Red in the face

Here8217;s a question that will defeat the most astute political observer: in dealing with which menace, terrorists or Naxalites, has the UPA been soggier and softer? And here is a question that is even more difficult than the last one: when will the UPA get into its head that not being NDA is not a security policy. Last Tuesday8217;s terrorist attack in Mumbai has been followed by this Monday8217;s Naxalite assault in Chhattisgarh with a high casualty rate. That as many as 600 Maoists were involved shows just how emboldened the ultra-Left has become. And why shouldn8217;t they be? You don8217;t need to be a revolutionary ideologue to notice that the Centre under the UPA has been extremely unwilling to declare a nationwide zero tolerance policy against Naxalites. That, starting with the now infamous fiasco about holding a dialogue with armed ultras in Andhra Pradesh, the government has consistently indicated that a search and destroy policy against Naxalites is something it considers to be politically incorrect.

Take the case of Chhattisgarh. The Raman Singh government8217;s decision to involve K.P.S. Gill and ask for other advice on dealing with Naxalites has been treated as political 8220;problems8221; by the UPA. As one of our columnists last week pointed out, during UPA-Left meetings, Naxalite violence was discussed mainly in terms of how to out-manoeuvre the BJP. The UPA also seems terribly keen to impress the notables of the so-called civil society movement. These people consider full-scale state action against Naxalites a complete no-no. The UPA seems happy to agree. By implication, it seems happy to ignore that the Maoists are, first and foremost, breaking the law, murdering innocents, destroying state property and have the the ultimate aim of challenging the Indian state and the Constitution it derives its legitimacy from.

By now, every police force of Naxalite-affected states should have been equipped with the best assault and detection weaponry money can buy, action against Naxalites should have been made prestigious so that officers looked at the job as career advancement opportunities and a political signal should have gone out loud and clear, that whether the Congress rules or the BJP, Naxalites 8212; as long as they choose to remain violent 8212; have no place to hide in India. But the UPA, bluntly put, has not sent that message. And the Naxalites have understood that only too well.