The young voters in the State, many of whom will exercise their franchise for the first time in the lok Sabha elections, are visibly shaken by the Naxal attack on security personnel in the restive Sukma district on Tuesday. Apart from development, jobs, infrastructure and basic facilities, the youth of the State considers security a very important factor in context with the upcoming lok Sabha elections.
“The Government has immense resources but it is failing to deal with this problem with a strict and merciless approach. Our jawaans do not deserve to be killed by Naxals every now and then,” said 25-year-old Mayank Agrawal who is a resident of Raigarh.
One embarrassment that youth of Chhattisgarh face when they go outstation is the prejudice of their peers regarding the image of the State. Even educated people associate Chhattisgarh only with Naxalism.
Not only these incidents tarnish the image of our State outside, but it also hinders development on several levels. These repeated incidents will definitely impact my vote as I have seen tourism sector getting stifled in my home district because of Maoist threats, said Agrawal.
So many deaths of security personnel and civilians over the years and repeated attacks expose the pitiable condition of the internal security of our state, said Priyanka Chugh 23-year-old. “How can intelligence of our State fail every time!”
“Apart from intelligence failure this also indicates toward a political conspiracy of the Opposition. The Jeeram attack in November had also come just before Assembly elections. The ruling party in the Centre wants such incidents to happen so that our State Government is thrown out of power,” said 22-year-old resident of Raipur Saurabh Singh.
The youth of the State are linking the Naxal attacks with political forces also and are aware of repeated security lapses. “I have spent six years in Bastar region and I see a lack of will in Governments to eradicate the Naxal menace. A co-ordinated effort from Governments of all the Naxal-infested states is required to tackle this recurring problem,” said 24-year-old Srikanth Kvnap who has spent six years in Jagdalpur.