New Delhi, July 5 (ANI): The violent reaction of Naxals to the action taken by the Central Reserve Police in Chhattisgarh
during the night of June 27-28 shows that they feel threatened and
efforts are being made by them to mobilize mass support to prevent
further police action.
According to reports available so far, the Central Reserve Police had received information that prominent Maoists
were moving from the Andhra -Odisha border to Silger between Chintanlar
and Basaguda in Chhattisgarh to hold a strategic session there. The
Central Reserve Police sent three columns to surround them. The
encounter with Maoists took place at Bijapur in Chhattisgarh. The
Maoists attacked the police forces, and in the action that followed,
nineteen persons were killed, and six policemen were injured, two of
them seriously.
Among the Maoists were Marakkam
Suresh, Marakkam Nagesh and R. Somulu. Suresh was wanted in seven
cases, including the 2007 Dantewada jail break, while Nagesh and Somulu
were involved in an incident each in Chhattisgarh.
Overnight, the Maoists mobilized
agencies to criticize the Central Reserve Police. The agencies critical
of the action included the opposition Congress Party in Chhattisgarh,
and Maoists sympathizers like Swami Agnivesh, Varavara Rao and many others.
The Maoists said the Central Reserve Police Force had attacked a village gathering, which was a 'seed festival' held every year before the onset of the monsoons.
Chief Minister Raman Singh, who
had received the reports from the state police about the gathering,
explained in Raipur that the Maoists were in fact holding one of their
meetings. They had invited villages as a camouflage, and in case the
security forces attacked them, the villagers were to be used as human
shield.
The objective of the uproar was
to prevent further action in the area, which is a part of the 'Red
Corridor' and a safe haven for Naxalites. Their strategy, which was
enunciated at the founding of the People's Liberation Guerrilla Army
(PGLA) was to "mingle with the masses and become a part of their lives
and their aspirations" so that it " can grow and equip itself to take
on the multi-pronged attack by the government."
The Maoists have been damaging
schools to prevent children from taking up a career and, efforts are
being made to induct them into Maoist ranks.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
has been saying that left wing extremism is the gravest threat to the
unity and integrity of the country, for over six years. Former Home
Minister Shivraj Patil had invited the Naxal leaders to come for talks,
but there was no response.
Home Minister Chidambaram has been following a two-pronged
approach-improve infrastructure and development and simultaneously step
up operations against the Naxals.
He has promised to suspend operations if the Maoists respond to the
invitation for talks and cease violence. He has even extended an
invitation to Maoist sympathisers like Swami Agnivesh to contact the
Maoist leaders.
There has been little response. When the district administration
tries to speed up development in the affected areas, the District
Collectors are kidnapped as it happened in Sukhna recently. Jhina
Hikaka, a tribal member of the Odisha Legislative Assembly who was
active in promoting development, was kidnapped by the Maoists and
released on the condition that he would resign from the Assembly.
When extra funds are provided to states to build schools and
construct roads, part of the money is squeezed from contractors by
Naxals. Mining companies located in the interior villages buy their
safety by financing Naxals.
For many years, the government had not penetrated the interior areas.
Villagers had only seen forest guards, who took their share of the
money that the villagers secured as payment for Tendu leaves supplied to
contractors annually.
Left wing extremism, which
started in Naxalbari in the sixties, aims to establish Maoist rule in
India. The 'movement ' has had its ups and downs. When it spread to
Kolkata in West Bengal, the Central Government headed by Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi, asked the Army to assist the state in uprooting it. The
Eastern Command of the Army was authorised to move two divisions to
taken action against the Naxals.
By 1971, the Naxal movement was
eliminated in West Bengal. Parts of Andhra came under the influence of
left wing extremism in the eighties, and, it took almost a decade for
the state government to put down the movement, and establish law and
order in the area.
Driven out from Andhra, Maoist leaders found a haven in parts of
Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar and Odisha. They describe interior
villages as 'liberated areas'. The administration is absent in those
villages, and now, the Maoists are running their own 'government'.
Prominent among the Maoists Nambala Keasava Rao alias Basava Raju,
Muppala Lakshmana Rao alias Ganapathy. Former Maoist leader M.
Koteshwara Rao alias Kishenji was killed in a encounter with the
security forces on November 24 in West Midnapore last year.
The Maoists extort funds from industrial units and contractors who
are entrusted with the task of construction of roads, school buildings
and health centers. They use the money to buy arms and ammunition. They
have also looted armouries, police establishments and jails.
To give some instances, they raided the Armoury in Koraput, Orissa,
in 2004 and took away 528 weapons.. They raided the Giridh Home
Guardstraining centre in Jharkhand in November 2005 and looted 280
weapons. The Nayagarh armoury raid in Odisha took place on February 15,
2008, and it got them 1,100 weapons, including AK series rifles and
LMGs.
The local police in the affected states, whose duty is mainly to
ensure maintenance of law and order, are not able to control the Naxals.
There is a reluctance to invite central police forces, in spite of the
fact that 721 persons were killed in left wing violence in 2008, 908 in
2009, 1005 in 2010 and 606 in 2011.
The Central Government, conscious of these problems, has increased
budget allocations for strengthening the state police, and set up
counter-insurgency training units in states affected by Naxalism. 83
affected districts in nine states have been taken up for special
attention on planning, implementation and monitoring of the security
situation and development schemes.
For years, there has been wishful
thinking that with time, villagers would be less sympathetic to
left-wing extremism. There is also an attempt not to antagonize the
Maoists who will work against leaders during state elections. One should
remember that the aim of the CPI (Maoist) is to use the Maoist military machine to seize political power as a first step in the path to socialism.
Or, in the ultimate analysis the aim of the Maoists is to establish
left wing rule in India. t is time the Central and State Governments
took steps to mobilize their forces and take concerted action to combat
left wing extremism. Or else, Naxalism, which almost took away West
Bengal from the country in 1970, may take over parts of the country,
particularly along the ' Red Corridor'. (ANI)
Attn; News Editors/News Desks: Mr. I. Ramamohan Rao is a former Principal Information Officer of the Government of India.
Zardari responded that he would like to do so but had run into a legal roadblock.
