Opinion Success for cops in Naxal fight in Gadchiroli
The Gadchiroli polices success in securing the surrender of 17 Naxals from various dalams in the past month reflects a welcome departure
The Gadchiroli polices success in securing the surrender of 17 Naxals from various dalams in the past month reflects a welcome departure from the general style of policing in the district.
It is a far cry from 2009 when a series of ambushes had left at least 55 police personnel dead here and the force demoralised. It was an open secret that the government,scared of facing uncomfortable questions in case of encounters,had forced the police onto the backfoot.
Now the police are aggressively engaging the Naxals on the ground and their families off it and the results are showing.
The one big reason for this,first and foremost,is that the district police now has two men leading it who have managed to send the message across that they are not afraid to take the fight to the Naxal camp. That includes DIG Ravindra Kadam,who is well-versed in anti-Naxal operations,and a young superintendent of police,Suvez Haq.
The past seven months have seen over 40 encounters,a record of sorts. This has been balanced by the police reaching out to families of Naxals active in dalams and helping them out. The police appealed to the families to talk to their relatives working as Naxal cadres and to convince them to return to the mainstream. It is this that is believed to have helped secure the surrender of top 17 Maoist activists in one month. Police believe more such surrenders are in the pipeline.
The fact that Naxals have lost much public support here by the way they treat families of those who join the police has also helped the force further cement its position in the area.
That Naxals,fighting with their backs to the wall now,with several casualties and surrenders and fast-eroding support in villages,may strike back is only to be expected. But no one in Gadchiroli denies that this approach of balancing sustained aggression with humane gestures to win tribal hearts and minds has once again proved the right template in a Naxal-dominated region.
Vivek is a senior editor based in Nagpur
vivek.deshpande@expressindia.com
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