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| India-Pakistan |
| Only war can quell Maoists |
| 2006-04-15 |
| Swapan Dasgupta The nation should be grateful that wisdom has finally dawned on the UPA Government. Last Thursday, at the conclusion of a two-day conference involving the Centre and the States, the Prime Minister proclaimed Naxalism "the single biggest internal security challenge ever faced by our country." It took the Government two years to acknowledge what should have been evident from the day the "inner voice" made way for the gentle sirdar. In these two years, the Government allowed an "infantile disorder" - Lenin's evocative description - to escalate into a full-fledged insurgency. Today, the "red corridor" isn't some crazy pipedream of dogmatists who quibble over the virtues of Lin Biao and the Shining Path, it is a near reality. The Maoists have cast their terror net over an area that covers some 20 per cent of India's forests and districts where 17 per cent of the population of the live. To consider the magnitude of the Naxalite problem you have to keep in mind a contrasting statistic: ethnic and religious insurgencies in the North-east and Jammu and Kashmir affect only three per cent of the population. Ironically, it was the magnitude of the menace that made the Government look the other way initially. After the UPA Government was installed, its so-called national security pundits, better versed in political surveillance and collecting tittle-tattle from mobile phones than countering terror, evolved a fantastic theory. Since the Naxalites were in a position to influence the outcome in nearly 50 parliamentary constituencies, it would be expedient, they suggested, for the Congress to cut a covert deal with them. After all, it was asserted, the nature of the ramshackle coalition made it necessary to be prepared for an election at all times. The lessons of history were not learnt. It was the Bhindranwale and LTTE strategy all over again! Consequently, the Andhra Pradesh Government dispatched the Greyhounds to the barracks, declared a cease-fire and began a bout of negotiations that both the Government and the extremists knew was pointless. There was unending talk of addressing the ubiquitous "socio-economic" roots of terror, and bleeding hearts decreed that the antidote to the perversions of Charu Mazumdar was the Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and the Tribal Bill. For the Maoists, it was carnival time. They used the respite to set their own house in order and prepare for a long haul. First, even as the Centre abandoned the "unified command" strategy proposed by the erstwhile NDA Government, the Naxalites abandoned their ideological hair-splitting and came together under the banner of the Communist Party (Maoist). The name reflected the new party's deep links with the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) which controls nearly three-fourths of the Himalayan kingdom. Second, the interregnum was used by the Naxalites to develop deep pockets and re-arm. It is estimated by the Delhi-based Institute of Conflict Management that the Naxalites in Andhra Pradesh collected Rs 50 to 60 crore by extortion in the six months of the ceasefire. Even after the battle was resumed in Andhra Pradesh, the Centre rubbed its hands gleefully as the Naxalite problem was exported to Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Orissa-states with NDA Governments. Some six months ago when Chhattisgarh approached the Home Minister with a detailed plan of airborne operations against the Naxalites in the jungles, it was told the suggestion was preposterous. "Talk to them, they are our own boys", the state government was gratuitously informed. It has taken the Government two years to realise that the Naxalites are no longer content with welfare sops and lectures on land reforms. Promoting development and fighting poverty was never on the agenda of the Maoists. Their target was and remains political power. The assault is not on high landlordism or venal usury. It is an assault on the sovereignty of the Indian State. The Maoists want the Tricolour and the Constitution replaced by the Red Flag and "people's power". The Maoists have unleashed a civil war. And a war has to be fought militarily. Has the Prime Minister finally realised this? |
| Posted by:john |