The terrorists have no religion and they do not distinguish cast, creed, colour and race of a person when they are on a killing spree. The carnage, bloodshed and serious onslaughts let loose by the Maoists, particularly in the States of Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and part of Andhra Pradesh for last few years are horrific and devastating. The Maoists are on rampage, causing heavy toll of human life, both civilians and security persons, and destruction of public property.
Sometimes past, the massacre and bloodshed perpetrated by the Maoists in Chhattisgarh killing many top leaders of the Congress party and security personnel while the Congress was taking a “Paribartan” rally is a most condemnable act and dastardly crime. Shortly later, there was also an armed attack on a police party in Jharkhand by the ultras killing a Superintendent of Police and six policemen at the spot in an ambush which were the handiwork of the Maoists.
As the Maoists continue to adopt the destructive path, the Union Government moved to establish a National Counter Terrorist Centre (NCTC) to combat terrorism.
The NCTC’s formation in a Federal structure like ours became a big question mark as the States are given autonomy to manage their affairs including maintenance of law and order, which covers protection of security to the people and which are in the “State list” of the Constitution. The Constitution does not recognise the idea of a “Federal police” unlike the American system. Ours is a quasi-federation where there is division of powers between the Centre and the States. Consequently, the proposed NCTC was shelved. Any revival of the proposal would now depend on the new Government at the Centre.
However, the need of the hour is to identify the root cause for the rise of Maoism and to look into what the ultras really want. The Maoists advocate and propagate for social and economic reforms for the rural population, particularly tribals and other backward classes.They say these people form part of the mainstream of the society but they have been neglected by successive Governments, both at the Center and in the States.
Although the Government has undertaken welfare measures and socioeconomic reforms for the tribals, the progress in that direction is not encouraging. Therefore, it is felt in many quarters that the Maoist problem can be solved through a dialogue with their leaders and not by exchange of bullets. Some years back, under the leadership of Jayaprakash Narayan, even the dacoits of the Chambal Valley changed their minds, laid down arms and came into the mainstream of social life being rehabilitated by the State. There is always light at the end of the tunnel.
It seems there was somewhere some gap in the approach of the UPA Government at the Centre and Maoist-infested States and in the psyche of the Maoists to resolve this longstanding problem.
This can be achieved hopefully by the new Government at the Centre only by peaceful negotiation with the Maoist leaders and not by a belligerent attitude of both sides. Therefore, creating of NCTC on the lines of US anti-terror centre is not the solution as our problem is quite different from the United States’. The rise of Maoists in some States of India is an internal problem of India which is inextricably interwoven with the problems of the economically disadvantaged groups and tribal population. The threat perception by the terrorists in the USA and the challenges to our security system by the Maoists stand entirely on a different footing
It is gratifying that we have powerful security organisations like the Intelligence Bureau (IB), National Investigating Agency (NIA), Research & Analysis Wing (RAW), National Security Guard (NSG), etc, which are quite competent to take care of any acts of terrorism in the changed security scenario.
The only immediate requirement is that the intelligence gathering apparatuses of the agencies have to be strengthened to collect information well in advance and foil any terror attempt by way of constant vigil and monitoring. To assist the agencies, other security organisations like the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Border Security Force, Central Reserve Police Force, Central Industrial Security Force, Assam Rifles and Rapid Action Force are there at the time of necessity. According to a recent media report, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs estimated a budget of Rs 3.400 crore to establish NCTC. If this is true, instead of doing so, it would be desirable to expand the sphere of activities of the I.B., giving this premier intelligence wing more powers, enlarging its infrastructure, strengthening the staff, imparting them with more scientific knowledge, training and expertise.
In this backdrop, to combat Maoist terrorism in the States like Odisha, Jharkhand and Bihar, the Center should help the States by deployment of additional security forces, modern arms and ammunitions and provision of helicopter and allot fund for the purpose which the Centre, of course, has been doing but not up to the actual requirement. According to the Government reports, in 2009 there were 2,258 acts of violence committed by the Maoists whereas in 2012 it came down to 1,412. This figure would indicate that the Maoists’ strength has dwindled. Therefore, the political parties across party lines by their concerted efforts and unified stand should try to professionalise the security apparatus giving more powers to the intelligence agencies like the IB and the NIA which have got enough potential to deal with any situation and eventuality. For heaven’s sake, let us not politicise India’s anti-terror combat stand.
The Prevention of (Unlawful Activities) Act-1967 and Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) would also act as deterrents to deal with any sort of violence and crimes committed by the Maoists. Any person or organisation, who is engaged in unlawful activities affecting the security of the nation and its sovereignty, would be brought to book and dealt with firmly under these Acts by the court in any part of the country. Therefore, there is no immediate necessity of a NCTC, and notably during the relevant period some non-Congress-ruled States, including Odisha, were not in favour of NCTC. The stand taken by the Odisha Chief Minister in this regard was perfectly justified. Interestingly striking to note that even the Congress-ruled States like Maharashtra, Karnataka and Assam were also not in favour of NCTC even after the proposal was revised by the Centre at that time.
To sum up, to deal with the new wave of violence, terrorism and crimes committed against the State by the ultras, anti-terrorist laws like TADA and POTA need revival from the point of view of national security.
(The writer is former special judge CBI, Bhubaneswar and Professor of law, lal Bahadur Shashtri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie)