Indian Politics 
9 Comments On Maoists and our strategy handling them…
Before i proceed I’m going to make certain fundamental declarations on the premise of which this entire argument is going to be. They are:-
1. India as a nation is plagued by problems. The implementation of Law & Order and Civil Justice system is weak, this is a known fact.
2. Governments discriminate against certain sections of the civilian society in every state around the world and India is no different. Such discrimination can be political or could be backed by industrial lobbyists (like manufacturing giants, mining companies etc.,) or religious or cultural/ethnic groups.
3. In such a situation the usual democratic process of protesting, political reform, debate & legal recourse are the way in which deprived societies/ethnic groups come up and repeal their discriminated state. It is agreed that this methodology is not effective and does not always work towards an amicable solution.
4. An attack on a company of CRPF personnel, resulting in killing of almost the entire company is war. Put it in any way you like it, it is war and it requires to be addressed appropriately.
5. No Particular section of the society is to be provided the privilege of taking up arms against the state. If this can be extended to the Maoists then it should be extended to the Muslims for the racial stereotyping, the Brahmins for reverse racism they face, the Christians for the Hindu extremist attacks they are subject to and so on and so forth. Every community is defenseless in its own respect just like the tribal’s and they cannot be compromised. This does not mean people have the right of violence, no one in a democratic state has the right of violence.
6. The are genuine issues the tribal’s have. Land grabbing, ethnic violence/cleansing, forced conversions, rape & plunder by the military and much more all of it is something tribal’s face on an everyday basis. The political forefront of the tribal’s needs to be invited for discussions to address these issues. This is something the state has failed miserably in the past and this requires critical attention.
The Argument
Yes, i believe there should be a tactical all out offensive against the maoist rebels and they need to be put out permanently for the following reasons…
1. The Maoists like any terror group are based on pushing their agenda using Violence. Regardless of what your situation can be, the state will not respond to violence. Violence breeds violence and that’s precisely what maoist or any other violent group will get in return.
2. There is no absolute possibility for a dialogue when violence is involved. In Indira Gandhi’s words, you cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.
3. It is a known documented fact that Tribal’s are NOT able to come out of their habitat and report on Maoists. When they do so their entire villages get raided and massacred by the former. There is no denying this documented fact. This should stop. Maoists clearly are not happy with any anti maoist influences in their audience, this is typical of any militant group.
4. Development efforts can be initiated only in a land where law & order of the state government prevails in a democracy. With maoist’s, law & order is a day dream.
5. The very reason they killed CRPF personnel indicates that the maoist’s are not here to protect the interests of the tribal. Killing cops & civilians is one thing. Killing security personnel is waging war. No democracy should tolerate a group of people inside a country wage war on its own security personnel. The maoist have political agenda’s. While political agenda’s are welcome, enforcing those agenda’s with violence is not.
Use of the Armed forces or Air power:
This is a decision that should be taken with due consideration. Like the Army chief already has said very clearly, the use of army against ones own citizens is the last option but should be considered if at all the situation comes to that.
In a realistic sense, use of force will bring together collateral damage. This is a risk we have to asses and face if required. The argument “How would you feel if the army walked into your house?” is silly.
Of the Army walked into my house i wont stick around. I would get the hell out of my house. The logic is very simple. If i have terrorists hiding in my home discriminating every aspect of my life, i better have a broken house than live with terrorists. The same logic applies to maoist’s & tribal occupations as well.
Long term Solution:
Force is not the only option, it is a part of the over all package. It is the responsibility of the state to analyze the issues facing tribal population & their environment and address those immediately with the highest priority. Simply killing Tribal’s and doing nothing about the underlying problem will only lead to the rise of version 2.0 of a bigger and better maoist group.
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