Crushing greavest threat in India
Two days after I read the 32-page essay in Outlook magazine by Arundhoti Roy about Maoists in Dantewada district, news poured in saying at least 76 paramilitary personnel of the Central Reserve Police lost their life in fighting the Maoists in the same district.
To my analysis, the CRP team in confidence tried trapping the rebels in the jungle, whom the police assumed to be living there based on the travelogue by Roy. The attempt bounced to be bitter for Indian government — being the biggest attack since the birth of Maoist rebels.
The Operation Green Hunt, symbolically mean a military operation inside jungles where the rebels are believed to be hiding, has come out as new strategies for India, being encouraged by the crush success of Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka. The operation against Maoists remained a silent move, in midst of government’s call for talks. It looks clear that the rebels had adequately availed the two-way strategies prepared by the government — to run operation and talks together. And they got prepared for that.
The Roy’s essay gives clear idea about the situation in the Maoist infested districts and the reason why villagers support rebels over government. The life for these most backward strangers did change to nothing since the country got its independence more than half a century ago. The repeated attempts by the ruling castes to change their titles, case, religion and names besides extracting minerals which in turn gives not a penny-worth of benefits to locals, have been the core cause for militancy.
The military intervention is not a solution, be it in India or elsewhere. We have adequately learnt from the examples in Afghanistan, Iraq, Chechnya or many other African countries that military imposition does not give out desired results. The democracy flourishes in peace, — the acclaimed largest democracy in the world, India, might have well understood this vary fact. When this country stresses for peaceful solution of conflicts in neighboring countries in order for restore peace and stability, it should be self irony for India to take help of the military for crushing communist problem within it.
The best way for Indian government to end Maoist upsurge is to build trust among the residents of Maoist-infested land towards the central and state governments. It is the obligation by morality that India must deliver justice to people who have been denied for centuries, as Roy reveals. The locals must not feel that they still live in a colony. To win the hearts of the villagers means curtailing their relation with rebels.
Admission by home minister P Chidambaram of failed anti-Maoist operation and planning for another counter attack will certainly not end the communist mania here but add fuel to locals rise against the government. It is the locals who suffer from military operation, not the rebels.