The Bijapur (Chhatishgarh) incident of mass killing of cops by the Naxalites - now branded as Maoists - is a matter of concern for everybody. During the recent months these neo-Maoists have killed many people including the tribal people who had joined the ‘Salwa Judum’ - the anti-naxal movement promoted by the government, many tribal people, police officials and three forest department workers of Orissa, a popular political leader Sunil Mahato of Jharkhand etc. They have been successful in looting the armouries in Orissa and Chhatishgarh. But they are still rising under the support base in the tribal populated pockets of Andhra Pradesh, Chhatishgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharastra, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Tripura, Manipur and some other states of India. As the recent incidents explain, they are mostly active in Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Chhatishgarh, Bihar and Jharkhand and use the edging forest and terrain track as the world under their virtual control that connects them with their counterparts in Nepal who have successfully entered the power corridors. Although the Maoists of India are not that close to power, they have a strong hold over this vast forest track the hearts of tribal population living in the forests.
The Naxalites or Maoists are supported by the tribal and other backward communities living in places where the developement is less visible or almost invisible and the gap between government officials and people is more. The prevalence of socio-economic disparity, unemployment problem, exploitation of innocent tribal folks and corruption are some usual features in those districts. Public reaction to large scale industrialisation on the issue of displacement and rehabilitation has become a blessing in disguise for the Maoists in India and worked as an opportunity to enter economic activity centres like mining areas and industrial zones. These issues are used by the Maoists for making their place in the community as the protector of peoples’ right and the saviour of the proletariats. They pull the unemployed youth of the community into the Naxal or the Maoist fold in the name of an armed movement against oppression, corruption and exploitation to safeguard the individual rights.
This fact raises the obvious question - why the youngsters, most of whom are at least a graduate - some are even B.Techs and MBAs, join the radical groups putting their life into lots of hardship and even at risk? When an active naxal cadre ‘Ravi’ died in an encounter by Andhra Pradesh Police, the administration came to know that he was an Engineer and one of the bright students of his batch. Like Ravi many youngsters who could contribute a lot to the nation prefers to join such radical outfits. Why? The primary force that drives the youth towards Naxal movement is frustration due to unemployment and poverty that puts the whole family in a struggle for gathering livelihood, due to humiliation and suppression by the capitalists of their society that leads to vengeance and vindictiveness, due to continuous negligence and harassment by the government officials who have a greater role to play in the public, and due to socio-economic inequality and non-fulfilment of material desires aroused out of social comparison.
The violence displayed by the Naxalites and the Maoists is nothing but an aggressive expression of the frustration that motivates them to join the radical groups. The recent massacre of cops in Chhatishgarh and their activities during the previous years in different states explain that the victims of their aggression are mostly either police, the local rich class, government officials or people who work against them - even if they are tribal folks. The reaction of the Naxalites against the tribals of Dantewada who joined Salwa Judum - the government supported campaign against the Naxalites - is an expression of their vindictiveness towards anyone who supports the government and opposes the left radicals.
It is the duty of the government in the state and centre to look into the problems and livelihood issues and sort them out to build strong faith and a sense of contentment in the public towards the government which, unfortunately, has become a body of privileged people or medieval nobility.
As seen in most cases, the Naxalites are often vindictive towards police. In fact, it is not only among the Naxalites and the tribals, Orissa police doesn’t have a good image in general public of Orissa. Instead of behaving as the protector of law and people, the role of police has always been like the master of people and imposer and twister of law to generate a fear psychosis in the public about it and make extra money. In most incidents, police acts on money and pressure from the privileged segment of the society. There are number of incidents where police has harassed common people and the tribals, put them behind bars without reasons and acted as an agent of the capitalists and corporate barons. It’s the police that killed general people in Nandigram, tribals in Kalinga Nagar, in Maikanch and ill treated the tribals of Lanjigarh and many other places. Police is always identified as the notorious face of the government. Police should change itself and act as a friend and the saviour of people for an image building.
Even, officials posted in the backward and tribal populated districts of India take it as a punishment. Corruption and exploitation by the administrative machinery is rampant in those districts where poverty and misery are the basic features of people and society. People and communities living in these districts are never taken into confidence and involved in the process of policy making. Without any effort to know them, their lifestyle and culture, political leaders and bureaucrats always imposed policies on them most of which are less practicable or almost impracticable. As is the case in many backward districts, people still live in hamlets having no connectivity. They have to go many miles for any reason, be it marketing or medical related.
Like the people in the administration, political leaders elected by the tribal communities do not act for the all-round development of the community expectation and involve themselves in various corrupt practices. Once elected, they work to relocate in the cities and camouflage into Sahari Babus. So, the government, administration and so called mainstream society members are in many ways responsible for the rise of Naxalite and Maoist activism in India?
After sixty years of freedom now it’s time, our leadership and bureaucracy should go for a critical appreciation through self-analysis and review of their role and work during the last years. The system formulated on a democratic platform must work for the people and hand to hand with people. Everybody in the system must realise that government is a public body meant for the welfare of the public and, like in any democratic set up, it is never the body vested with power to rule over the public in an unruly manner.
Naxalism and Maoist activism has taken the shape of domestic terrorism and day by day their activities go over-violent to generate a fear psychosis among people and the administration. In order to create the financial resource base the radical leftists are into lots of illegal practices large-scale Ganja cultivation and marketing, collecting money forcibly from richer people (businessmen, contractors and industrialists) based or working in the Maoist dominated places. Even the non-government development agencies working in the backward districts are forced to pay a part of their grant for each project. As once told by an NGO manager, he had to pay handsome money to the naxalites operating in the Orissa - Andhra Pradesh borders just for staging street shows meant to make people aware about the dangers of AIDS. In most cases, local police officials are aware of all such works but never dare to go for an immediate reaction as the naxalites or present day Maoists are much more resourceful in terms of arms and support from the local public. As told by the secretary of west Bengal CPI Maoist faction on a TV Channel recently, ‘we were using country-made rifles and hand bombs in seventies only. Now we operate with ultramodel guns, grenades and rocket launchers’. There is also a frequent inflow of fresh youth into the Maoist brigades who join with a default mindset to act against the government systems and privileged communities. This is mostly the result of socio-economic (mostly economic) disparity and frustration due to the irresponsible attitude of government, politicians and policy making bureaucrats towards the unemployment problem and livelihood issues in India. With good number of youth entering into their fold, the Maoists have formed their own armed force in the name of ‘People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army’ (PLGA) and deputed them to work in more than 100 operative zones in India. The shocking fact is that, Maoists are now shifting their operations to the proposed industrial hubs planned in the backward states like Orissa, Jharkhand and Chhatishgarh with the aim to ensure a substantial and sustained financial resource base. Even, the communist ruled West Bengal is not free from their heinous activities.
At such a point, it is almost impossible to end the naxal menace without changing people’s mindset about the government, police and politicians and making them feel that the government as a whole is people’s government to look after their all-round development and let them live peacefully. As an effort for realisation of these objectives, the government and so called mainstream society members should work to minimise socio-economic disparity, generate adequate employment opportunities and bring the general livelihood costs to the minimum level in order to achieve the one point goal of putting a check to the entry of Indian youth into the radical groups. The pace of development must be faster and visible in the backward and tribal populated districts to open up opportunities for the youth in particular and the communities in general to earn their livelihood. The administrative machinery has to come out of the imperialist British fashion and be responsible to play a greater role. Everyone representing the government at any level should act friendly to people who are innocent, needy and in the struggle for survival. Once the development goals are realised, people must feel themselves an essential part of Indian democracy and the support base of naxalites or Maoists would go thinner towards vanishing. This would also reap more and better results for the government than what it has achieved so far by deployment of huge police force for restoring peace on gun points.