Started with Reddy

It is not known exactly how many of the 55 security personnel killed in Thursday8217;s Naxal strike in Chhattisgarh were Salwa Judum activists. But the ferocity of the operation, coming as it does just days after the murder of a member of Parliament in Jharkhand, once again calls into question the UPA government8217;s longstanding strategy of pretending that only states have to find devices in dealing with Maoist extremism. They also come as rebuttal to a certain narrative gaining credence in civil society that Naxalism is a socio-economic issue. In this incident in Chhattisgarh8217;s Bastar area, for instance, Naxal operations are specifically oriented toward clearing areas from the presence of state machinery. One has to go back many decades to find even the pretence of a desire for equity in the Naxals8217; programme, no matter how much their apologists may allude to it.

A perception is getting consolidated that Congress governments 8212; at the Centre and in Andhra Pradesh 8212; are reluctant to take decisive action for fear of losing electoral support in Naxal strongholds. The Y.S.R. Reddy government, within months of coming to power in the state in 2004, called Naxals leaders for talks. The state announced a ceasefire, and acceded to the absurd demand that Naxal leaders be allowed to come overground fully armed. In those months, as this newspaper warned in October of that year, the state government did more to dignify Naxals than all of Gadar8217;s ballads put together. The talks predictably collapsed, but the top Naxal leadership flaunted its clout by having a police cordon ordered away.

Home Minister Shivraj Patil has done away with his earlier insistence that Naxalism is a social problem. But he is yet to take decisive action to overturn the impression given by his excuse that since law and order is a state issue, the Centre cannot lead. The scope and geographical spread of Naxal violence puts effective strategy beyond the reach of individual state governments. A mechanism exists for interstate cooperation. It is the Union home ministry8217;s responsibility to give it credible strength.