Author: Kanchan Gupta
Publication: Rediff on Net
Date: November 25, 2004
URL: http://www.rediff.com/news/2004/nov/25kanch.htm
The attack on a provincial armed
constabulary convoy by Naxalites in Chandauli district of eastern Uttar
Pradesh on November 20 has not only come as a grim reminder that left-wing
extremism is alive and kicking in rural India, but also as a kick in the
face of lotus-eaters who now formulate policy in the ministry of home affairs.
Last Saturday's incident has demonstrated,
though not for the first time, that Naxalites -- variously referred to
as Maoists and Marxist-Leninist revolutionaries -- are loathe to scale
back their criminal activities, despite the peace overtures by the UPA
government in New Delhi and its affiliate Congress government in Andhra
Pradesh, which is one of the affected states.
On the contrary, mocking at the
effete dispensation that now prevails, the Naxalites have struck back with
greater ferocity and matching cruelty. All 17 security personnel who were
travelling in the truck that was blown up by an improvised explosive device
on Saturday in Chandauli were injured in the explosion; 15 of them were
later shot dead at point blank range.
The People's War Group, based in
Andhra Pradesh, and the Maoist Communist Centre, based in Bihar and Jharkhand,
have claimed responsibility for the Chandauli slaughter. The previous day,
they attacked a forest office in the area and killed two officials.
The same ministry of home affairs
which has been actively involved in pandering to Naxalites in Andhra Pradesh
has responded to the killings in Uttar Pradesh with a 'stern' warning:
'The challenge posed by armed activities of Naxalites shall be met firmly.'
For the killers responsible for Saturday's dastardly massacre, the statement
is not worth the paper it is printed on.
Indeed, the successive placatory
steps taken by the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh, with the approval
of the UPA government in New Delhi, have allowed the Naxalites to regroup
and revitalise their ranks. The halting of police action against Naxalites,
inviting the Naxalites for talks (which they attended with arms and then
returned to their bases without a by-your-leave) and the lifting of the
ban on the PWG have not contributed towards ending the crime of left- extremism,
but in conveying the impression that the state is now eager to mollycoddle
criminals.
On the eve of the talks, which were
projected as a major breakthrough, a Naxalite leader was quoted as saying:
'By going to the talks, we are not declaring any ceasefire... Talks are
a part of our tactical line. Naxalism is not a problem, it is a solution.'
If Chandauli is any indication, it indicates towards left-extremists pushing
ahead with their 'solution' with renewed vigour, perhaps not in Andhra
Pradesh in the immediate future, but definitely in the other States along
what is fast turning into the 'Red Corridor.'
Starting from Andhra Pradesh, the
'Red Corridor' runs through eastern Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, eastern
Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Bihar. It links
the 'liberated zones' of India with the Maoist held territories of Nepal.
The 'Red Corridor' unites the left-extremists of India with their comrades
in Nepal. It covers 155 districts in India, that is nearly a quarter of
our national territory.
The 'Red Corridor' makes nonsense
of any official claim, made either by state governments or the Union government,
that security agencies are battling the Naxalites with full force. Its
expansion at a rapid pace betrays the fact that our security agencies and
their political patrons are both clueless and lacking in courage to tackle
India's enemy within.
So we have a situation that can
only be defined as a serious threat to internal security. Not only are
lives periled, but development is affected. As K P S Gill, who has battled
many insurgencies, leading his men from the front, recently commented,
it does not make sense to build roads and bridges which cannot be used
for fear of death at the hands of Naxalites.
Nor does it make sense to pretend
that Naxalites pose a 'law and order problem.' The threat from Naxalites
is much more than that -- they pose a challenge to India's democratic polity
and rule of law; they pose an ideological threat that questions the legitimacy
of the Indian State.
Seen from the perspective of internal
security, the Naxalites are fast turning into India's 'Fifth Columnists,'
more than willing to join hands with external forces that have been trying
to undermine India's territorial integrity and rend its social fabric.
They are today's Trojan forces.
The Naxal movement that we see today
is a far cry and far removed from the Naxal movement that was born in the
1960s in Naxalbari, a remote area of West Bengal. What we saw then was
the splintering of the Communists into radicals and moderates; what we
are seeing now is abusing the barrel of the gun for furthering negative
power politics.
In the east, India's Naxalites have
teamed up with Nepal's Maoists to create disaffection among people of Nepalese
origin who have been living for generations in Darjeeling and Dooars in
West Bengal and in lower Sikkim. The purpose is to engineer a movement
for 'self- determination' which could unleash violence on a wide scale
and much worse than what was witnessed during the Gorkhaland agitation.
India's intelligence agencies have
evidence to prove that Naxalites are being used by Pakistan's ISI for drug-trafficking
and pumping fake currency notes. In return, the ISI is providing the Naxalites
with sophisticated weaponry and the know-how for making and using improvised
explosive devices. Seized weapons and ammunition bear witness to this evidence.
Impossible and illogical as it may
appear, there is also the very real possibility of the Islamic fundamentalist
right and the Marxist-Leninist fundamentalist left joining hands, united
by the purpose of subverting the Indian state. Soon after the arrest of
Maulana Naseeruddin, one of the prime accused in the murder of Gujarat's
former home minister Haren Pandya, Naxalites in Andhra Pradesh came out
in support of the Dasargah-e-Jehad-e-Shahadat's demand for the unconditional
release of the accused.
Naxalite leader Ramakrishna circulated
a letter among media, demanding the suspension of police officers who permitted
the arrest, filing of a criminal case against Gujarat police and a public
apology. He also wanted the Naxalite-friendly Congress State government
to issue a blanket order banning the police from entering Muslim houses
or areas without permission.
Ironically, most of the states where
Naxalite violence is on the rise is ruled by parties or alliances that
are members or supporters of the UPA government in New Delhi. And, unlike
the Congress government in Andhra Pradesh, which now increasingly appears
to be repaying a debt of gratitude for electoral support to the Naxalites,
the other state governments are unwilling to seek accommodation with the
far left or grants socio-political legitimacy to those who reject the very
tenets of democracy and repudiate the supremacy of the Constitution of
India.
Yet, for reasons best known to the
Union home minister and the UPA, not a finger is being wagged at the killers
for their outrageous and gory violence in which they continue to indulge
with increasing impunity.
