Battle over, war lies ahead

If murders, massacres, mine explosions, kidnappings for ransom were everyday affairs in undivided Bihar, the creation of Jharkhand ushered i...

If murders, massacres, mine explosions, kidnappings for ransom were everyday affairs in undivided Bihar, the creation of Jharkhand ushered in an immediate change. The attacks continue, but the fatalities are far less.

Hours after taking oath as Jharkhand’s first CM, Babulal Marandi announced that containing extremism was his priority number 1. Five months later, he announced a rehab policy for Naxals, envisaging compensation for surrendered arms, free school education for their children, a house under the Indira Awas Yojna and a bank loan for self-employment.

The police, too, got their bit. The amount of compensation for a policeman killed in Naxalite violence rose from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. In conjunction with the Union Home ministry, the state spent Rs 80 crore in modernising the police force: World War II-model guns were replaced by SLRs, and police stations were fitted out with wireless sets, new Gypsys and Swaraj Mazdas.

Then, in league with 16 companies of the CRPF, the state police launched combing operations in Naxalite-infested areas. The 33 unimportant MCC leaders who surrendered in Giridih brought no arms with them, but the police busted hideouts and bunkers, killed 35 Naxals in encounters and arrested over 200.

In face of the police offensive, the MCC and the PWG regrouped, recalls former DGP T P Sinha. And so far, the unity has held strong. In the past two years, they have adopted a three-pronged strategy: Mobilising public opinion against the government by enforcing bandhs, strengthening the armed squads by recruiting young men and women and training them at inaccessible forest camps and ambushing cops and looting their arms and ammunition.

The last two years have seen six bandhs, two dozen-odd incidents of mine explosion and ambush and the slaying of 130 policemen. ‘‘Each incident was a high precision attack. They would lure the police with tip-offs. Like fools, our chaps would rush in without verifying the authenticity of the lead, and get killed,’’ says DGP R R Prasad. ‘‘Now we have learnt our lesson. That is probably why attacks are not as frequent as they were last year.’’

In the meantime, the Naxalites have expanded their area of operation to Nawamundi and Kiruburu in Singhbhum, repository of 30 per cent of India’s iron reserves and home to SAIL and TISCO. On May 6, a group of MCC ultras barged into the TISCO office in Nawamundi and demanded an annual levy of Rs 1 crore. The fallout: armed policemen guard the TISCO and SAIL offices now, shops and market places down shutters soon after the sunset, and locals return home after dusk.

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In Naxalite-infested Chatra, Hazaribagh, Palamau, Lohardaga, Gumla, Simdega and Garghwa, police patrolling has almost come to a halt because of reports of heavy landmining of the roads.