Bikash Choudhury
People of
Odisha heaved a sigh of relief on safe release of Jhina Hikaka, BJD M.L.A of
Laxmipur in Koraput District and earlier two Italian Nationals taken hostage by
the Moist. Govt. of Odisha did a commendable job of securing the release of all
hostages unharmed; after 32 days of uninterrupted and at times tortuous
negotiatiation. Close on the hills of hostage drama in Odisha; another high
profile hostage situation took place in the neighboring State of Chhatisgarh
Maoist forces have in recent past have been weakened severely due to
elimination and capture of many senior leaders and busting of their supply
lines & manufacturing facility of arms and ammunition. On top of it the
publicity of their ill treatment to their cadres and sexual abuse of their own
women followers has created huge anti Maoist sentiment among the people making
their fresh recruitment of cadres that much more difficult. As the current
trend suggest the ideology of Maoist from Maoism has gone and has turned the
organization into a criminal syndicate that stinks of sex, sleaze, extortion
money racket and lucrative trade in drugs making it a thriving business for
Maoist leaders and handlers who enjoy five star comforts often in the cities
and towns; while their cadres suffer from over work and disease and eventually
fall victim to the bullets of security forces. Now, it will be easier for the
Govt. to completely eliminate Maoist menace from the country. Since, it is
easier to deal with a criminal syndicate than an Ideological outfit. However, Maoist
are trying to change their strategy and beginning to infiltrate the political
space which could be very dangerous for Indian state. As already, Maoist has 24
hours intelligence advantage; which is confirmed by the kidnapping of Sukma DM.
Civilian space has fallen to Maoist as equal number of their activist operate
in the guise of politician, police, businessman, drivers, couriers and many
others. They are the people who run the supply chain of arms, ammunition, cash,
groceries and logistics for Maoist. There is an immediate need to identify such
operatives in advance and neutralize them from civilian space for the success
of anti Maoist operation. Further, political opportunism has been mainly
responsible for the growth of Maoist forces in the country and therefore our political
parties should learn from the events in our neighboring country like Nepal
First of
all the Congress Party leadership take an initiative to hold an all party
meeting to discuss and finalize the ‘Maoist end game’ by concluding the meeting
with a resolution “ Country would use all its resources in its command to
eliminate the Maoist forces completely either by peaceful dialogue or military
offensive or both”. Which should be followed by a meeting of CM of Maoist
affected states under the leadership of Prime Minister to ratify the resolution
of all party meeting and put the administrative action in motion without losing
any time & money.
Initially Govt. would do
well to start a propaganda offensive against the Maoist forces by highlighting
their brutal methods against innocent people and atrocities committed on their
own cadres and more specifically on their women cadres. Govt. could also
announce the reward for surrender and elimination of Maoist leadership in cash
and kind. In the sideline anti Maoist security forces must map out Naxal
infested areas with all the arts and science available to the country.
Subsequently, Govt. could declare a specific window of one month for peaceful
dialogue to resolve the issue making it very clear in the outset that, should
the negotiated settlement fail; country would use all its forces in its command
(euphemism for Army and Air Force) to root out the criminal syndicate of
Maoist forces in lock stock and barrel; in one swipe across the country without
caring for loss of lives or resources. This should be “Maoist end game” for
good.
