How did we reach here? Part-II

One of the major reasons of this malice is bad governance. You let social disparity grow, you grow social disparity for your own good (read votes) and money. Let the nation be damned, why should you think otherwise. You never thought of eliminating the root cause of the problem.
E.N.Rammohan, the formal DG of BSF says,

From what I saw in Andhra the primary problem is land. The upper castes have been exploiting tribals and Scheduled Castes (SCs) for generations. Before Independence there was no land ceiling, so the upper castes had huge land holdings that often ran into over a 1,000 acres, while the SCs and tribals had no land, or very small holdings. Yet even these small holdings were taken over forcibly by the upper castes who would buy their produce then fudge the accounts, to keep them indebted. The tribals were turned into tenant farmers who had to till the land but give 2/3rd of the produce to the upper castes. It is against this backdrop in 1946 that the CPI first started working in the Telangana areas. They would collect a group of tribals with bows and arrows, surround an upper caste granary and distribute the grain. Then they would tell the landowner that from now on 2/3rds would go to the tillers, 1/3rd to the landowner. Of course the landowners would complain to the police who would round up the locals and arrest and beat them.

No doubt, the highest officials of naxals hail from Andhra!
People from Bihar and Jharkhand face other set of problems. There are villages where there is no supply of drinking water even after 63 years of attaining independence, let alone the novelties like electricity and pakka homes. They have to walk more than 12 Kms downhill just to fetch drinking water. And the only source of food they have are the fruit which forests gift them. They collect ‘Tendu leaves’ (used for making beedis) and sell it on cheap rates. Naxals pay more than the govt. rate for Tendu leaves. Where the govt. pays Rs. 105 per 100 puras, the Naxals pay as much as Rs. 155. (TOI report here). The Naxals find compassion and collaborators among such group of people. These people act as the informers, helpers and accomplices of the Naxalites (who are not revolutionaries but Mafia interested in nothing other than money) because they believe if the govt. can’t give them clean water to drink, there is no use of such a government. You can easily imagine, how simple can be the task of adding these people into their cadres.

(Maoist Rally in Hyderabad)

Other than bad governance, comes bad politics.
In 1982, N.T Rama Rao declares “naxalites are true patriots”. He wins. Tries to begin the peace process. Is rebuffed. Gives half clearance to police force to tame the naxals. Loses. The new chief Minister, Chenna Reddy, from the rival party, congress takes over. Performs a radical experiment and releases 190 hardcore Naxalites. He lifts the ban. Naxalites hold there first public meeting and rally in Hyderabad. They start holding ‘Praja Durbars‘ to give justice on their own. In 1992, the ban has to be reimposed after a prominent congress minister, Hayagreeva Reddy is assassinated in Warangal. This is not the first time it has happened in the state. NTR returns to power and lifts the ban yet again. Soon Chandrababu Naidu comes to power and reimposes the ban. He fights them tooth and nail and is almost assassinated in the process. As soon as he loses the elections, the new chief minister lifts the ban. He invites them for talk. They refuse to give up arms. Not only they refuse they insist they would bring arms to the conference table. The govt. gives in as usual. They hold a huge public rally in Hyderabad. Regrouped, rearmed, they commence killings again. First on their radar are Telgu Desam legislators and then soon Congress leaders are killed too. The ban is reimposed and the saga continues….
All this time the Naxalites kill and maim people at will and we remain helpless in the absence of a singular national policy and will. Each time power shifts, our policies shift too. This is one of the primary answers of the question, “How did we reach here?” The unsaid political motto of, “to hell with internal security” hails!

(Maoist camp somewhere in Karnataka)

A two pronged approach is absolutely necessary. Secularists, communists and other elites point out, “these terrorists are our own people. They are not outsiders. They are just misguided youth who have taken up arms because of social alienation, poverty and injustice. They should be dealt with leniency”. Although i agree with them, i believe, at the same time they should be made to remember what the consequences would be if they take up arms and kill innocent people. These misguided youth have forged alliance with LeT and ISI. There are also reports that the Maoists were using the sea network of LTTE for shipment of arms and ammunition from some foreign countries which include the erstwhile Soviet block countries. They were involved in providing the much required arms and ammunition to the outfit. However with the LTTE crushed, the Maoists are now getting in touch with the LeT for their arms needs which, according to intelligence sources is being gleefully accepted by the LeT.

Sources in the RAW indicated that the Lashkar movement in Pakistan has given a green signal to its Indian operatives to have a strategic tie up with the Maoists in India. The idea behind this move is to destabilize India from within. According to another report Lashkar feels that if there is an attack
by a foreigner there are all chances of the spirit of India rising and for this they have come up with the scheme of home grown terrorists. However with the Intelligence network in the country getting some stupendous success in recent times by breaking the terror or jihadi network based in the middle east and in some parts of India, the Lashkar is trying to piggy ride on the infrastructure created by other organizations who are in a fight with the state of India. Here, according to central agencies fits in the Maoist who have a good infrastructure and with the romance of equality being their motto, the Maoists can engage in more youth for their struggle and hence a win-win situation for both and catch-22 for us!

The problem is complex and needs to be solved swiftly for our own national good. Social reforms should go hand in hand and terrorists be punished severely at the same time. We are already late in catching up with the problem, let us not make a 5-year plan to solve it. The syndicate of corrupt politicians and naxals has to be destroyed as soon as possible.

-JAI HIND

(Image source- Indian Vanguard)