By Vishakh Unnikrishnan:
On June 2011, the PM stated that “Development is the master remedy to win over people” adding that the government was “strengthening the development work in the 60 Maoist-affected districts”, now, after almost a year there have been records of countless number of killings, abductions and terror strikes across the country and the government has managed to do nothing but quaintly aberrate from the situation. Analysts believe that the Maoist terror has entered into the most dangerous phase, and there is no visible sign which shows that they are willing to back out. From the abduction of the two Italian nationals Paolo Bosusco and Claudio Colangelo, on 18 March, the deportation of 10 French tourists from Bihar in the last week of April, the abduction of the Odisha MLA Jhina Hikaka on 24 March, to the abduction of Alex Menon, the Sukma Collector in Chhattisgarh, the terror just doesn’t seem to lessen.
To tune down on what exactly is the reason behind Maoist terror, the government portrays the idea that Maoist is against democracy. Without being able to figure out a way to achieve consensus, the government is pretty much in a despicable situation. The Naxalites are more obscure than almost any terrorist group known. With so little knowledge about what their intention is, the public is pretty much unaware on how to deal with the situation and cope with it.
They proclaim that they are supported by the poorest of families and tribes, but reports claim that they are supported by the Chinese government and even Pakistan’s ISI. The CPI(M) are also known for fighting for the rights of the tribes in the forest belt around central India, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, West Bengal. The only visible way Naxals find to portray and spread their influence is through terrorism; blowing up schools, railway tracks and restricting areas under their influence from almost any kind of development so that they can impose their will on the uneducated populace, they have showed that they are willing to adopt all means possible to fulfil their motive.
With the government already listing 83 districts as Naxal hit, it is pretty much evident that Naxals will extend their influence as much as possible. Even the media seems to not focus on the real issue, instead of focusing and coercing the government to bring about peace in all Naxal-hit areas, the focus is more on what Naxals did whilst the abduction of politicians and bureaucrats.
The government has to decide on which path to take, whether to deal with the Maoist by force or through non-violent means. Although the latter seems implausible, even the former is not as easy as it seems when state ministers are not willing to accept national security within their jurisdiction. Even Mamata Banerjee went against the deployment of NCTC cadets in West Bengal. With such opposition it is definitely not easy for the centre to bring about a solution.
It is although very well clear that the issue has to be dealt with right away, since the Maoist are not even sparing their own tribal leaders and are ready to assassinate politicians even if they go against their notion of land distribution among the tribes. With more and more MP’s and MLA’s joining the hit list of the Maoists, and thus with the extremists’ threats leaving seats uncontested in state legislatures, it seems pretty much mandatory for the government to deal with the situation forthwith before a need for a state emergency arises.