Maoists propagating criminal industry

The recent kidnapping of two Italians in Orissa last week exposes once again the sinister face of the Maoist movement in India.

For all their pretensions to the contrary, it exposes the Maoists for what they truly are; nothing more than a gang of criminals with no respect for human rights or the rule of law. In recent months, the Maoists have suffered severe reverses. The killing of Kishenji, a senior politbureau member and the surrender of Sujata Mahato has dealt a crippling blow to the Maoist movement in West Bengal.

The arrest of Sadanala Ramakrishna, Chief of their Technical Research and Arms Manufacturing (TRAM) and four others in Kolkata city on February 29 and simultaneous arrests in Mumbai and Raipur have bust the Maoist effort to procure area weapons to create large-scale destruction in the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) affected states for some years.

The recent report by the CBI that the killing of Azad was a genuine encounter has also dealt a severe blow to the Maoist propaganda machine and badly affected the morale of the Maoist cadres which is possibly at its lowest in recent years.

The kidnapping of the Italians is, therefore, an effort to boost the sagging morale of the Maoists. The Indian State has, therefore, to be extremely careful in its handling of the hostage situation. It is obvious that the Maoists cannot harm the Italians without incurring the ire of the international community as well as human rights activists all over the world.

I am reminded of the killing of Sanjoy Ghosh by ULFA in the 1990s which action proved to be a turning point as thereafter ULFA lost all its moral authority and was shunned by all civil society groups in India and abroad. The frustration of the Maoists in recent times seems to be leading them up the same path of alienating civil society and human rights groups.

Both the Central Government and the Odisha State government have, therefore, to play their cards very carefully and expose the Maoists game plan. A clear message needs to be sent to the Maoist leaders that their criminal activities will get them nothing but a prison sentence.

During the last two years, Government have initiated a series of measures to remove some of the major grievances which support the Maoist movement. These include withdrawal of cases against the tribals under the Forest Acts, a clear emphasis on the rights of the tribal communities to minor forest produce, expediting tribal land rights in forest areas, improving governance, successful holding of panchayat elections in Jharkhand after 32 years (where there was a 80 per cent turnout in spite of the maoist threat to boycott elections), successful implementation of the Integrated Action Plans which provided felt needs of the local population in a time bound manner etc.

The initiation of these measures has been a first good step and the results are there for people to see. A lot of sustained effort in this direction needs to be vigorously implemented over the next five to seven years. The governments, both Central and State, are in for the long haul.

The emphasis on improving training and augmenting the strength of both State and Central armed police forces and stepping up the intelligence infrastructure is paying dividends for the forces. This will need to be sustained in the coming years. An area of concern is the slow pace at which the improvement of governance is taking place.

State governments in the LWE affected areas will have to focus and induct more personnel and resources especially in the health and education sectors in these States. Connectivity is still a major issue.

The speedy implementation of construction of the Motu bridge, the Gurupriya bridge and the bridge over the Indrawati river by the respective State governments of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Chhattisgarh will give a big boost to connectivity in these crucial States. As the Central Government is fully funding these works and has assured full security during the construction, the State governments must execute these works on a war footing.

The Maoists will continue to obstruct all development works but the state will have to go ahead and implement them inspite of temporary hurdles. The Maoist philosophy is an anachronistic one and sustained effort by the State in the coming years will expose the Maoist leadership for what it is propagating namely, a criminal industry that has no future and will be rejected by the people once they see the results of improved governance and development.

(The writer is former Home Secretary of India.)

Related Stories

'Free' Azad resorts to 'Gandhigiri'

For the return of rebels

Odisha hostage crisis : A Prophecy comes true