The Naxal Problem

Introduction

The term 'Naxal' derives from the name of the village Naxalbari in West Bengal, where the movement had its origin. In the backdrop of organizational upheavals within the Indian Communist movement, an incident in a remote area transformed the history of left-wing extremism in India. In a remote village called Naxalbari in West Bengal, a tribal youth named Bimal Kissan, having obtained a judicial order, went to plough his land on March 2, 1967. The local landlords attacked him with the help of their goons. Tribal people of the area retaliated and started forcefully recapturing their lands. What followed was a rebellion, which left one police sub inspector and nine tribals dead. Within a short span of about two months, this incident acquired great visibility and tremendous support from cross sections of Communist revolutionaries belonging to the State units of the CPI(M) in West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. These units had a formal meeting in November 1967, as a result of which the All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (AICCCR) was formed in May 1968. ‘Allegiance to the armed struggle and non-participation in the elections’ were the two cardinal principles.

            In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the Naxalite movement was immensely popular. There were reports of brilliant students, including from IITs, dropping out of college to join the struggle for the rights of the tribals and landless labourers. Over the years, as the principles diluted, Naxalite movement saw much of its membership waning away. Nevertheless, it has an endless supply of men and women, victims of State apathy to their condition joining its ranks, which shows that many still believe in the cause. The CPI (Maoist) swells the list of indigenous terror groups operating in India to 27, making India home to the largest number of domestic terrorist organisations in the world.

How to tackle the Maoists

Before evolving a strategy, however, one has to understand the basic differences between Maoist insurgency/terrorism and jihadi terrorism. Firstly, the Maoist terrorism is an almost totally rural phenomenon, whereas jihadi terrorism is a largely urban phenomenon. Secondly, Maoist terrorism is a totally indigenous phenomenon motivated by domestic grievances and domestic political agenda. Jihadi terrorism is externally sponsored or aided by the intelligence agencies of Pakistan and Bangladesh and is motivated by their strategic agenda. Jihadi terrorism is a cross border threat to national security. Maoist terrorism is indigenous and enjoys local support. 

Bandopadhyay Committee: In May 2006, the Planning Commission appointed an expert committee headed by D. Bandopadhyay, a retired IAS officer instrumental in dealing with the Naxalites in West Bengal in the 1970s. The expert committee has underscored the social, political, economic and cultural discrimination faced by the SCs/STs across the country as a key factor in drawing large number of discontented people towards the Naxalites. The committee established the lack of empowerment of local communities as the main reason for the spread of the Naxal movement. Choosing its words carefully, the report states that "We have two worlds of education, two worlds of health, two worlds of transport and two worlds of housing...'' 

Making a departure from the usual government position, the expert committee concludes that development paradigm pursued since independence has aggravated the prevailing discontent among the marginalized sections of society. Citing democratic principles, the report also argues for the right to protest and discovers that unrest is often the only thing that actually puts pressure on the government to make things work and for the government to live up to its own promises. Dealing with Naxalism needs a holistic approach with development initiatives as an integral part of the security approach. Security here must be understood in its broader perspective, which includes human development in its scope, because human security is an inseparable component of any human development formula, and vice versa.  A lasting solution to Left extremist politics cannot be achieved without addressing the socio-economic factors that contribute to its rise and growth.

Where does the Naxalite problem Exist? This is existing mostly in remote areas and rooted among poor and unemployed people in the areas where there is no communication, no hospital, no schools.

            How do the Naxals Operate? They have political wing as well as militant wing and over ground sympathisers. They collect money from corrupt officials, contractors and comparatively rich persons. They are slowly forming a parallel government by expanding the rural extortion net and using the funds to arm their military wing with sophisticated weapons. They give employment to at least one member from each family which gives a easy recruitment solution to their militant wing. They use Guerrilla warfare method of hit and run in planned ambushes of government officials, security forces and their sympathisers.

            What is their Strength? Fear among public is their real strength. Their source of information and communication is very strong. They hold Jan Adalat. Charges are framed, hearing is allowed, punishment is awarded by the judge and order is executed. All these things are completed on the same day. Before coming to Jan Adalat, they make all efforts to ensure that wrong person is not punished. They also respect honest persons.

            What is their Weakness? Their leaders are becoming rich and loosing respect amongst public and their cadre. They are more interested in collecting and distributing money. Development of the area has come to standstill due to vested interest of Naxlite leaders and corrupt officials.

            What is the Solution?

1.         Political will: There is no military solution to such problem in which the people involved are the masses of the country. Militarily we can eliminate them, but their kith and kins will take up the arms and it will only fuel the already grave situation. Political will includes the holistic approach or a multi facet approach to the problem.

a)      Planned development which includes land reforms and employment schemes, infrastructure development including the basic amenities likes school, colleges, hospitals, roads, drinking water etc. and speedier redressed of grievances by good governance.

b)      The confidence building measure with strict military action must also include for schemes for rehabilitation of the naxals to be brought back to the main stream after their surrender.

 2.        Development: Government must treat this problem as National Problem. Planning and monitoring should be made and central level but implementation should be made at state level. NGOs and corporate must be included in the sharing this responsibility as part of CSR.
           

3.         Stringent Action by the forces: Deployment of forces in counter insurgency grid, which means the forces are posted in the entire stretch of the affected area hold the ground, dominate it and carry out WHAM (Winning Hearts And Minds) operations and intelligence gathering. This is a dual weapon and utmost care and training is required on the part of the forces as they represent the government. Forces have to be firm yet polite to the locals and mightier than the militant faction of naxals in operations. The main intention of WHAM operations is to look for opportunity to provide small little help and supports to the locals regarding some of their basic or dire necessities like medicine, water, recreation etc to get close to the locals. By dominating the area on ground and WHAM operations over a period of time the local connect of the naxals militant wing can be uprooted. The careful handling and monitoring of the sympathisers of naxals will help the forces get actionable hard intelligence to carry out successful operations against the militant faction which in turn will boost up the morale of the forces and also the faith of local population in the forces which is now a days with the naxals instead.

The offensive action by forces has to be under a unified command in the entire naxal affected areas to include collection, collation and dissemination of information and intelligences gathered by the ground forces. The various high tech equipments are available to assist the forces in achieving military successes against the naxals. The confidence building measure with strict military action must also include for schemes for rehabilitation of the naxals to be brought back to the main stream after their surrender.

Use of Army is not recommended in this problem as the naxals are the not foreign nationals or this is not a cross border threat. But the lessons learned by Army during counter insurgency, anti terrorist operations, intelligence gathering, intelligence collation and dissemination, jungle warfare, counter ambush drills can be of used for training the forces deployed in anti naxals operations.

4.         Employment and Self-employment : Keeping in mind the local tradition and culture, small scale industries should be developed. Active naxalite leaders may be encouraged to start industries in a cooperative form.

5.         Responsible Media: Media can play big role in creating awareness regarding schemes and good work done by local public and honest officials.

Lessons from the Past: The WHAM operation was modified to form a people movement by the name of Salwa Julum or the Peace march against the naxals in the past but has failed. The reason behind this was simply that the good governance and development has to be under proper security to human beings or mass population on ground. The entire operation did gain momentum but the locals were in constant threat of naxals instead of protection of the forces. The deployment of forces in counter insurgency grid provides the locals the locals the required security and this also forms the base for collection of hard actionable intelligence to the forces and cutting off the means of communication and logistics for the naxals which is very important life line of naxals.

Major (Retd.) Pravin Singh (Raipur. Chhattisgarh)