Mowing down the Maoists
What makes it so difficult?
Prof. A.C. Bose
Almost for the last three years our prime minister, heading, first, the UPA-1 government and then the present UPA-2 government has repeatedly declared the Maoists to be his enemy No.1. Last year he called a meeting of all the CMs of Naxalite-affected states, and urged them to take appropriate measures in unison to fight the Maoist menace threatening our democracy and orderly life from within. Yet, the situation has so far only turned from bad to worse. Earlier the centre of Maoist violence was the southern districts of Chhattisgarh and the bordering districts of Orissa and Telengana. But, since the beginning of 2009, the storm centre has apparently shifted to the so-called Jangalmahal comprising the south-western districts of West Bengal with the armed tribals of Jharkhand providing the guerrillas there with the desired strategic depth.
In West Bengal, apparently, this resurgence of Naxalite violence, after it had been stamped out by mid-70's, took place with a well-planned land-mine attack on the CM's motorcade returning from Salboni, in the evening of 2 November 2008, in company with Rambilash Pawan, after laying the foundation stone of the proposed steel mill of the Jindal group. Fortunately, the attackers missed their target, but the entire area erupted in violence as one man in response to the severe counter measures that the police took apprehend the culprits. The villagers, largely tribals and lower castes ethno-culturally close to them, formed the Peoples Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA), asked the state officials to leave their area and prevented the police force from reaching their villages by eithers cutting the roads or felling trees across these. In the face of the near-unanimous fury of the rural folk the government tamely surrendered, withdrew the police force from the thanas in the zone where the writ of the PCPA ran, and left the locals virtually free beyond the reach of law, while keeping normal links open for the supply of power and necessities of daily life. Apparently, none expected this sort of response from the locals. After all, who cares for what is being whispered in village bazaars; officers and public figures in towns have their different priorities. Similarly none knows even now how the villagers would have reacted if the government had closed the supply channels. Anyway, for good or for bad, the villagers lived their own lives free of all normal controls till early June 2009 when the new home minister P-Chidambaram, prodded the state government to wake up and to call it a day. So battalions of CRPF were sent to the troubled zone where a combined force of the CRPF and the state police launched an all-out offensive against the Maoist/insurgents in mid-June, initially spear-head by a company of Cobras. Since then the security forces have taken control of quite a few small towns and main roads and some of the leader of the PCPA (believed to be a front organisation and public face of the armed Maoists) have been either arrested or killed. But their latest antics confirm that their hold on the minds of men and in remoter, parts away from the motorable roads remains as firm as before, and the authorities are apparently at a loss to decide that to do. As per their estimate around 200 armed Maoists are active in West Bengal, and they have, evidently, held at bay a combined force of around 4,500. Maoist violence claimed 24 lives in 2008, 159 in 2009, and 60 in Jan.-Feb. 2010. Now, it is being feared in official circles that some 300 more Maoists have sneaked into West Bengal from neighbouring Jharkhand. If that is really so then what the future holds for the state government here is any one's guess.
However, the question that remains unanswered is, why cannot the central and the state governments together deal with a handful of local insurgents. They may be very well motivated, and may be having some of the latest sophisticated arms. But, how many are they, and the supply routes for their arms and ammunition can be sealed by the state governments of the neighbouring area. But, some how the steps taken by the concerned governments have not worked so far. There are reasons to believe that the state police, if not the CRPF, who are new to this area, is not sufficiently motivated. Many of them are locals while many from districts come from the more or less, similar ethno-economic-cultural background, and have secret sympathy for he Maoists and their cause. The suspicion regarding their motivation was strengthened by the fact that two S.Is of duty at Silda camp left their station with some excuse barely half-an-hour before the unexpected Maoist attack that left 24 of their comrades dead. Earlier too, while more than one police official abducted by the Maoists had been brutally murdered, one Atinndra Nath Datta was released unharmed. Obviously, there are reasons to believe that Maoist moles are there among those in uniform, and the rebels get prior information about the movements of those opposed to them. Besides, the police in India has never been famous for being fired by any sense of mission or pride in their profession. The state government too is party to be blamed. Over the decades the Left Front has pampered the local politicians and panchayets at the cost of the bureaucracy and the police, and the latter are hence are a demoralised lot.
Moreover, the desired joint action by the four affected states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, and West Bengal has not yet materialised. When last month the home minister flew done to Kolkata for a meeting of chief ministers of the aforesaid four states the CMs of Bihar and Jharkhand excused themselves from the crucial meeting rendering it virtually infructuous. Now that the home minister has called a similar meeting in new Delhi it is doubtful whether Nitish Kumar and Sibu Soren will attend it or not. The reasons that prompt them to avoid taking any stand against the Maoists are very clear. First, in their case-in the case of Jharkhand, in particular-the Maoists are almost all locals with their caste and tribals links spread far and wide in the countryside. So, stern action against them is likely to produce an unfavourable electoral backlash in their strong holds. Moreover, the Maoists too do not view the rulers in Patna or Ranchi as their sworn enemies, when compared to Comrade Buddhadev Bhattacharya. The former were never with them, and have not left them in the lurch, while the CPM and CPI in power in West Bengal swear by the same Marx, Lenin and Mao, yet differ with them and have joined the bourgeois rulers at the centre to destroy them. So, they have to be exposed and destroyed. It is a known maxim that "heretics are hated more than infidels". Marwaris may be a much-maligned group in the eyes of the Naxalites. Yet, in the bloody decade since the late 60's not a single Marwari was killed. Then and even now the targets of the targets of their rage are mostly middle class supporters of the Left Front. So, whatever the centre may think and suggest Bihar and Jharkhand are not likely to join the crusade against the Maoists, sincerely.
Finally, it has to be admitted that the poor lower caste, especially the tribals, are a neglected lot every where in India. Little has been done for their progress on lines they welcome or that suits them. The resources, however measly, sanctioned for the development of their areas are normally so spent that the locals, especially the tribals, are often left worse off than before. They are displaced in the name development, forests are fenced off to protect the trees making those out of bound for their domestic animals, and contractors and money-lenders come in hordes to capture the market of local produces, like lac, honey etc. And, how they and policemen treat the tribals, especially their women, is well-known. Naturally, the Maoists enjoy mass ground level support, while those opposed to them are divided in their own interests, and depend on a force that lacks both determination and direction.

Ban Manja..!
Robert Clements
".. 'Massakali' girl Sonam Kapoor has appealed to the Home Minister to ban manja kite thread.."
-Mirror 11th Feb
Thank God Mr Hobday's dead!
Mr Hobday taught us English, or was it Geography, but what he knew best was to make manja! He rushed home from school during the kite season to break empty bottles into tiny glass pieces, mix his super glue with different shades, then string his wet manja around his compound which when dried would become the strongest, most lethal kite thread in town.
I'm sure Mr Hobday thought about manja making even when he was teaching English or was it Geography, "Sir which is the national bird of America?"
"Kite!"
"I thought it was an eagle sir?"
"Kite, eagle what difference?"
Kites were always on Mr Hobday's mind. He was old and tall and bald and quite an embarrassment to Mr Flack, my Australian principal, Mr Martin, my British, History master and Mr Henning, the Irishman who taught us the rudiments of carpentry. Because when Mr Hobday was called on to take the school assembly, he mumbled and bumbled his way through and we all knew his thoughts were only on his manja.
Nobody had any thoughts of banning manja those days, people were too busy trying to exist to bother whether birds got caught in deadly thread, or a scooterist got his neck cut off or that we all had bloody hands with the cutting edge of the deadly kite thread.
But if manja had been banned then, then poor Mr Hobday would have wept, luckily manja wasn't and Mr Hobday continued making manja till he retired.
Mr Flack didn't like it.
"How can you stoop so low Hobday? Can't you be like other schoolmasters and make extra money by giving tuitions to idiots?"
"I don't think that'll work sir!"
"Why not?"
"Because if they don't listen to me in class, why would they at home when I give tuitions?"
That was certainly a point and Mr Flack I don't think pursued the matter, though I'm sure every time a string attached to a kite cut his neck as he sped home on his Australian scooter, he cursed Hobday and his manja.
Ah well, now I hear that pretty Sonam Kapoor is against manja: Well Sonam go ahead and ban manja, because Mr Hobday, God bless his soul passed on many decades ago, and he won't be driven to giving tuitions to idiots like me, and making us bigger idiots; thank God manja wasn't banned then..!
bobsbanter@gmail.com