Despite the understanding that actions by the Maoists and Naxalite go beyond acts of insurgency and border on war on state, the governments tread wearily on this subject
THE REGIMES IN post-independent India have consumed themselves in trying to understand the subtlety of differences between Maoists and Naxalites. As if that would have helped in stopping the massacres and killings that are being perpetrated by these radical groups. Regardless of their professed ideologies, these are armed movements raised solely to wage war on India to gain control of State. Their actions should be treated as war and dealt accordingly.
The Naxalites killed again on December 1, 2014, in Chhattisgarh’s Sukma district, 450 km from state capital Raipur. This time it was 13 soldiers of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), including two officers, who were killed in an ambush; this was probably the biggest attack on the CRPF this year. The Naxals had used locals as a human shield in ambushing the CRPF team, which did not retaliate so as to avoid civilian casualties.
Similarly, the April 6, 2010, Dantewada Maoist attack was an ambush by Naxalite-Maoist insurgents from the Communist Party of India (Maoist), near Chintalnar village in Dantewada district, Chhattisgarh. Back then, they had killed 76 CRPF policemen, making it the deadliest attack by Maoists on Indian security forces so far.
This is copybook fourthgeneration war that is being waged by the Maoists and Naxalites and the Indian State flounders. It is an asymmetrical war, characterised by the actions of small groups of people, where small, highly maneuverable and flexible forces dominate, trying to overwhelm the security forces internally and psychologically. And when the practitioners of fourth-generation war amongst the Maoists and Naxalites do not agree to the Geneva Conventions, why is the State caught up in this chivalric code governing how our war with them should be fought?
The point that needs to be emphasised is that there is a constant reminder to the Indian State that it is not able to deal with the menace in an organised and coordinated manner. It is taking place in the whole expanse of the nation, with terror being inflicted on us by Left-wing extremists (LWE) insurgents and radical groups. This is a fraternity of armed radicals, all serving to a common purpose of killing the Indian citizen, whilst members of intelligentsia join hands with government officials and waste their energies in trying to convey the correct shade of grey to the confused citizen.
A study of this insurgent, separatist and even an ideologically-driven war within a state is not an extraordinary subject for the students of armed conflict and internal wars. In that context, India’s Naxal war, perhaps, draws a parallel with several on-going and armed conflicts in the world. But to limit it to the clichéd thesis that the Naxalite movement in India is identified with violence, militarization and linkages with subversive/ secessionist groups means leaving some crucial human issues untouched.
We must bring to light and speak about the most abhorrent practice of insidiously inducting women and children in the Naxal movement through deceit and subterfuge. Organised on military lines, the constant effort is to upgrade its weaponry and induct new cadres. For regular cadre recruitment, young children in schools receive constant focus of attention. Their aim here is to create bal-dasta, or “child squads”. We are aware that Naxalite forces already have regular cadres of women combatants participating in the conflicts: What is of concern is the methods employed for their induction.
Reports of conscription as “child soldiers” in the Naxalite conflict are numerous. A few years ago, in Andhra Pradesh, for instance, the Amnesty International reported that the Naxalites have reportedly begun recruiting boys aged between eight and 15. The boys usually come from scheduled castes or tribes, or other socially or economically disadvantaged classes. They are recruited to the Bala Sangham, a militant children’s organisation based in district towns such as North Telengana. Not only that, we are not even aware of the condition of these child conscripts. What’s worse, this practice continues even now.
Women who serve as combatants suffer the consequences of armed conflict quite differently as compared to males, and the culture of militarism impacts upon women in diverse ways. An examination of issues faced by the women cadres of the Peoples War Group (PWG, which belongs to the Maoists genre) sheds some light on the syndrome. Barring a few, most girls had run away from their families to join the movement for sheer romanticism of the adventure. Perhaps, it was accentuated by patriarchal oppression at home. They were initially lured to movement through song and dance tamashas in the tribal hamlets and were gently conscripted. Once there, it was difficult to return. The PWG leadership applied a coercive method to ensure that the women were married to cadre members of the leaders’ choice, sometimes despite their protests. Having done that, many of them were sent to different areas to work and live separately for long periods. Some of them had to abort their fetuses during pregnancies. Surrendered women Naxalites have unequivocally spoken about the “patriarchal suppression” within the group.
Experts say the government's response to attacks by the Maoists, Naxalites and their ilk has been episodic. Soon after an attack, the governments at the Centre and the states appear to take only short-term measures. The policy implementation does not pursue a coherent strategic response to LWEs.
There is one factor, however, which continues to hit us in the guts. The Central government has yet not found a centralised methodology to tackle LWE unleashed wars. We are caught up in a federal structure that bestows the power to deal with law and order issues on the states. Despite our clear determination that these actions by the Maoists and Naxalite go well beyond acts of insurgency and border on war on state, we do not act in concert.
The governments tread most wearily on this subject faced by the fear, perhaps, that in pursuing that line they would upset the federal balance. That is one of the cardinal reasons for the extremist groups to thrive and sustain themselves with impunity in nearly seven decades of independent India.