations are under threat at thousands of places. and can hardly guard themselves, leave aside the public. Maoists military reportedly attacked, ambushed, laid land mines at innumerable places. Even newly recruited para-military forces were found wanting at the time of Maoists militia attack. In the last four years, Maoists emphasised that the problem lay in under development and not due to lack of law and order. Poor people are victims of indoctrination by Maoists.
At dozens of places, developments in transport facility, communication channels, health services and poverty alleviation programmes have been hampered by Maoists so that their base consisting of poverty stricken people is not eroded. Even the work related with the golden quadrangle was disrupted due to Naxalite killings.
In the past three years, Naxals have tried to enter urban areas. There are Intelligence reports that students are being recruited. The success in Nepal has emboldened them. A number of journalists have talked to top Marxist leaders on Nepal issues. Maoists have become even more confident due to softness shown by the state, successful guerrilla operations, unity and the massive success in Nepal. All put together, they constitute a major threat to the internal security of the country.
They are terrorists and need to be dealt with accordingly, or else, the Indian map will have to exclude a red corridor beginning from Nepal to Andhra Pradesh within a couple of decades.
Source: www.dailypioneer.com
