Naidu launches multi-pronged offensive against Naxals

A large number of posters and pamphlets highlighting the extremists’ “atrocities” would be distributed among the people and displayed prominently at all important places in towns and villages. It is also being planned to issue advertisements in the newspapers on the subject.

According to sources, the Government is in the process of hiring the services of a private agency to prepare the posters and pamphlets to carry the “message” with a punch.

The posters would depict grief-stricken images of the victims’ recent extremist violence with catchy slogans and write-up. They include a picture of one-and-half-year-old child, who was frozen to death in the cold wave on a winter night when the Naxalites blew up their residence at Adavi Srirampur village in Karimnagar district; the lined up bodies of the five-member tailor’s family who were killed when the ultras blasted a house at Basheerabad village in Nizamabad district and also a fully charred RTC bus.

Considering the limited reach of both print and electronic media, the government intend to expose the “misdeeds” of the extremists and also the futility of their movement, to the general public by way of printing posters and pamphlets.

“At least, we expect the people to know the nefarious, ill-conceived and age old views of the outlawed groups and understand the ground realities,” a senior official told The Indian Express.

It is also proposed to involve the highest level authorities in the State to counter the extremists’ propaganda. This week’s Dial Your CM programme of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu will be devoted almost entirely to the extremist problem.

Titled Peace and Harmony Prerequisites for Development

, the Government already issued advertisements in local newspapers giving a background on the subject.

During the programme, to be telecast live on Doordarshan and All India Radio simultaneously on Monday, the CM is expected to announce more sops to the Naxalites intending to surrender to the Government, besides appealing to the family members of underground cadre to wean away their kith and kin from the path of destruction.

Though the State Government has produced a short film Pasivada Venakkira (Oh child, come back), a few months ago for screening in theatres in the affected districts, there seems to be no concerted effort in taking the movie to the masses. One reason cited by the officer was that cinema theatre owners were not willing to screen the film for obvious reasons.