LWE, Maoists, Naxals… War, battle, action
Forget the terminology. Focus on the execution of policy.
Left Wing Extremism, the official term for the mayhem caused by the Maoists and Naxals, is a rather bland term for a threat so grave. Nevertheless, it is far better than the expression used by the Pakistani security establishment to describe jehadis operating in that country — miscreants.
When it comes to terminology, what is that the reinvigorated Home Ministry, under P Chidamabaram, has launched against the Maoists? Is it a war on Maoists, a battle against LWE or a conflict against certain anti-social elements? The Indian mainstream media loves to express it as a War on Maoists while the Home Minister adjudges it — again very staidly — concerted government action against Left Wing Extremism.
Whatever may be the grammatical construction, it takes little away from the fact that Indian government is plotting serious action against the Maoists. There seems to be an incipient strategy in place as well, which many may or may not agree with. Judging by the media reports, the action plan in its initial stage aims for the state to regain territory from the Maoists.
This is a security-centric phase of operations which is being dismissed by some experts as sheer purposeless “demonstrative violence” by the state. Even if one finds flaws with the strategy (or dismiss it as non-existent), it cannot be denied that the intent is there. That in itself is a quantum jump from the pusillanimity on display earlier in taking on the Maoists.
No one, not even Ajai Sahni, can say with certainty that this plan would unquestionably result in disaster because history is full of situations where superior leadership and execution rescued even flawed policy. Neither can anyone else claim that if the government were to adopt an alternative course of action, it would definitely prevail; history is also replete with examples of otherwise solid plans failing.
In all walks of life, there is always a gap between intent and result — filled by execution. The situation is no different here in Operation Green Hunt. If he succeeds in bridging this gap of execution, Mr. Chidamabaram will be fêted as a hero; otherwise sacrificed at the political altar.
“gap between intent and result — filled by execution”
Sir, Surely HM’s Forces will succeed in deletions. Even if bringing Peace be upon them is thru encounters or execution. Not needed anyone else to lend learned hand.
http://www.dnaindia.com/sport/report_army-will-lend-a-hand-during-commonwealth-games_1303092
‘The plan in the initial stages seems to be to regain territory’ As if the Maoist are holding territory sitting in trenches. God save us from these planners
What is wrong with clearing territory of weapons before throwing civilians to fix the governance problem? There has been a lot of whining, but no alternative is being presented by the lot that are unhappy with the initial clearing phase.
The maoists are “sitting tight in the trenches” and holding on to their weapons, at least according to news reports. There is no way to remove a gun from a person’s hands without involving violence, or at least overwhelming threat of violence. Mental deterrence is a lot cheaper (and causes lesser loss of life) than physical deterrence, so a seriousness of intent to use overwhelming power against the Naxals would cause a lot of the poorly armed/trained naxals to give up their weapons sooner and come to the negotiating table.
Best
“before throwing civilians to fix the governance problem ?”
Sir.
@Murthy!! The Maoist are too smart for Chidambram. Do you think they will give pitched battles to the forces??? Did they do it in West Bengal few weeks back when the govt ‘ reclaimed ‘ the territory. Did you see the victorious smiles on the faces of those police and the CPO officers who moved into the area and reclaimed the territory. Not one maoist confronted them. And today the reclaimed area still belongs to the Maoists. They will simply keep moving away and concetrating where they want to strike.
Solutions??? Gradually win over the deeply alienated tribal population who are the main foot soldiers of the maoists and with lots of reason. Pump in half of the central budget in these areas to undo the injustice of one century done to this region. Meanwhile keep fighting the holding action with security force. Ensure there are no human right abuses . And ask netas and babus to actually deliver in these areas( the hardest part)
Too slow a solution?? A brew that you have cooked in one century will take some time to swallow brother.
Lastly’ Do not use Army there’
One of the positives of debating an issue on a digital media is that the sermons of the ‘experts’ will not get buried and lost in old ‘raddi’ or in the muncipal containers with the dog’s poo.
So, ye one and all- say your piece and stand by it. And the soothsayers of doom are requested to be elaborate enough so that later they don’t deny what they stated/meant.
Chidambram will be a hero- only let the compultions of politics not dither his steps. Stand with him and the nation will beat the length of the Tughlaq rule (1321-1398).
“The Maoist are too smart for Chidambram. Do you think they will give pitched battles to the forces??? Did they do it in West Bengal few weeks back when the govt ‘ reclaimed ‘ the territory. ”
The West Bengal govt. just release the chief of the Naxals, and are on the side of the maoists (as the CPI(M) makes very clear with periodic public pronouncements to that effect), so it would be prudent to not use the response of the communist CPI(M) traitors in West Bengal as a benchmark for the proper response to Naxals.
“Did you see the victorious smiles on the faces of those police and the CPO officers who moved into the area and reclaimed the territory. Not one maoist confronted them. And today the reclaimed area still belongs to the Maoists. They will simply keep moving away and concetrating where they want to strike.”
Well, isn’t it then important to occupy these vacated areas and bring them under govt. control? Which part of the above news is “bad news” in your opinion? Reclaiming land from the red corridor without fighting seems like a good thing to me, but I clearly do not understand your mindset.
“Solutions??? Gradually win over the deeply alienated tribal population who are the main foot soldiers of the maoists and with lots of reason.”
And if they kill all the govt. servants who are implementing your stated policy (of handing over money without removing weapons from the LWE-infested areas), then how do you propose to ensure that such a thing does not happen? Because without such answers, your solutions are worthless, with all due respect.
” Pump in half of the central budget in these areas to undo the injustice of one century done to this region. Meanwhile keep fighting the holding action with security force. ”
So pump in money to maoist areas while the maoists still possess AK-47s and heavy weapons? Why do you think this is a “solution” to the current problem of armed vigilantes/maoists?
“Ensure there are no human right abuses . And ask netas and babus to actually deliver in these areas( the hardest part)”
And what happens if these people get a bullet in their heads while doing their job? Did you even bother to think that far? I am sorry, your “solution” has been tried and it has failed, and you need to answer crucial questions of how you plan to approach an “end game” with your so-called “humane strategy to fight maoists”. Few answers, more questions.
., “Sir”
Isn’t that exactly what all the geniuses who want a “humane solution to the naxal problem” are saying? That is, give money to the naxals from the public exchequer before ensuring that they are on the side of the people (i.e., the Indian state), ignoring any repercussions of enriching the armed maoists who seem to be struggling for funds otherwise. Because, at the end of the day, if India cannot enforce the constitution on all parts of the state, then Indian sovereignity would be a mirage.
Murthy. I am not sure about many issues in this game. I hope you all are. I have some apprehensive strring in pit of my stomach. It will be a long long battle. Pardon me but I am deeply apprehensive of the abilty of the CPOs to deliver in this scenerio. I know the tacticla aspects very well and the problems will arise there. And IndianAce; what has put Chidambram in the place that he is today: politics. So why do you bemoan that he has to operate under political compulsion. I am no doom sayer and no expert on this problems. You seem to be one. I am just a man wiht an opinion. So all the best
Ashok ji, I have nothing against the requirement that the govt. operate under specific guidelines, as without that, there is no difference between the maoists and the Indian state. They are just different groups with guns terrorizing an impoverished populace. What that does mean (IMO) is that unless the government gets the governance aspect correct when the dust settles, none of these “clearing actions” will make any difference. I think there is a common acceptance of this reality across the board, including among people who are creating policy.
Ashok wrote:
“It will be a long long battle. Pardon me but I am deeply apprehensive of the abilty of the CPOs to deliver in this scenerio. ”
Sir, As other people have pointed out, political will at the top to see this through the finish is the only pre-requisite to get a handle on this problem. Because, if there is no political will, then everyone involved (the security forces) will be just another scapegoat for misgovernance, and the problem would be worse than what it is now. Maybe it is just me, but getting spooked about the worst case seems like a recipe for inaction with a deer-stuck-in-headlights reaction to a severe law-and-order issue. It seems more prudent to keep track of progress and evaluate strengths and weakness in real-time, as the operations progress, learning lessons as quickly and efficiently based on feedback from the progress-tracking.
Best Regards
Ashok wrote:
“Too slow a solution?? A brew that you have cooked in one century will take some time to swallow brother.”
Sir,
The problem is that there is not just one problem — India has multiple severe problems that need to be solved concurrently. Of most importance is the fact India has a young population and there is a small window of oppurtunity to fix internal problems like the maoists and bring governance within the decade. Only then will there be enough societal support to create jobs and opportunity to these young men, who are liable to be currently at risk of being under the influence of maoist ideology.
Prolonging this confrontation with the maoists runs the risk of other problems overshadowing the govt.’s focus. For example, a CPI(M) govt. at the centre will surely see a resurgence of Naxals all over India, and such an eventuality cannot be stopped if that is what the people decide in a subsequent election. (this is just a worst-case example, but surely reality has an unending well of surprises to throw at all of us).
Best Regards