The 'Red Menace' - vIndianz.com

vIndianz.com — Union Home Minister P Chidambaram said a few days ago that he was too realistic to think the Maoists would lay down their weapons to initiate a talk with the government. Instead, he said, the government was ready for a dialogue only if the Maoists ‘abjure’ violence.

red-india For those who have been following the government’s comments and reaction to the Maoist activities recently, this would seem to be a rather generous offer. Many commentators have observed this change in vocabulary and they say this statement from the home minister only indicates that the government is exhausting all options of a dialogue. Before launching an offensive, the government wants to make sure that the option for some sort of amicable and discussed settlement was open but the Maoists were not ready to sit and talk.

However, Chidambaram in an interview to Tehelka magazine stressed that he was all for dialogue because he was positive that with the end of violence, development could take place. One of the main points of dispute is the MoUs signed with private companies to tap the mineral wealth in the states of Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa and Bihar. Chidambaram went a step ahead and said he would ask the Prime Minister to freeze the MoUs and review them in the wake of the recent events.

In spite of these efforts by the Home Ministry to open a path for talks and amicable settlement, the Maoists do not seem to be relenting. Government retribution could be well on the way.

An offensive against the Maoists could also mean an attack on the tribal poor of the Naxal-dominated areas. This is one of the reasons why human rights and other social activists have opposed this kind of armed offensive. One of the reasons why the government has taken it slow so far has also been the tribal people, many of whom do not support the Maoists.

For instance, the Chattisgarh police chief Vishwa Ranjan was quoted in an AFP report saying that separating the rebels from the civilians would be a difficult task. “One of the key questions in this operation would be how the forces will identify who is a Maoist and who is not. They (the Maoists) are all over the place now,” he said.

Further, he said, “Maoists can indulge in mindless violence but we cannot.”

Violence unleashed

The police chief’s statement almost sums up the situation in the half dozen Indian states, where the Maoists are on a rampage. Anyone viewing the situation from the media or other sources would feel the violence exhibited by the Maoists to be mindless. Statistics show that at least 600 people have been killed by the Maoist insurgency this year alone. About 2,800 policemen have been killed by the Maoists since 2004.

Police stations and men in khaki seem to be a favourite target of the rebels. It is not easy to forget the recent beheading of a policeman, even before the government could think of a solution. Later, a police station was attacked, two policemen were killed and the officer-in-charge was held until 24 rebel prisoners were released by the state government, a decision which was widely criticized.

The Rajdhani Express was hijacked by around 1,500 Maoists last month in Jhargram in West Bengal. Though there were no casualties, it was an incident which showed the might of the Maoists. They almost held the nation to ransom.

The latest is that 73 bags of explosives were seized from Gaya, exposing the plan of the Maoists to disrupt the Jharkhand elections, scheduled next month. Also, a Rashtriya Janata Dal MLA was kidnapped from Jharkhand on Thursday night by alleged Maoists. Even while this is being written, there might be some Maoist attacks on police stations or other places.

Of the 29 states in the country, Maoists are challenging the government in 20 – perhaps one of the reasons why Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called it the number one security problem in the country today.

What lies within

The sad reality lies within. The Maoists have rigid rules in their camps and do not tolerate desertion or betrayal. An AFP report, which detailed the accounts of four former rebels in the training camps, is shocking. One rebel, who got married in the camp, says he had to undergo vasectomy because the Maoists believe that children would weaken the resolve to fight.

Every cadre is watched and a high level of discipline is maintained. No lies, no adultery, no corruption and no religion. Disputes are settled within the camp and deserving punishments awarded. The cadres are taught to use bows and arrows, guns, landmines and other artillery. Killing landlords, robbing banks, kidnapping people, holding up trains, police station attacks make up most of what the Maoists do. Despite these shocking realities within the camps, the rebel numbers are climbing.

The Maoists have sold the tribal poor a dream – a country where they will have everything. The rich and the powerful will not oppress them anymore. They will not remain poor anymore.

It is easy to tire of poverty, especially if you know what lies on the other side. The Maoists show the people the other side and then, facilitate the crossover with armed struggle. Their ‘manifestos’ say that India is nothing but a semi-colonial and semi-feudal state under neo-colonial form of indirect rule, exploitation and control.

If you are found to be weak at any moment, you are expelled from a Maoist camp. The report quotes a rebel who failed to rob a bank and was thrown out. There have been instances of Maoists killing persons whom they thought were police informers. Media, in general, are viewed with suspicion.

Food for thought

Maoists believe the ends justify the means. The armed struggle is carried out to bring justice to the oppressed of these regions. Though landowners are easy targets, the greater fight is against the government and the big corporate houses.

The Maoists have slammed government initiatives to usher in development with the setting up of special economic zones and factories in these areas, saying they were more interested in emptying the mineral wealth of the state so that the privileged few can enjoy the fruits.

Though Naxalism raised its head in the country in 1967 with the Naxalbari rebellion, the insurgency in the past decade has reached a never-before height. The government, which did not react much to it in the early stages, has now launched a widespread offensive to flush them out. However, the task is too huge and too difficult.

It is true that many tribals and people in the area are more loyal to the Maoists than to the elected government. As Himanshu Kumar, a Gandhian working among the tribals in Bastar, explained in an interview to the Times of India, “When the police, the administration, the judiciary have turned against the Adivasis, the Maoists have stood by them.”

Kumar, who was in Bastar to rehabilitate the villages destroyed by the Salwa Judum (the anti-Naxalite campaign by the Chattisgarh government), says Operation Green Hunt by the Centre disrupted the peace established after so much effort. Operation Green Hunt is said to have started last month but the Home Minister has denied any such event, alleging that the operation was a result of the media’s imagination.

Kumar says, “The forces are there only to hunt the tribals from their land, so that the state can hand it over to the corporates. The state has no desire for peace and is too arrogant to acknowledge its crimes.”

He is just one of those who think the Maoists do not harm the Adivasis. There are many other influential, educated and well-off people who are supporters of the movement and its purpose. Kobad Ghandy is one of the many.

There is another controversial turn to this support from unexpected quarters. A BBC report claimed it had a copy of the preliminary interrogation report of Narla Ravi Sharma, a Maoist leader arrested by the police a fortnight ago. Sharma is supposed to have exposed the companies who were paying the Maoists so that their business could be conducted with least disruption. “Many big companies regularly pay a levy to our parties in both Bihar and Jharkhand,” Sharma said. He further said the annual expenditure of the Maoists in the region was close to $200, 000. This included the monthly wages paid to the members.

This money is also used to acquire ammunition for the cadres, which are expanding day by day. While there have been accusations and allegations between nations about the supply of weapons to the Maoists, it is definite that there is some solid financial funding. The Maoist network is spreading and the recruitment of locals helps their cause. The rebels often hide out in jungles and the locals know every nook and corner of it.

The future course

The Centre seems to have finally realised the threat the Maoists pose. However, it is regrettable that this realisation has come too late. The menace has spread unaccounted for too long.

An AFP report cited a naturopath physician in the Dantewada region of Chattisgarh saying, “The government should have launched the offensive a decade ago. It is too late now. The Maoists have gathered a lot of money and arms when the government was sleeping. The operation is a waste of time. There will be blood all over the forest land.”

The government failed not only to check the spread of the Maoist sentiments but also the corruption within the system. The widespread criticism against the government stems from the lack of developmental measures in the tribal areas.

M D Nalapat, who holds the UNESCO peace chair and is the Director of the Department of Geopolitics in the Manipal University, in a piece in the Pakistan Observer, suggested, “The only panacea for this situation is inclusive development that ensures a reasonable distribution of income to the underprivileged…

“…such police action should be accompanied by anti-feudal measures as well as by an acceleration of developmental projects. Economic growth fused to social justice is the best defence against the Maoist insurgency that is growing in India.”

Arundhati Roy, Booker prize-winning author, wrote in the Outlook magazine, “If the tribals have taken up arms, they have done so because a government which has given them nothing but violence and neglect now wants to snatch away the last thing they have – their land.”

The police atrocities in the areas where the rebels have risen are perhaps not highlighted. But, even social activists who are against the Maoist mode of fighting find it difficult to come to terms with the ways of the lawmen. Many of them speak of physical torture, murder and rape endured by the tribals at the hands of the policemen. Adding insult to injury is the arrogance and nonchalance of the officials and bureaucrats. For instance, Himanshu Kumar says, “We have tried to file 1,000 FIRs against the police; not one has been registered.”

Former BBC Delhi correspondent Mark Tully recalls an incident when he accompanied an official to a resettlement made for tribal villagers who had been evicted twice to aid the establishment of some power projects. When the villagers complained to the official that they were not getting electricity, he retorted, “Well, you can’t afford it, can you?”

There has to be a better way to deal with the insurgency than armed fight. The government, be it the state or the centre, cannot choose to ignore the mass of people who are easily influenced by the path of violence. They choose to do so because of the apathy the governments of many years have shown them.

The government has to understand that these people, men, women and children, who have been recruited into the rebel groups, have given up their independent lives and have vowed to remain emotion-less for a utopian dream. They are trained to kill and they do so without any guilt.

A Salwa Judum-like army is not the answer to the ‘red menace’ as Maoists are referred to. This army is likely to recruit the remaining tribals and will draw the field for a fierce battle. A middle path, with the help of activists loyal to the tribals’ cause, has to be drawn by the democratic government.

Further Reading

Stay updated! Follow us on twitter and subscribe to our feed via Feedburner.

Tackling the ‘Red Menace’

No Comments