For decades the dense forest and inhospitable terrain of Sukma, the southern most border district of Chhattisgarh, provided idle breeding ground for Maoists. The Red Brigade never let go of an opportunity to strike at paramilitary forces and the police. But this time the choice of their target — the top leadership of the Chhattisgarh Congress — is bound to unnerve the entire political class ahead of the Assembly election later this year.
The Congress was desperate to make an inroad into the tribal belt of Bastar region, which the BJP swept in the 2008 Assembly polls. Out of 12 seats of Bastar, Bijapur, Dantewada, Kanker, Naryanpur districts, the Congress won just one.
In their eagerness to reach out to the tribals, the Congress leaders forgot that in a place like Sukma danger lurked at every step. Since it came into existence as a separate district two years ago, hundreds of CRPF jawans lost their lives fighting the Naxals in its jungles, and even the district collector was abducted by the Maoists in April last year.
The basis security norms were thrown to the wind. The leaders travelled in convoy and used the same route to come back. Both these factors came handy for the Maoists to plan and execute their strategy. The blame game between the local Congress and Raman Singh Government is bound to get strident in the days to come, but the fact remains that the incident will come as big blow to the democratic process in the region.
The combination of savagery, precision and ease with which the Maoists carried such a large-scale ambush makes mockery of the joint operation so aggressively carried out in the south Bastar for nearly three years by the Central forces and the local police. The fact that no one got a whiff of the gathering of nearly 1,200 armed Naxals, is a sad commentary on the status of intelligence network in the district, which shares boundary with the Maoists dominated districts of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.
The Maoists are surely going to exploit their success to terrorise both the voters and the candidates in the Assembly polls.The eighty bullets that they pumped in the body of their nemesis, Mahednra Karma, who enjoyed Z-Plus security, could be a chilling reminder to any political adversary who would try to oppose their diktats in the region.
The political class must be complimented for mobilisising the masses to reject the propaganda of the Maoists and join the mainstream. This is reflected in the voting percentage of the last Assembly polls in the Bastar region. Except Bijapur (29 per cent) and Konta (44 per cent), most other Assembly seats saw voter turnout between 55 and 80 per cent. By targeting the Congress leadership and killing someone like Karma, the Maoists would aim to derail the democratic process.
Political leaders are worried that the Saturday's attack will also impact electioneering in other Maoists theaters like Odihsa and Andhra Pradesh which would go to Assembly polls within a year. Jharkhand, which is presently under President's Rule, could also be headed for poll any time.
"To convince party workers and candidates to aggressively campaign in the Maoist stronghold will not be an easy task," commented a senior BJP leader.
For the Congress, which trailed the BJP by mere 1.7 per cent vote in the last Assembly polls in Chhattisgarh, the Saturday attack is a deadly blow. The entire senior leadership of the party has been wiped away, and Ajit Jogi is hardly a leader who could carry on his party colleagues with him. But BJP leadership does not see this as an opportunity to capitalise on the weakness of the Congress.
"It is not a time to play politics, but remain united. Such incidents are threat to entire democratic process," said BJP chief Rajnath Singh.