Warning: This post is a very long one and deals with the Naxalite/Maoist movement.There are no photographs to break the monotony of narration so read only if actually interested in the issue.
What served as an immediate trigger for this post was the beheading of a police inspector (an intelligence officer to be precise) from Jharkhand by Naxalites (or Maoists if you please).For the purpose of this post I shall be using the two terms interchangeably for there is no difference between the two. As for the why part, for those who couldn’t care less about the names, I’d suggest that they skip the rest of this particular paragraph which is just some boring history.The term Naxalite is derived from the name of a village called Naxalbari in West Bengal where a peasant movement first started in 1969 under the leadership of Charu Mazumdar in protest against the landlords who treated them inhumanly-long working hours, petty wages, violating their womenfolk etc. The movement gradually spread and the instigators came to be known as Naxalites.They formed a party of their own-the Communist Party of India(Marxist-Leninist) (which didn’t fight polls for they didn’t believe in democracy.As a fact, Communists don’t believe in democracy, their doctrine tells them that democracy is a sham invented by the bourgeois class.).As the movement spread,these people took inspiration from the Chinese leader Mao who had led Communists to power in China in 1948 and gradually came to be known as Maoists. “The Little Red Book” mandated by Mao for all his countrymen became the book of gospels for these people and they subsequently came to be known as Maoists.It’s a different matter altogether that time and again Mao brought nothing but misery to his people with his policies and committed indescribable atrocities right from the time he gained power(and in the course of taking it as well) till the end of his rule.
Time and again we keep coming across news items on the front page describing either Naxal atrocities or stories of encounters between them and the police. What do these people want? Why all this violence and bloodshed? Simply put, the aim of Maoists is the overthrow of the state and replacement of the existing system of governance with their own which envisages justice, equality and empowerment of the poor and the downtrodden etc. In short,the classic utopian Communist dream. And the path they have chosen is that of direct confrontation with the state in keeping with the Maoist doctrine ,”Political power flows from the barrel of a gun.” Hence the violence.
The officer referred to in the beginning was abducted to make a swap deal with the government wherein the extremists wanted the release of Maoist Kobad Ghandy who was arrested a few days back for his activities. The refusal of the government to bend to their demands sounded the death knell for the officer. The Maoists have shown themselves to be what they really are- a bunch of violent maniacs whose activities amount to treason and who need to be reined in immediately.This is not an isolated incident.There have been several more in the past but the Taliban-style beheading is a novelty. Yet, there is no dearth of intellectuals in the civil society who sympathize with their cause and romanticize their movement. True, those who join the movement at the lower rungs are mostly those who have been discriminated against or wronged in one way or the other. Some of them have even seen their own family members killed, raped or tortured by individuals acting on behalf of the state (the police mostly) and failing to get justice have chosen the violent path. But nothing, nothing whatsoever justifies this kind of gory violence against the society. Ours is a democratic country and there are processes and systems in place to ensure checks and balances. Conceded,the system is not always fair and it is far from perfect but democracy is the best option the world has at the moment. The recalcitrance of the Maoists in trying to replace it with a system that has been successful nowhere in the world and has only brought humongous levels of pain and suffering is exasperating. Agreed that a lot of rot has set in with money doing most of the talking but efforts and energies have to be directed towards eliminating that rot and not uprooting the tree.
In my opinion, the main culprits are the leaders of these outfits who encourage and instigate the disgruntled to rebel and take by force what they deserve; for these leaders are mostly educated people who understand the stakes involved and the consequences of fighting the state.They read Communist and Maoist literature, get influenced by it and seek to influence others. They are people like you and me who see the injustice around them in their youth and college years and try to find a way to end it, some go about it in a manner befitting a vibrant democracy and others in a truculent manner, ending up fighting the state with arms. The irony is that those elements in the system who may have perpetrated crimes against people mostly go unpunished.If I have been wronged by an XYZ policeman and take up arms in response what are the chances of me encountering him again in future? My organization won’t go looking for a particular policeman, would it? It is fighting a planned struggle, seeking to weaken the administrative and defence machinery of the state as a whole, why is it going to expend time and money in helping me settle personal scores with a particular individual when all of its members have their own grievances and their own fish to fry? The organization would never be able to work for its stated goals if it sought to serve the selfish interests of its members so it simply doesn’t; it exhorts you to work for the greater good and the larger cause. Would I not have a better shot at justice and bringing the real culprits to book if I followed the democratic path?In all fairness, it may not be possible for everyone to do so thanks to the rotten system but that still doesn't justify killing somebody else to satiate your anger,does it?It would amount to no better than an act of blinded vengeance,cloaked in the veneer of ideology.
To those sympathizing with the cause being fought for,namely the upliftment of the poor I pose this simple question : If the government were taking affirmative action in backward areas and the rebels hampered those would you still continue to be misled by their purported aims? Not if you really have the people's best interests at heart I believe. I say this because time and again Naxals have exposed themselves to be what they are-a bunch of power-hungry animals-by blowing up railway tracks,cell-phone towers,hampering road construction for public transport and eliminating any and every other semblence of infrastructure in the backward areas.Is this their way of helping their "brethren"?
To those who claim local support for these insurgencies, I would like to counter by claiming that the local support is cultivated by these groups for two selfish purposes- to get information on the activities of the government aimed at rooting them out and to get food,shelter and refuge in times of combing operations by the forces.The morality and propriety of having a state-funded militia such as the Salwa Judum may be debatable but you cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that such a force wouldn't even exist were disillusioned tribals happy with the trigger-happy Naxals.It's a false claim that Naxals don't kill civilians, there is ample record and proof to show the contrary-and I'm not even referring to civilian casualties as collateral damages but calculated,cold-blooded torture and murder in the so-called courts of their "Janatana Sarkar".Human rights activists who are out baying for the blood of the police at the drop of the hat,in response to criticism for their one-sided,hypocritical actions, have lately taken to issuing token statements and press releases condemning violence by the rebels as well.But I never see them filing cases, fighting bitter court battles and taking out marches in favour of police even in the most gruesome and unjustified killings of its men.Since they do all of it for their beloved Naxals,if this is not hypocrisy WHAT IS??Are all human rights only for the rebels and not for the security forces?What crimes have the latter committed to deserve such apathy and negligence?That of taking up the responsibility of protecting you and me at the cost of their own lives,working in the most pitiable conditions at meagre wages with outdated weapons and inadequate training?? If you can't be thankful the least you can do is not to degrade their sacrifices. The truth is that while opposition to the state howsoever spiteful will be tolerated,bitter criticism of Naxals is a sureshot invitation to retribution.While all the onus of being lawful and democratic is put on the state,the Naxal cause is justified,their actions seen as not a cause but a consequence of state violence.Let one thing be clear : human rights are for humans and not animals,I could give umpteen bone-chilling accounts of the ruthless and barbaric killing of police personnel by the Naxals but for now please make do with a small sample.
In Ranibodli in March 2007,one of the rooms of the police camp was bolted from outside by the Maoists and petrol bombs thrown inside towards the off-duty,unaware police personnel.Some escaping security men were targeted from tree-tops,killing a total of 55 police officers.As if this couldn't pacify their quest for sadism they laid down IED's(Improvised Explosive Devices)all around the building to hinder even the evacuation of casualties.The charred bodies of the personnel could not be recognized even by their kin. If the perpetrators still manage to win your sympathy and you still feel that they should be arrested and tried rather than be killed on the spot even if unarmed, I personally can only hope that one of you never becomes in-charge of dealing with these animals.
The next post shall deal with the ideal strategy to counter the movement,discussing the development-first versus action-first debate,the actions taken so far by various states,their successes and failures,the road for the future and finally the dire consequences of not dealing with this menace while there is still time.
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