Thin red line

Sundays gunbattle with Maoists in Bihar that left several policemen dead and resulted in the ongoing hostage crisis,with reports of a kidnapped policeman having been killed by Maoists and several deadlines being set for the release of eight jailed Maoists,is a grim turn of events,but not altogether a bolt from the blue. This sad development offers a reality instruction for Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar,who has held out against the Centres anti-Maoist strategy of a coordinated counter-offensive by Central paramilitary in collaboration with respective state police forces. Having skipped the meet of chief ministers of Maoist-affected states in Kolkata,Kumar took a decidedly contrarian view of the Maoist threat in New Delhi last July,disputing the efficacy of enforcement action alone and opining that an integrated approach was necessary.

Kumar,of course,cannot be faulted for endorsing development in Naxal-affected districts. But in insisting that the counter-insurgency action will only cause further alienation,he has overlooked the two-prong approach of the Centre anti-Maoist operations and development. He has also missed the cyclical logic of the problem that while lack of development may allow the insurgents to make inroads,Maoist violence precludes that very development. Without chasing the insurgents out of their strongholds,there cannot be any economic uplift of the locals. This common sense had long dawned on the other Maoist-affected states who have since raised special anti-Naxal forces and integrated their police efforts with the paramilitarys. Bihar,in keeping with Kumars different some might say soft line,didnt even raise such a force. Given the hostage crisis this week,Kumar should harbour no illusions about the firepower and murderous tendencies of insurgents who have repeatedly demonstrated their disregard for life,liberty and public utilities across the red corridor. Above all,theres a dangerous equation he

has been implying in referring to police and Maoist casualties that he,as chief minister,should know is unfair to his policemen. After this,it should not take any more to convince him about the thin line he has been treading.

There is a lesson here for the Centre too. Bihar clearly lacks the resources to raise the kind of special forces it needs and cannot cope without substantial help. Along with dispatching more paramilitary,the Centre must do its bit to pull Bihar into the ambit of the anti-Maoist strategy.