“The enemy advances, we retreat; the enemy camps, we harass; the enemy tires, we attack; the enemy retreats, we pursue.”
– Mao Zedong
To plural Bharat’s admirers of the Chinese ideologue, their own country is their enemy. Like their mentor, his followers also believe in “power emerges out of the barrel of the gun.”
To the civilized all over the world, ballot is the strongest argument. But to the Indian Beijingers, bullet is the only arbiter that settles the disputes forever. Humanity does not figure in their scheme of things. To them, mayhem is the only effective tool that guarantees victory. Such successes the Maoists have been regularly achieving for the last 10 years.
CASUALTY FIGURES
The available data has it that in 2005, they killed 281 civilians and 150 security personnel; in 2006, they liquidated 128 civilians and 348 security men; in 2007, they sniffed off 218 civilians and 214 security personnel’s lives; 2008 saw the Maoists killing 312 civilians and 294 security men; 2009 recorded 167 civilians’ and 107 security personnel’s death. The total number of their victims comes to 1,647 civilians and 1,189 people belonging to the forces. The casualty figure of Maoist during this period stands at 1,441. India lost 4,227 as a whole.
Today the Maoists or the Naxalites have a virtual empire where their writ alone runs large. India has 636 districts. Out of them 223 have been categorised as variously affected by the insurgents, while 90 of them experience recurrent violence.
Have you any idea of the Maoists’ annual expenditure? It is Rs. 1,600 crore. In the light of the revelations made by the laptop of Kishenji, the Naxals collect more than Rs 100 crore from the three districts under their suzerainty. Rs 10 crore goes to salaries of the cadre. Expenses on arms and ammo are huge and are dealt with in a separate budget.
GRADUATED
The insurgents have now graduated from a “Guerrilla Force” to “People’s Army”. In their lexicon, the current phase of their armed struggle is the final stage of their effort aimed at overthrowing the Indian government, established by law.
It should be of interest to note that today just one Maoist gets killed for four casualties inflicted by him or his comrades. In Jammu and Kashmir it is one for one. They target civilians to create panic and confusion in the administration. They feel this will force the government to compromise and distract official attention from the Maoists.
India does not have the number of police personnel needed to ensure law and order in normal circumstances, let alone protracted insurgencies. The United Nations recommended that 222 police officers be available for every 100,000 population. According to an editorial in The Hindu (Feb 19, 2010), India has an average of just 125. In Bihar the ratio is as low as 60 for every 100,000. Some of the states worst affected by Maoist violence also have an extremely poor presence of police, given their geographical area. Where New Delhi has 3,953 officers in every 100 square km of its territory, Chhattisgarh has 22, Jharkhand 50 and Bihar 59.
Add to it poor weaponry, lack of training, the VIP duties, overwork and corruption to make the picture complete. In the context of the Maoist insurgency, lack of cooperation between the local police, which is said to be sympathetic towards them, and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has been reported. An advantage the insurgents have is the familiarity of the terrain which the CRPF hasn’t.
LOW POLITICS
What has caused the most significant damage to the government’s effort is petty politics. If the ruling party or one of its allies has got, or is likely to get, the Maoist-backed vote in the election, the forces are not allowed to take the fight to its logical conclusions. It has happened and is even now happening. It is alleged that the Trinamul Congress led by Ms Mamata Benerjee runs the camps of the insurgents People’s Committees against Police Atrocities which is now a permanent body.
Absence of an effective policy and result-oriented strategy is rooted in the fact that the Mao problem is spread over several states, run by diverse political parties. The Congress-led UPA runs Maharashtra and Andhra, while its foes and even allies run Chhattisgarh and until recently Jharkhand. The RJD is in Bihar, the left in West Bengal which is a rival of the Congress but an ally in future.
MULTIPARTY STRATEGY
This fact necessitates crafting of a multiparty strategy, or call it national policy, which, despite repeated reverses in the skirmishes, is conspicuous by absence. The so-called vote bank politics continues to hurt rather wound the body politic.
The Congress was the first to cry foul when the Centre injected some steel into the Naxalite anti-national campaign. Mr. Digvijay Singh was supported by Mr. Mani Shankar Iyer, who had severely criticised Mr. P. Chidambaram’s approach on the guerrillas. Today every Tom, Dick and Harry is prepared to go to the court in the name of human rights. Has any intellectual ever gone to the court to complain against the spilling of human blood by the insurgents? Today the military needs a legal defence for its action against the Maoists. The sooner the Centre and the States put their heads together the better for the early resolution of the problem.
The arms and ammunitions of the “misguided ideologues” have to be first destroyed through helicopters. Then under the stewardship of the Army, the States’ police have to take the battle to the insurgents’ doors.
DISARM & ISOLATE
Till date, the Maoists have been sought to be defeated through catchphrases like “clear, hold and develop.” This does not constitute strategy. Focus has to be shifted. Speak to the insurgents in the language they understand. Besides effectively disarming them what is needed is their isolation from their mainstay, the poor and deprived tribals, who understandably protect them. Simultaneously development has to be put into top gear.