Objectives of Naxalism and countering their movement

Objectives of Naxalism and countering their movement

Naxalism in India came into existence about 40 years ago with the objec-tive of capturing the power of the state with the might of its armed strength or by the power that grows out of the barrel of the gun. Their strategy is to capture territories as much as possible and to establish their rule over the areas captured by them with the support of their armed guerilla.

As could be seen in the present situation, the Naxalites concentrate their dominance where the state power is weak and so their natural choice of target is the tribal areas were the state administration is poor and the areas neglected by the state. Their target is to capture the tribal belt in the country and convert it into liberated zone and develop their guerilla squads into regular army to defend their rule in the zones liberated by them.

After its birth in India the Naxalites have grown from strength to strength and with their anti-national activities occurring almost every day it seems to be achieving its objective of establishing their rule in the tribal belt of the country. Once the liberated zone comes into existence with their regular army to defend it, the nation may face a civil war situation like the one face by Sri Lanka with the L TTE. If such a situation arises, it could result in the division of the people of our nation with one group supporting the present democratic government and the other portion supporting the liberation of the tribal zones under the banner of Naxalism.

The Naxalites consider the state power as a weapon in the hands of the rich and the ruling classes which are against their movement. So their prime target is to destroy the state power in all its forms and create a new one of their choice and act merrily in the domain they have established for themselves. As the state power is based on the might of its armed forces their sole aim is to paralyze the police and the paramilitary forces.

The second target is the people's representative of the state assembly and the parliament. They attack and kill democratically elected leaders and also the common people to create fear and panic among the public so that it remain docile to their rule. In order to let the people remain cut off from the police and the administration from fear of being brought to justice, they involve maximum people in committing heinous crimes like murder and rape.

The biggest threat that poses the nation's democracy and rule of law today is Naxalism. Their naked dictatorship does not have any concern for the public opinion or their well-being. Coteries of ideological fanatics are dictating the people and it is abject slavery for the people under the Naxalite rule. With the tribal living below poverty line (BPL), the added rule of Naxalites is a cause of more miseries as the people have to go on leaving their home and hearth off and on. So the fight against Naxalism is a fight for defending the democracy of the nation and the freedom of the people already under their rule. It has nothing to do with socio-economic problems as some people believe. Naxalism thrives in areas which are socially and economically backward and where state government fails to enforce its rule of law and defend the people from the clutch of the Naxalities. It is a guarantee for the Naxalities that such areas remain perpetually backward and permanently cut off from the state power.

The Naxalites believe that their war is against dictatorship fighting for democracy which has led to the loss of many precious innocent lives including the police and para military forces. The Nagaland Police has its share of losing the life of gallant jawans in the fight against Naxalism. Unless the states and the centre stage a joint decisive war with Naxalism to defend our democratic rule at the earliest there is going to be more bloodshed and destruction in the country. /n the present situation of our fight, the Naxalites always have the initiative in their hands and so they are always in the offensive thereby causing more harm and damage to the state governments.

The history of Naxalite leaders reveals that they are past masters of manipulating and exploiting the media, legislature, administration and even judiciary. As a result, the government always appeared as a culprit for their stern action against the Naxalites before the public, judiciary and the media, whereas the Naxalites indulging in indiscriminate killing of the people get away under the cover of justice and human rights. In fact, the human rights groups see the state police and paramilitary forces as human rights abusers and keep silent on the killing spree of the Naxalites.

A government which is at the receiving end of its own organs must naturally be in a defensive position. So, before fighting the Naxals in the tribal forests, it is essential to identify, isolate and properly treat those elements, in the metropolitan cities including New Delhi, who are managing or manipulating the legislature, administration, judiciary and the media to create obstacles for the forces fighting against Naxalism. These highly intellectual elements are not mere sympathizers and supporters of the Naxalite movement as the government thinks but they themselves are the dangerously ambitious Naxalite leaders.

To counter Naxalism and wipe it out, the government should shed its defensive postures and resort to an all out offensive war. It is not possible without exposing and isolating the Naxalite intellectual leaders masquerading as media men, and human rights/social activists and without taking the judiciary and the media into confidence. To win war is to fight like war with weapons and for that matter with superior weapons. It is essential to motivate the people to support such a war.

It is ridiculous to leave the mass of unarmed tribals to fight the armed Naxalites without weapons in the name of Salva Judum or any other name. Non-violence could be an effective weapon to fight against a civilized and democratically elected government, but it could prove farcical and suicidal in dealing with the killing Naxalite gangs.

Since the enemy at this stage is invisible to the state but visible to the public in general, this war is to be fought with the public participation. Salva Judum could succeed only if a good number of its selected member are fully armed and if they could take initiative in searching out Naxalities from their hide outs and wiping them out ruthlessly with the support of state police and paramilitary forces. However, this should be a movement of all infested states of the Naxalite at a time so that Naxalites don't get away from one state to the other as is the case now when they are under attack.

Iherie Ndang, Chhattisgarh.

Nagaland Post

Tags: State Terror, Police Brutality, Salwa Judum, Civil War, Human Rights Violations