Collectors message

With the abduction of R. Vineel Krishna,district collector of Malkangiri,and his colleague Pabitra Majhi,a junior engineer,the Maoists have raised the stakes. As Maoist interlocutors use their captives to try to dictate terms,laying down preconditions for negotiations,the Orissa governments challenge is clear. It cannot but be aware of the possible repercussions of having the initiative swing to an unlawful and banned group,least of all one as uninhibited in taking innocent lives,as the Maoists are.

At one level,Krishnas captivity has rendered the state government helpless. The consequences for district-level governance are obvious. The depth of anguish at his abduction in Malkangiri highlights the new interfaces he was creating to address the grievances of the poor in an area seen by Maoists to be fertile ground for recruitment and one crucial for their red corridor. The results of his outreach are evident from the spontaneous campaign to demand his release. Therefore,the apprehensions about the damage this episode could do to well-meaning initiatives by those connected to the administration. The Maoists are in this fight for liberating areas from the writ of government,and portraying the administration as hostile to,or at least uncaring of,the people is essential for their propaganda. This is why the government must watch the signals it sends out. For the Maoists this is as much a battle for turf and personnel as it is for raising morale,whether by staring down the state or by inviting escalation of police action. The Centre and the Orissa government,which in the past has been slow in taking the fight to the Maoists,should see Krishnas abduction for the tipping point it could be.

However,Krishnas abduction at a time when he was out and about peacefully discharging his duties,and not in the messy crossfire of a security encounter must carry a larger message to those who see the Maoists as inadvertently violent crusaders of a humanitarian cause. They must shed their insistent woolly-headedness in reading the Maoist project. That project,as this case amplifies,aims at nothing more constructive than the violent overthrow of the state. The Maoists have done nothing to show that it anyway involves meaningfully addressing the grievances of people brought on or ignored by the state let alone,in,say,Krishnas case,applauding a helping hand from the administration.