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Business News/ Opinion / Online-views/  Why the NIA alone can’t tackle Maoists
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Why the NIA alone can’t tackle Maoists

India needs a coherent, coordinated policy between the Centre and the states to approach the Maoist rebellion

A man takes photographs of charred vehicles after an ambush by Maoist rebels in Sukma district in Chhattisgarh on Tuesday. Photo: APPremium
A man takes photographs of charred vehicles after an ambush by Maoist rebels in Sukma district in Chhattisgarh on Tuesday. Photo: AP

A day after Maoist rebels ambushed central government paramilitaries and state police in southern Chhattisgarh, killing 15 besides a civilian on 11 March, home minister Sushilkumar Shinde announced that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) would take over the probe into the attack.

It isn’t clear what over-arching purpose that would serve. NIA is already investigating Case Number RC-06/2013/NIA-DLI, the matter of the 25 May episode in which Maoists wiped out nearly the entire Chhattisgarh leadership of the Congress, not far from the site of Tuesday’s attack. As of 13 March, the status of the case is listed as “under investigation". It took over a case in the Watgunge area of Kolkata in April to probe how “The accused persons, members of the Central Technical Committee (CTC) of the banned organization CPI (Maoist) entered into conspiracy to wage war against Govt. of India and collected cylindrical shaped metallic shells to prepare hand grenades". That case is also being investigated.

There are several other cases from 2013 probing the involvement and role of Communist Party of India (Maoist) in Bihar, Jharkhand, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh, not to speak of numerous investigations that encompass Lashkar-e-Toiba, Indian Mujahideen, the belligerent faction of United Liberation Front of Asom and fake currency notes—all, according to NIA, under investigation.

The point is not the rationale or efficacy of NIA, but what some security insiders term the continuing absence of a coherent, coordinated policy between the centre and the states to approach the Maoist rebellion. This is from the perspective of unearthing links and modus—such knowledge continuously updated—and infiltration and combat operations, but also the larger picture of surrender and rehabilitation of rebels, an attempt at peace talks with the parent rebel organization or various factions led by tired or opportunistic rebel leaders, and so on.

Moreover, there is the crucial aspect of diminishing reasons for joining the rebellion. Better governance, less corruption, humane and fair resettlement and rehabilitation measures with land acquisition and displacement on account of projects, and better delivery of the justice system count among several cause-and-effect factors.

That is a pale beyond that of NIA and in certain situations, the home ministry. It requires application by the government in New Delhi, and the de facto emperors and empresses who are periodically elected to govern India’s states: where socio-economic and governance problems fester, and more often than not, knee-jerk solutions are uneasily or callously applied.

Shinde’s patchy term as home minister since August 2012 is drawing to a close. Several security insiders insist that this may not be a bad thing. At least as far as comprehensive handling of the Maoist rebellion is concerned, many have pinned their hope on Shinde’s successor in the new government after May. They hope this person will possess the far-sightedness to take some radical steps, including enhanced attempts at bringing rebels above ground, and serious attempts at peace talks.

It would be relevant to note here that the Communist Party of India was once proscribed. That didn’t prevent its eventual acceptance of parliamentary politics. The party also provided India a respected home minister in the late-1990s. Ergo: situations change.

Naturally, the home ministry would need to be backed by a head of government and a cabinet that realizes maturity, not bombast, is a better recipe for conflict resolution. Comments, like Shinde’s vowing to “take revenge" against Maoists after Tuesday’s attack, smack of obtuseness, cluelessness and defensiveness. It also offers an invitation for security overkill that runs the immense danger of hurting non-combatants—a surefire recipe to ensure that the rebellion continues to attract recruits.

Meanwhile, the run-up to general elections will exhibit some indelible truths. Elections will go ahead in Chhattisgarh and elsewhere in areas where Maoists operate. As ever, the government and its allies, indeed, the entire establishment that includes parties currently in opposition, will together pitch for it. For their part Maoists will do what they can to disrupt elections with propaganda, threats and attacks—unprepared police and paramilitaries will pay a price—to derail a parliamentary process the rebels institutionally abhor.

That will not prevent the Maoist leadership—whether collectively or on the initiative of de facto warlords, for instance in Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and elsewhere—from influencing votes in negotiated directions. On account of a default position driven by guerilla DNA, opportunism is a game Maoists play well, as well as politicians who preach democracy routinely and seamlessly practise deceit.

It’s all a little above NIA’s pay grade.

Sudeep Chakravarti is the author of Red Sun: Travels in Naxalite Country and Highway 39: Journeys through a Fractured Land. This column, which focuses on conflict situations in South Asia that directly affect business, runs on Fridays.

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Published: 14 Mar 2014, 01:01 AM IST
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