THE Maoists have struck yet again in the heart of Chattisgarh. This time 13 CRPF personnel were killed by a land mine blast at a time when the state forces had begun to feel that they had a fair amount of area domination. The Maoists used a combination of blasts and IEDs in their attack at Sukma, nearly 450 km from capital Raipur. The Maoists used villagers as human shields to push the CRPF personnel back to their base. The operation to flush out the Maoists had been going on for the past 10 days.
Maoism is an ideology that is difficult to counter because it has a social appeal. Maoists deliver instant justice and that is how they demonstrate their capability and win the trust of villagers. When India claims to be a nation on a rapid growth trajectory there are also striking incongruities. Large swathes of tribal inhabited forest areas from Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa, Chattisgarh, Eastern Maharashtra etc have been neglected for a long time. Tribals live without the basic necessities of life that most people of this country take for granted. It is only in the past ten years or so that developmental initiatives such as road construction and health care facilities and education have been given priority. But the backlog is so huge that bridging that gap it in itself a major challenge. But road making is also fraught with grave dangers as the workers, contractors etc come under Maoist attacks regularly.
Then there are also differing perspectives about how to deal with Maoism. Former Gen VK Singh, now the Minister of State for External Affairs, had said that the army would not be used to fight the Maoists since they are “our own people.” The central police forces are being deployed in these operations although they are ill equipped to meet the Maoist threats. Mine Protection Vehicles (MPV) are not provided in adequate numbers thus putting the men in uniform in a very vulnerable position. Helicopters for sending quick reinforcements are not available and each state is fighting the menace separately. Actually Maoism toady is the single most challenging internal security challenge and should be dealt in a comprehensive manner. The Union Home Ministry would have to take a call to deal more professionally with this issue and not withhold the necessary resources such as communication facilities etc. in Maoist hit areas. Intelligence gathering too must be strengthened to meet this pernicious threat.
