Sushilkumar Shinde, all huff-and-puff after his US sojourn, promises “massive operations” against the Maoists — calmly forgetting the last time he promised the same thing
Maoists don’t operate in a vacuum. To aam aadmi types far removed from the red corridor they are no less evil than the grubby fingered politicians who send millions of children hungry to bed each night. Of course, few disagree that they are “terrorists” — especially people like my old aunt who lack the ability to string up articulate retorts to nationalist stentorianism of the kind bandied nightly on Times Now TV.
But on the evening of May 25 when news broke of the latest Maoist attack wiping out 27 people, mostly politicians in khadi, how many expressed genuine sympathy over the deaths and injuries inflicted on Mahendra Karma, Vidya Charan Shukla and their ilk is a question I am embarrassed to ask.
Thankfully, the media helped in putting this “tragedy” in perspective. The non-stop coverage of cricket spot-fixing gave welcome distraction from the copious tear shedding and blame trade which went on for the next couple of days. But before the weekend was over, aam aadmi types were overwhelmed by the threat posed to secular India's “national religion” by the continued presence of some moneybag called N Srinivasan in the Board for Control of Cricket in India.
Followers
As it happens, the Maoist conundrum is followed by only two kinds of people and neither qualify to that rapidly opprobrised group —the aam aadmi.
The first are those who make a living off the security establishment and genuinely believe that the Maoist are standing in the way of rapid national progress translating into nutritious meals for all, education for all, health and clean drinking water for all. There is also wonderment as to where their loyalty lies — ChinaIJ VenezuelaIJ BothIJ Or is it bad old PakistanIJ
Well, from how they reduced the Parivartan Yatris last Saturday to sitting ducks for the Maoist guerrillas one can only express concern at the state of their intelligence garnering apparatus, ground level or wherever. This is bad news for conspiracy theorists who will perhaps never know which of India's arch enemies is sponsoring this terrorism.
The second, and by far more “involved” lot are people who like to be called intellectuals. Till 2011 these people defended Jyoti Basu and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee as falcons of some “alternative development model”. Apologists for election rigging, the targeted murder of political opponents and the politicization of every decent institution in the land, this self-deceiving band felt orphaned after the 34-year-long Communist domination of West Bengal ended.
But for a few years before that some of them had been shy of expressing the old, unqualified loyalty they once manifested — Buddhadeb's genocide in Nandigram was too much to wish away. So it wasn't the ideological magnet which drew them to the Maoists. They just needed a hobby horse and in the Communist Party of India (Maoist) they found reminders of a Youngistan where dreams grew on trees and radios blared Chiner Chairman Aamader Chairman (“China’s chairman is our chairman”) twice daily.
Criminalism
Criminal Maoists versus Kleptocratic Indian State —who’s winningIJ The Maoists, obviously. Just as we have seen in Nepal, the jungle-fighters take full advantage of the greatest weapon in their armory - time. Apart from there is the terrain in their favour and, of course, “public sympathy” which in all insurgency-hit regions is with the guerrillas but prone to shift 180 degrees with reversal of fortunes.
They just lurk behind the thickets waiting for their prey. There are no pressures usually felt by governments to achieve anything (one way or the other) and they thrive on hopelessness, the fulcrum of local support. But time is not something the corporate backers of the government have. New Delhi’s facile posturing after each act of “terrorism” is plain proof of the cluelessness of its position.
last Saturday at Darbha Ghati, the former drew blood. Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde called it the “biggest act of terrorism” and promised a “massive operation” to hunt down the killers. In November 2009, a multi-disciplinary “Operation Green Hunt”: has been launched in the five states that lie on the “red corridor”. It was stated at the time that this “operation” would be in force for five years. Now, three-and-a-half years later, the Home Minister states with casual indifference to basic norms of accountability that another “massive operation” is in the offing. It’s as if the previous one didn’t happen.
We’d heard tall talk about a special forces school, a special forces unit and an Army brigade headquarter being established near Bilaspur for exclusive operations against the Maoists. Not unsurprisingly, the optimism generated by this announcement was indexed to the federal ability to wrest 18,000 acres to set up these facilities, apart from 300 acres for an Air Force base. And since land, unlike promises, cannot be manufactured in offices, nobody thought of approaching the dangerous territory of land acquisition.
Arriving in the heat of Chhattisgarh after completing his holiday in the United States, Shinde could perhaps be forgiven for the heat in his collar. Meanwhile, top Home Ministry officials were already admitting, albeit anonymously, to The Times of India that the more decisive battle to reclaim the “liberated” Bastar region in Chhattisgarh, Koraput-Malkangiri in Odisha and latehar in Jharkhand would have to wait for another two-three years, when enough Central forces would have been raised, trained and inducted to fill the gaps in the counter-Maoist grid.”
The Hindu (May 31) had an even more depressing story to tell. Chhattisgarh Police was in a state of panic and was abandoning its biggest camp in Sukma district. The paper reported, “By Tuesday (i.e. May 28, within 72 hours of the last attack) the camp was removed lock, stock and barrel fifteen days after it was set up. Reportedly it housed a thousand personnel. Till last week, police officers were talking about the camp as a major strategic advance in the direction of the Andhra Pradesh border. But repeated firing by rebels on the camp had clearly put the police on the back foot.”
Right to not know
Everything (with apologies to Shakespeare) is rotten in the state of India. After Sreesantgate, any cricket bowler scratching his head is understood to be sending a signal to a bookie. likewise, it’s all nudge-nudge-wink-wink each time Mr Sushil Shinde promises “massive operation” - visions float up of another thousand crore pocketed in the name of fighting those dirty terrorists.
A Right to Information application on the zillions already sent down the drain in the name of “Green Hunt” is likely to end up negative - “security reasons”. The void is filled by useful idiots at Headlines TV, sakaltimes and their peers who are suddenly in possession of sensational “documents” which “prove” that the Maoists are “planning to attack Pune”. No prizes for guessing who planted them.
Who believes this nonsenseIJ The spectacular failure of the Indian State to recruit the support of the common man in the war against Communist banditry (aka Maoist terrorism) ranks as the lowest point in our collective journey towards great nationhood. Thanks to the shenanigans of the Srinivasan band, the lay public is assured of temporary relief. Until the next massacre.
(The writer is Senior Editor, The Pioneer)