CITY | Monday, October 12, 2009 | Email | Print | 
Fighting Maoists
Sidharth Mishra
Easier said than done
Fighting the Maoists with guns, ‘gunships’ and of course the pen has suddenly become fashionable. Maoists have existed for more than about 50 years in this country under different avatars and the fresh discovery about their deeds and misdeeds on part of the Government is a sad commentary on the duality of governance.
What should be more worrisome is the presence of Maoist elements in the heart of the national Capital. Kobad Ghandy is not the first case of a senior Maoist leader being arrested from Delhi or its periphery. There have been several arrests in the past year or so. But so far, police has not been able to pounce upon those who gave protection and shelter to the Maoists in the national Capital.
Francis Induwar is also no first policeman to fall martyr at the hands of the Maoist violence. Why talk of the local police, even the presence of Central Para-Military Forces is no deterrent for the Maoists in the affected States. During the last Lok Sabha poll in Jharkhand, less than 20 km away from the public meeting of Congress president Sonia Gandhi in Khunti, Maoists engaged a CRPF company in a pitched battle in which five jawans lost their lives. The Naxalite casualty was just about three. The odds here are definitely in favour of the Naxalites.
The ‘liberated area’ in Jharkhand, starts a few kilometers outside Ranchi -- the state Capital. Khunti, where Induwar is suspected to have been beheaded, is not the only district of Jharkhand which is under the complete influence of the Maoists. In the two neighbouring districts of Lohardagga and Gumla too, the Maoists effect is writ large. In districts farther away from the State capital, like Singhbhum, Palamau and Dhanbad, presence of the State machinery is dependent on Maoists’ grace.
There could no better proof of this fact than that during the last parliamentary election there was total suspension of campaign activity just four days ahead of the polling day after the Maoists gave a bandh call. Such is the fear of the Naxal elements even in districts neighbouring Ranchi that no vehicle ever gets down on the mud patch along the pucca road lest there is a mine explosion. Leaders and top officials in Jharkhand use choppers and seldom traverse through roads laid with minefields.
A day before, local editions of various newspapers had carried small insertions on their front pages of Maoists calling a bandh following the death of their district commander in a police encounter at Chatra. They did not need to throw pamphlets or make advance announcements to send the message home. Everybody abided by the Maoist diktat immediately on getting to know about it. They cannot afford to defy them.
In the past two years, there has been no Government move to counter terrorism in Jharkhand. On the contrary, with the withdrawal of POTA by the Madhu Koda-led UPA Government, several Naxalites were let out. In Gumla district alone, 100 Maoists were allowed to go scot-free.
Ironically, the then sitting MP from the constituency, Rameshwar Oraon, a former Director General of Police and the then Minister of State for Tribal Affairs in the Manmohan Singh Government, did not protest the move. It suited his politics. An unholy alliance with the Maoists had in the earlier poll facilitated his election.
Contrary to what their votaries profess in the national Capital, Maoists are not completely averse to the democratic process. How is it that despite the call for boycott by Maoists, there always is a growing turnout in the polls? It is simple, if the Maoists do not want, there would be no poll in their areas of influence. But like several others, election for them too is time to make a good harvest. Bandhs, like the one mentioned above, build the atmosphere for negotiating a price.
Diktat for voting a candidate can be issued in barter for supply of guns, bullets, gelatin sticks and even wads of notes. Since the area is rich in bauxite, gelatin sticks for mining purposes is available in plenty. Though a licensed explosive, the books of the mining companies are managed to arrange supplies for the Maoists in return for the favour of votes. The big corporates too oblige as they have to run their profitable aluminum business.
The Jharkhand example can be replicated anywhere in the affected states of Bihar, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Orissa or Andhra Pradesh. Maoists are now integrated with the system. The democratic process and the farcical way it exists in the liberated districts, too is dependent on them. With a hydra-headed leadership, it is proving to be more challenging to contain Maoists than the militancy in Punjab or the North-East.
The war against the Maoists can be won if the mainstream political parties give up their petty battles in liberated districts. The Maoist movement can be dismembered if the politics of conversion and re-conversion is given-up.
Maoists can be stopped in their tracks if there is a crackdown on and also protection to the corporates functioning in the liberated areas. Maoists can be neutralised if the States overcome ego issues and fight a well-coordinated battle. This can be achieved if the Centre shows the requisite political will to get that elusive consensus on the issue and execute well-coordinated crackdown.
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