“The whole approach [of the Operation Green Hunt] is wrong. It is a socioeconomic issue for which a military solution is unacceptable. How can you kill your own people? An operation should be conducted to set right the wrongs of 1000 years. The Government does not want to touch the net of corruption. So joint operations are resorted to. The spinoffs from the sale of tendu leaves in Chhattisgarh and AP reach right up to Delhi. Enforce land ceiling, enact laws which ensure tribals get maximum benefit from forest produce and mining, cut out intermediaries and stamp out corruption.
“How can you get actionable intelligence from the ground if you treat people there like dirt?
“I feel BSF would have been better at counter-insurgency operation.”
This is not Arundhati Roy speaking while walking with comrades. Nor is it an outburst of Himanshu working among Adivasis. These are the words of former Director General of BSF KN Rammohan, who has submitted his report on Dantewada massacre on Home ministry’s instructions. Hardly the words the Home Minister would be happy to hear.
“It is an absolutely wonky idea,” said Rammohan when asked about P Chidambaram’s plan of lateral entry of Central Paramilitary Force into Indian Police Service.
Can we hope that P. Chidambaram will now think of suspending this operation which may not be Operation Green Hunt; and think of opening a dialogue?
Dr Mookhi Amir Ali
Mumbai