DR. S. AUSAF SAIED VASFI charts out a comprehensive strategy to face the Maoist challenge which is assuming dangerous dimensions day by day.
What is significant is not where the buck should or should not stop. What is important is the buck should, at no cost, be allowed to pass. Shifting responsibility doesn’t behove the responsible. The culprit-in-chief in this regard is the Chief Minister of West Bengal. Mr. Buddhadeb Bhattacharya did not cover himself with glory when he held the Union Home Minister responsible for his own less-than responsible behaviour with regard to the Left extremists’ widespread anarchic activities. His critics have, time and again, charged him with softness towards the Naxalites. For decades, the Left has been in charge of West Bengal. Mr. Buddhadeb or his illustrious predecessor, Mr. Jyoti Basu, never tried to really rehabilitate the Maoists in a well-planned manner. There was no planning or strategy to bring them back to join the mainstream.
FINEST-EVER
Mr. P. Chidambaram is the finest ever Union Home Minister. He has strategy, vision and guts to effect a constructive change. He added a few more feathers to his cap when, owning total responsibility for the Dantewada tragedy, he tendered his resignation to the Prime Minister, who rightly shot down the sensitive minister’s proposal.
By now, the Prime Minister, the chief ministers of 16 states affected by Left extremism should have heard the cries of the CRPF widows and orphans of April 6 mayhem in Chhattisgarh. It was here that the world’s largest Left-wing insurgency unfolded in the form of butchery of 76 jawans by Maoists’ guerrillas. This is the ferocious response to the Cong-led UPA government’s bid to reclaim the areas under the insurgents’ hold. Ostensibly, the Central Government took the Maoists as street-urchins or at the most unsocial elements who would disperse after creating a law and order problem.
GROUND REALITY
The A-part of the ground reality is that the Left extremists are a motivated, battle-hardened, well-armed and well-trained group of committed young boys and young girls, who know how to operate under a single command. They have proved their supremacy over our anti-insurgency squads.
The B-part of the ground reality is that the Naxalites are like the proverbial slum-dogs, the rejects, the despised of, the dispossessed and therefore, disrespected. They have no land worth the name, no business, no employment and no future in their own regions and states. Continued and sustained exploitation by the haves has kept these have-nots undone. Whatever they have is ever threatened by the state-supported corporates, who, with the help of ministers and their chiefs, never hesitate in further depriving them of what they have.
Their struggle dates back to late 1960s. It was in 1967 that the Naxalites, under the stewardship of Charu Mazumdar, led an armed uprising, but were crushed in 52 days. However, this defeat, tempered by the Left, never demoralised them. Progressive writers and poets in particular wrote paeans to keep their morale high. Frustration after frustration made them believe that the State is their real enemy, which protects the exploiters. They now derail trains and blast bridges and schools. They run a parallel government, receive, rather extract taxes and dispense Kangaroo justice.
MAOISTS WEAPONRY
The Left extremists’ weaponry, in some cases, puts our paramilitary forces’ weaponry to shame. Press reports say they have LMGs, SLRs, AK-56s, AK-57s and even mortars. Besides purchases, they loot police stations and organise ambushes.
After the deplorable decimation of the 62nd-battalion of the CRPF, the spontaneous reaction of the government was: “wipe them off.” The BJP was the first party to support the Congress. Sadly enough, now a national consensus is in the offing to eliminate them physically. Our view is that instead of elimination, the sweet alchemy of persuasion and rehabilitation should be pursued by the Government.
The strategy of liquidation amounts to overlooking the root cause, the perfidy perpetrated against them by the corrupt ministers and bureaucrats who instead of developing their under-developed areas gobbled up the development money. Under-development of the areas inhabited by the Naxalites is the chief cause of their unrest.
The air force, navy and military have been brought into existence to over-run the enemy across the border. They are not meant to over-run our own nationals whatever their sins of omission and commission. Besides, our armed forces are not trained to deal with domestic insurgencies. The latest example of the misuse of armed forces is the NATO’s repeated bombardments in Afghanistan, causing umpteen civilian casualties.
MORAL GIANTS?
In the past we had moral giants like Jaya Prakash Narayan and Vinoba Bhave who enjoyed confidence at all levels. Unfortunately we have no men of that stature amidst us today. In frustration, one turns towards godmen. But, more often than not, they have been found involved in land grabs and sex scandals. Let the Central Government find out a person whose credentials are above board. Among Muslims several un-tainted, pious and God-fearing divines can be found out. Do not hesitate in trying their sincere suggestions.
The second thing that needs to be done at higher levels is to re-read the recommendations of the Kargil Committee, supported by the A.V. Singh Committee. It has valuable recommendations, relevant for today. For example, the Kargil Committee, 10 years ago, said: “There is a general agreement that in the light of new situation of proxy war and large scale terrorism the role and the task of the paramilitary forces have to be restructured particularly with reference to command and control and leadership functions. They need to be trained to much higher standards of performance and better equipped to deal with terrorists’ threats. The possibility of an integrated manpower policy for the armed forces, paramilitary forces and the central police forces’ merits examinations.
COLOUR SERVICE
According to Mr. K. Subramanian, an eminent journalist: The Kargil Committee recommended that the colour service of men in the armed forces be reduced to seven years. It also asked that well-trained men be transferred to the paramilitary forces once they completed the colour service. This would keep the army young, save on pensions and provide the paramilitary forces trained men, seasoned in counter insurgency. This would help officers as well.
UNIFIED COMMAND
Some political observers rightly feel that the government planning meant to deal with the highly motivated Maoists is flawed. The present ill-trained, ill-equipped CRPF cannot effectively fight out the monster. They have no experience of the jungle warfare. Combating a militarised force is not a child’s play. Upgrading their arsenal and training is the need of the hour. It becomes all the more necessary in view of the future skirmishes and confrontations, which, we believe would not be low-intensity affairs. What goes without saying is that passing the buck, in ultimate analysis, fails the nation.