Opinion Behind the blast

Sceptics and Naxal romantics love to believe the first possibility,not hesitating to float the theory that Naxals were actually led into believing that the bus they blew up was full of cops,and that there were no civilians in it,and hence they blew it up by mistake. The initial reactions from the Naxals and their sympathisers,however,discount any such possibility. Kosa,a top functionary of the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee,is

reported to have said recently that the people will have to be “ready to make sacrifices”. The same Kosa had profusely apologised for the death of 12 civilians in Gadchiroli when the Naxals mistakenly blew up their vehicle about three years ago. Govindan Kutty,editor of Naxal mouthpiece People’s March,not only unabashedly refused to regret the death of the civilians on television,but also went on to make the perverse rationalisation that “40 per cent” of those killed were policemen.

These are two telling statements. The Naxals are out to change the rules of the game. Having realised that a determined state power can,with its vast resources and manpower,stay on in the battlefield many times longer than they (Naxals) possibly can,irrespective of severe reverses,the Naxals have apparently decided that they can’t exclude options they have previously ignored. What do they gain from attacks like the one on Monday,and how?

First,one has to understand the problems Naxals have faced in countering state (mainly police) activity. Landmines,ambushes and killing police informers only forced the state to increase its presence in the “liberated zone”. One of the obstacles for them is the use of public transport by policemen to move around. It’s a little known fact that police mobility in the area is also largely due to this camouflaging tactic — something which the Naxals always knew but could do little about for the fear of inviting the wrath of the people they have been claiming to fight for. For the past two years,they have been issuing warnings to people not to travel with the police.

But now,faced with war on this scale,they apparently are worried that their arms and ammunition or supply lines can’t remain choked for too long — the more the movement of security forces in the area,the more difficult for them to get arms and ammunition. Monday’s incident may be one of the first such in the days to come,heralding their new approach to this war. They are,clearly,desperate to get on an even keel.

The strategy could also be to prompt human rights activists and sympathisers in politics to put more pressure on the government to call off the operation. They may even claim that it is the government offensive that has led to the incident. The

private operators have already sounded a warning that they

may not ply on the treacherous routes,meaning a lot of

problems for the locals.

The government needs to be extra careful. If Naxals continue to pursue the desperate move to block passages of private vehicles into “their” areas by blowing them up,it would lead to many hiccups in anti-Naxalite operations; it is not always possible for the police to conduct road-opening or travel on foot for kilometres. Home Minister P. Chidambaram realises this is the time to mount further assaults and hence has sought more support. Logistical,if not armed,air support is one of the options he seems to be seeking from the PM.

In the past too,Naxals have launched huge attacks on Salwa Judum camps and convoys,killing innocent tribals. This may just be a way of telling them that they will have to pay the price

for allowing the cops to travel with them or get along with

them in any which way,willingly or unwillingly.

What happened to the poor tribal civilians in the deadly attack is deeply regrettable. Naxals are now fighting a war for the sake of war and not even nominally for the tribals. It’s about time the

government ends its dither.

vivek.deshpande@expressindia.com