Maoist threat and India's ability to Self Destruct

Although Naxals have been active in the Eastern states for quite sometime, they have gained prominence in the last few months.  In these months, they have pulled off some horribly spectacular killings including the 73 CRPF men killed in Dantewada. (See List of attacks at the bottom of the post)

Government, on its part, is as good as clueless.  Admittedly there has been a “veil of secrecy” around the armed response against these Naxal Maoists, but judging from the blatant and rampant incidents in the last 2 months itself, I would be surprised if the area had any Armed presence from the Government.  If there is, then those armed men must be school kids and not professional Army soldiers.

The lack of any coordinated effort and thinking is obvious.  Also there is major politicking going on between the parties.  While Former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno A. Sangma is not happy with Chidambaram’s remarks to “annihilate the tribal population” in a bid to weed out Maoist menace, and wants PC to desist from it, BJP is mad that there is offensive against the Maoists.  Meanwhile, there are often rumors of Congress party and the Government not being on the same page.  Not so!  Says the Congress Spokesman Manish Tiwari.  What he means is both, Congress and the Government, are equally CLUELESS!

Meanwhile the media is happy interviewing the Maoist leaders as much as it can and becoming their mouthpiece.  One look at the following question and answer by CPI (Maoist) Special Zone Committee member of Dandakaranya, Ramanna – clearly shows the enthusiasm with which this interviewer from IBN-CNN tries to help the terrorist leaders of Maoists make a case so it appears that THEIR Human Rights are being violated!

CNN-IBN: If the government did a wrong thing by using civilians as human shields, can you say that you did the right thing in blasting a bus and killing innocent and poor people?
Ramanna: You are right. Out target were not civilians. Our target were the Koya commanders. The administration is using civilians as a human shield, so they got killed. But I regret this.

Meanwhile, the anti-national CPM party is trying its best to shield its terrorist sister organization of the Maoists.  For last several years, its party leaders, including Prakash Karat [7] have been making a case of not declaring CPM Maoists as terror organization.  Instead, he wanted VHP to be banned and declared a terrorist organization.  Now, no matter how shrill and nonsensical VHP may get, but to compare it to terror organizations like CPM Maoists and LeT is preposterous.  And maybe, if that is the line that these anti-national Commies want to take, VHP should actually go ahead and kill some people to at least seem like a legitimate “terrorist” organization before being brought down without any crime!

That is the saddest thing in this entire political debate right now.  Organizations, which are going to be the biggest threats to our nation’s soveriegnity are the ones which are being shielded by the Parties AND the media.  And those, which have proved inconsequential to the future of the nation are branded as criminals galore.

Make no mistake, Maoists are not alone.  They surely have backing of several players.  China? Definitely.  Pakistan? Highly likely.  Jehadi groups?  Highly likely (in fact according to Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, Maoists have links with LeT by now[8])

What we are in the midst of now is a strong attack on the nation in a covert manner helped and aided by the very pillars which are meant to save the country – political parties, Government, Media and the Intellectuals.

Something drastic needs to happen to save Indian nation from our own folks.  I am not sure what can be done, but the status quo is NOT the solution!

Reference Links:

1. Naxals strike again, kill four CRPF personnel in West Bengal
2. Jaitley backs offensive against Maoists, but calls Chidambaram an injured martyr
3. Sangma criticises Chidambaram’s Maoist policy
4. Maoists won’t lay down arms, says Ramanna
5. No gap between govt and party on Maoist threat: Congress
6. PC makes fresh offer for talks, Naxals reject it
7. Karat’s dual rule: Ban VHP but not Maoists
8. Naxals may have links with LeT: Raman Singh

List of Attacks by Naxals
(Source: Zee News)

2010
May 17, 2010: 35 people, including 14 Special Police Officers (SPO) were killed in a blast near Dantewada.
May 9, 2010: Seven CRPF jawans killed in Naxal attack in Bijapur.
April 6, 2010: Maoist kill 73 CRPF men in Dantewada.

2009
Oct 8, 2009 : Seventeen policemen killed in an ambush by Maoists at Laheri police station in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra.
Sep 30: Naxalites set ablaze Gram Panchayat offices at Korchi and Belgaon in Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra.
Sep 26: Naxals kill BJP MP from Balaghat Baliram Kashyap’s sons at Pairaguda village in Jagdalpur (Chhattisgarh).
Sep 4: Naxals kill four villagers in a forest in Aaded village in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district.
Jul 31: Two persons, including a special police officer (SPO), killed by Naxals in Bijapur district.
July 27: Six people killed when Naxals trigger a landmine blast at Dantewada district in Chhattisgarh.
July 23: A 40-year-old tribal killed by Naxalites at Ettapalli taluka in Gadchiroli district.
July 18: Naxalites kill a villager in Bastar and in a separate incident torch a vehicle engaged in road construction work in Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh.
June 23, 2009: A group of motorcycle-borne armed Naxal rebels open fire on Lakhisarai district court premises in Bihar and free four of their comrades including the self-style Zonal Commander of Ranchi.
June 16, 2009: Maoists kill 11 police officers in a landmine attack followed by armed assault. In a separate attack, four policemen killed and two others seriously injured when Maoists ambush them at Beherakhand in Palamau district.
June 13: Naxals launch two landmine and bomb attacks in a small town close to Bokaro, killing 10 policemen and injuring several others.
June 10: Nine policemen including CRPF troops and officers ambushed by Maoists during a routine patrol in Saranda jungles in Jharkhand.
May 22: Maoists kill 16 policemen in the jungles of Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra.
April 22: Maoists hijack a train with at least 300 people on board in Jharkhand and force it to Latehar district before fleeing.
April 13: 10 paramilitary troops killed in eastern Orissa when Maoists attack a bauxite mine in Koraput district.
July 16, 2008: 21 policemen killed when a landmine blast hits a police van in Malkangiri district of Orissa.
June 29: Maoists attack a boat on the Balimela reservoir in Orissa carrying four anti-Naxalite police officials and 60 Greyhound commandos, killing 38 troops.

2008
Feb 16, 2008 : A group of 50 rebels including women cadre raid a police training school, a police station and an armoury in Orissa killing 12 policemen and leaving four wounded.
Sept 7, 2007: Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Janardhan Reddy and his wife N Rajyalakshmi, escape unhurt while three Congress workers killed in a Maoist attack in Nellore district in Andhra Pradesh.
July 10: Naxalites attack a police team with light machine guns and mortar bombs in a dense forest area of Chhattisgarh, killing at least 24 security personnel.
July 1: Nine persons, including five policemen, killed and as many wounded as CPI-Maoist rebels carry out simultaneous attacks on a police station and an outpost in Sasaram in Bihar’s Rohtas district and flee with arms and ammunition.
Apr 28: Five security personnel killed in a landmine blast triggered by Maoist rebels in Michgaon village of Kanker district, about 175 km south of Raipur in Chhattisgarh.
Mar 16: Maoists attack a police post in remote jungles of Rani Bodli in Chattisgarh with guns, hand grenades and gasoline bombs, killing at least 49 people.
March 5: Naxalites shot dead Jharkhand Mukti Morcha’s Lok Sabha MP Sunil Kumar Mahato. Two of his bodyguards and a party colleague also killed in the attack when they were witnessing a football match at a village in Jamshedpur in Jharkhand.

2007
July 17, 2007: At least 25 people killed and 80 injured, 32 of them seriously, while about 250 people went missing following an attack by some 800 armed Naxalites in Dantewada district of Chattisgarh.

2006
Feb 9, 2006: Eight Central Industrial Security Force personnel killed and eight others injured when Naxalites raid a godown of the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC) and take away explosives from a village near Bailadila in Jagdalpur in Chattisgarh.

2005
November 13, 2005: Hundreds of activists of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) attack the police lines in south Bihar’s Jehanabad district.
Mar 1: Naxalites kill eight villagers and blow up a forest rest house, injuring a CRPF constable in Andhra Pradesh.