By Vinay
“No. It is not a single biggest internal security threat in India”, reiterated our honorable Home Minister Mr. Shivaraj Patel in an interview given to Karan Thapar on CNN-IBN. He was referring to Naxalism.
And on March 19 addressing the Rajya Sabha he said,” The Naxalite threat should not be exaggerated to create fear psychosis among people,”
Our Prime Minister sings a different tune……..
On August 15, 2006 addressing the nation he unequivocally said that the Naxalism is the single biggest internal security threat ever faced by India. Well, I thought that at least our Proxy Prime Minister seems genuinely concerned.
These contradictory statements by two most responsible people of India are no more intriguing to common man on the street. We are as callous as our politicians are. When, within India’s border hundreds of innocent people and policemen are being murdered in broad day light, our politicians pass it as another law and order problem not worth of any attention.
They are wrong.
From 2003 to 2007, as many as 750 policemen and 2500 civilians have been killed by Naxalites throughout India. This figure is more than that of terrorism related deaths in India.
Birth of Red Threat
In 1967 April, a tribal youth from Naxalbari, a small village in Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal won a case in the court regarding his right to own a small piece of land that was sequestered by local Zamindar. On March 2nd, when he went to plough his land, he was attacked by goons sent by the Zamindar. This incident provoked a rebel group lead by Charu Majumdar, a hardcore Maoist. On May 25th they clashed with the Zamindars and police in an armed struggle. This incident left 13 tribal people and a police sub-inspector dead. Soon its flames engulfed other parts of India. Naxalism was born.
Today its presence is conspicuous in 170 districts of 16 states and they occupy fifth of India’s forest land which they call ‘liberated zone’. In Chattisgarh state they run parallel government in the districts of Dontewada, Bailadilla and Bastar – together these districts have an area larger than Kerala.
THE Maoists launched a well planned attack on the night of February 15, 2008 in the district of Nayagarh of Orissa to loot the arms. They killed 13 policemen and looted every single weapon. After many days of combing they are still elusive. Orissa police claim that they killed 100 Maoists but have failed to recover a single body.
On March, 20 again in Orissa, Maoists in a meticulous attack plundered two tonnes of explosives from the SAIL (Steel Authority of India Limited) factory. Investigation is still on and as usual this will go on and on.
Our Home Minister is still not convinced about Naxalite’s threat. Then, it is not surprising why criminals in India love the land so much.
Spread of Red
From 1968 onwards the real journey of Maoism began in India. Those communists who subscribed to the idea of violence as a means of attaining their goal of liberation of India from the clutches of corrupt politicians and bureaucrats soon formed an all India committee called All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (AICCCR). After some time differences among the cadres led to many splits in its ranks.
In 1969 AICCCR was divided into two parties; one Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) lead by Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal and another Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCCI) headed by Kanhai Chatterjee. The movement spread rapidly in Andhra Pradesh and beyond, especially in the district of Sri Kakulam. Underground activities of Maoists against the state of India increased and the cadres rapidly acquired skills of guerilla warfare.
In Andhra Pradesh, Kondapalli Seetharamiah evolved as a leading revolutionary who later formed the dreaded Peoples War Group (PWG).
After endless violence against its own people and many failed efforts towards uniting splinter groups, these three parties namely MCCI, CPI (ML) and PWG came together on September 21st, 2oo4 to form the Communist Party of India (Maoist). Today this group boasts of 40,000 dedicated and skilled armed revolutionaries in its ranks. Their skills put our police into shame. They own sophisticated weapons illegally imported from Pakistan and Nepal. They have mastered the usage of improvised explosive devices to hit very important targets with high precision. Their intelligence network is far more superior to any organization in India. It is surprising that hiding deep inside the thick jungles they have managed to outsmart our security agencies in every sphere.
What Do They Want?
They want complete possession of political power in India. They want to liberate India and turn it into a nation based on the communist ideology of Mao. They are waging a futile but fatal war against India with an aim fixed on the throne in Delhi.
Naxalite hyperactivity is rampant in the most backward states of Chattisgarh, Orissa, Bihar, U.P.,West Bengal, Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh and Vidharba region of Maharashtra. This partly explains the evolution of Naxalism in India.
This ideology was born out of frustration and desperation against the oppressors. Oppression came in the form of police, zamindars, corrupt bureaucracy and ugly politics by local politicians. Tribals were made aliens in their own land by rich and mighty. Every development project displaced millions of people without ever providing them adequate or minimum living conditions necessary for sustaining lives. Landless farmers were exploited by big zamindars even after Independence and the abolition of zamindari system. Dalits were still discriminated by higher castes and looked upon as a menace. Tribal and Dalit women were frequently raped by rich and the cases were never registered in police stations, in fact police were also part of these rapes and murders. Many innocent people who revolted were killed in fake encounters or detained illegally. Poor farmers were made to suffer by middlemen by thoroughly exploiting lack of education among farmers regarding markets and money. Insensitive bureaucracy indulged in siphoning off every penny that was meant for the development purpose. Politicians remained as elusive as gods. All this lead to frustration and frustration lead them to resort for extreme action against the state.
But their ideology is flawed. They are a minority. Their way of conveying their message by means of non-violence has made them villains in the eyes of large section of society. Violence in any form is not justifiable. But how did they manage to spread their wings far and wide?
India has one of the worst managed police system in the world. Our police system is as old as Oldest Civilization when it comes to maintaining law and order in the country. Their primitive techniques and very poor training have readily helped the cause of Naxalism. Till today more police are dead compared to the number of Naxalites. When our police can not handle a small mob on the street how can one expect them to penetrate deep into the jungles and fight guerilla trained Maoists? A police equipped with a bamboo stick and a redundant .202 rifle is as good as a toothless dog. The fault is not that of police’s, the real culprits are people in power. India unfortunately lacks visionary leaders, honest politicians and farsighted officials. We allow cancer to grow to the fullest and then plan the surgery. A country unable to fight its enemies within should not be expected to fight enemy outside.
Union Government v/s State Governments
The Constitution of India, in its seventh schedule includes police, including railway and village police in the State List, which means policing is an exclusively a state subject and only it (state) can decide what to do with its police force. This is one of the reasons often mentioned by the Union Government for its inability to directly intervene in the matters of state.
Governments view Naxalism as serious threat on paper but not in action.
Another reason given by our Home Minister is the political non-consensus regarding amending the constitution to empower the Union Government to deal effectively against Naxal affected areas. It wants to directly take the administration of affected districts by amending articles 355 and 356 of the Indian Constitution and then deal with the menace using more sophisticated forces.
Solution?
In my opinion, Naxalism should be eliminated as quickly as possible by an all out war. People who have held guns to silence innocent and extort poor should never be expected to liberate India for the good. First, this weed must be eradicated at any cost. Second, plan a comprehensive relief package for the affected regions and complete the development programmes aimed at the welfare of people as soon as possible. Provide land to the landless. Take stringent measures to stop corruption. Reduce the gap between rich and poor by providing jobs to the poor. Oh……I wish these things were realized long ago. The hope lingers amidst hopelessness.
There are many peaceful ways to achieve things. Weapon in your hand is a passport to hell. For some to kill might be a thrill, but for some a weapon of WILL is enough to get the system rid of any ill.
Vinay Gudagatti
2 Comments
June 30, 2008 at 12:41 am
i agree with the solution because as this problem has emerged, it should be destruct any kind of means may be it anti naxal operation or with the talk or by development in relevant areas.
August 27, 2008 at 2:09 pm
UPA Govt. has utterly failed to assure the internal security in this country. See what shekhar gupta says regarding the recent blasts in this country.
http://thammayya.wordpress.com/2008/08/22/internal-security-under-upa-government/