‘We have to win trust to win against Naxalites’

What’s your understanding of the Gadchiroli problem?In Maharashtra, the issue isn’t of land holdings as the tribals own the entire...

What’s your understanding of the Gadchiroli problem?
In Maharashtra, the issue isn’t of land holdings as the tribals own the entire land here. So, it’s basically about rights over the forest, which is under the control of the Forest Department. But the problem has remained confined mostly to the border areas of Gadchiroli and Gondia, two of the seven officially recognised Naxal-affected districts in the State. Naxalites have been using the tribals and contractors alike to further their political interests. Why else would they force the tribals to pay a day’s wage as party donation? That’s unfair from their own classical Marxist-Leninist point of view. But it’s a reality that the menace has been on the rise again since the last three years.

What has been your strategy?
Winning the people’s trust is important if we have to fight the Naxalites. That’s where our awareness rallies and village visits come in. Recently, a group of 70 villages unitedly rejected a Naxalite call to boycott government employment schemes. We will try to build on such success stories. The ultimate objective will be achieved when Naxal cadres in these villages quit the movement.

But the same villages reportedly observed a total bandh following a Naxal call?
This is deliberate misinformation. The bandh wasn’t successful.

But many tribals are said to be emotionally close to the Naxalites and look upon them as saviours…
That’s not true. The tribals are realising that the movement has done them more harm than good. The Naxalites have lured them to the wrong side of the law. Think about the sexual exploitation of tribal women by the Naxalites.

But the Gadchiroli police are said to have estranged the tribals through their coercive methods?
Those instances were aberrations. The Naxals have launched a Goebblesian propaganda against the police through their various sympathisers everywhere, including the Press. If we were anti-tribals, why would tribal youths want to join the police force?

Aren’t last year’s Chinna Mattami case and the photo-identification drive symbolic of police repression?
I think the whole issue was blown out of proportion. The police have to keep updating their records. Recently, in Kosamghat, we arrested 54 people belonging to various Naxal fronts and seized 10 guns from them. And then, the PWG itself says it has thousands of active members. So, who are these people and where are they? In fact, 32 ground-level Naxalites have surrendered before us in the district.

It is said that the police give the Naxalites a handle by venting their ire at poor tribals following Naxal provocations.
Those helping the Naxalites, whether under coercion or voluntarily, are criminals in the eye of the law unless they complain about being forced into the movement. But still, I generally recommend leniency towards them.

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So, what’s your future strategy?
It depends on the situation. We look at tribals as people misguided by vested interests whom we are committed to exposing. We would like to establish the people’s trust in the system. Special situations require special responses. Policemen will have to be professional and humane. We are in the process of sensitising our men.