While Sonia Gandhi used the ninth anniversary of the UPA government to put to rest speculation of differences between her and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on major policy issues,that differences persisted was exposed on May 25 again,after a Naxal attack killed senior Congress leaders in Chhattisgarh. While the PM had earlier described Naxalism as the biggest security challenge,the Congress,under the perceived influence of Sonia,begged to differ. This dichotomy was visible within the government with P Chidambaram and Pranab Mukherjee on one side and Sonias soldiers Jairam Ramesh and Kishore Chandra Deo on the other. Gandhi family loyalist and Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singhs public criticism of then home minister Chidambaram in 2010,in fact,had tied the governments hands in fighting Maoists. While acknowledging Naxalism as a security threat,Sonia had made it clear to the government that greater emphasis and greater sensitivity towards development issues was needed rather than firm police action alone to take on Naxals. Ramesh and Deo had then captured this silenced space with developmental doses. Ramesh sought to highlight developmental grants for once Naxal-infested Saranda forests,while silent on the fact that grants could ride into those forests on the back of security forces gains. Definitely not vice-versa. The attack on Congresss state leadership in Chhattisgarh appears to have forced Sonia to partially upgrade her vision on Naxalism. Though her unqualified description of Saturdays incident as an attack on democratic values still falls short of her governments assessment of it being a manifestation of biggest security challenge,it is a welcome acknowledgment late in the day for the UPA. There could be no disagreement over the fact that tribals have systematically been short-changed over the years,and this needs to be corrected in a systemic manner. But the narrative pedalled by self-professed democratic sympathisers that Naxalism today is only an outcome of historical injustices and,consequently,confronting them as security threat is unjust,pending all injustices,is corrected is faulty. One hopes that Sonias unqualified description of Saturdays incident as an attack on democratic values would help delink much-needed efforts for welfare of tribals from the biggest security challenge. Ravish is a senior assistant editor based in Delhi ravish.tiwari@expressindia.com
