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Journalism of Courage
Speaking in Chhattisgarh last month, Union Home Minister Amit Shah declared the way to free the state of the “Naxal menace” was to bring the BJP to power. Days later, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said the Centre had not played any role in curbing Naxalism and asserted that the Congress government’s three-pronged strategy of development, trust and security had helped push Naxals back.
These proclamations, and the long shadow cast by Naxals on elections, reinforce the fact that no matter who comes to power in the state on December 3, tackling the crisis will be their top agenda.
During the state’s two-phase polls, members of the banned CPI (Maoist) killed two security personnel and seriously injured another in three separate attacks using an improvised explosive device (IED), while the personnel were ferrying a polling party to a booth ahead of voting. Maoists also murdered two BJP functionaries on October 30 and November 4; a total of six BJP functionaries have been killed this year.
According to the Bastar police, between the announcement of the election and three days after voting ended, the region saw 10 exchanges of gunfire and eight IED blasts. Six civilians were killed and 42 IEDs were recovered. “A reasonable decline has been noticed in the violence in the 2023 elections as compared to 2018,” points out Sundarraj P, IGP, Bastar Range.
Since its inception in 2000, the state has tried different tactics to eliminate Naxalism, with varying levels of success.
In June this year, for instance, amid heavy security, two new mobile towers were installed in Abujhmad – an unsurveyed region that’s larger than Goa and spread across three Naxal-affected districts of Narayanpur, Bijapur and Dantewada.
Until now, Abujhmad has had mobile connectivity in roughly 30% of its area. The first mobile tower in Abujhmad came up only in 2011, and since then, just nine have been installed.
“Mobile towers in remote areas of Bastar Range are being established mainly to help the native population get connected to the outside world for their education, health services, employment, trade, etc,” said Sundarraj. “As a strategy, Maoists have always desired that the native population remain ill-informed and disconnected.”
Abujhmad, with an approximate land area of 3,702 sq km, has a near 100% tribal population. The state’s revenue department has so far managed to survey roughly 10% of this area. With a challenging terrain, it is among the few strongholds for Naxals that remain in the state.
Despite the strides made in anti-Naxal operations, the April 26 IED blast that killed 10 District Reserve Guards (DRG) in Dantewada’s Aranpur this year– considered a ‘contained zone’ – was a stark reminder of the challenges that remain.
After violence touched an all-time low in 2022, Naxals appear to have pushed back against security forces this year. Last year, 10 security personnel and 32 Naxals were killed. This year till date, 22 security personnel, 30 civilians and 20 Naxals have been killed.
Speaking at the funeral of the DRG personnel, Baghel reiterated Naxals have been pushed into a corner and that a lot has changed over the 23 years since the state’s creation. “First, our camps used to be attacked and the jawans would defend themselves… Now, we engage with them, and in the battle, Naxals too lose their lives,” he said.
Since the formation of Chhattisgarh in 2000, approximately 1,274 security personnel and 1,790 civilians have been killed in Naxal attacks, at a yearly average of 55 and 78, respectively. Between 2017 and 2022, the average yearly deaths fell to 38 security personnel and 49 civilians.
A senior police officer said when Chhattisgarh was formed, almost 50% of it was under Naxal influence. Today, Naxals have strongholds in parts of west and southeast Chhattisgarh.
The skeletal state police force of 25,000 two decades ago has been scaled up to 1.2 lakh, including central paramilitary forces. This has helped push Naxals to a corner of Bastar, which is approximately 42,000 sq km in size – an area larger than Kerala. The Bastar region, along with Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district, is called Dandakaranya by Naxals.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Raman Singh, a three-time CM between 2003 and 2018, recalled: “When I became CM for the first time, we did not have infrastructure, resources or strength. We would not fight Naxals even if we wanted to… Maoists used to loot police stations and the police would be scared of being abducted. The police were not equipped to deal with jungle warfare and had no modern weapons.”
“Policemen were over 40 and unfit. We needed young blood and recruited men between 18 and 25. We spent Rs 1 crore on each police station. Forget attacking them, Naxals did not dare to look at the police stations, and the personnel felt safe,” he added.
His government’s first move was to recruit over 50,000 security personnel and equip them with INSAS rifles and AK-47s. His second step was setting up the Counter Terrorism and Jungle Warfare (CTJW) College in 2004 in Kanker, where security personnel received mandatory training in guerrilla warfare.
“(The CTJW) college was a turning point for us. Along with local police, CRPF, superintendents of police and collectors were mandatorily trained there before being allowed to step inside Bastar,” Singh said. “Then we made small districts, like Narayanpur, and posted SPs and collectors there.”
He added his government introduced a Naxal surrender policy in addition to setting up advanced police posts and constructing roads in places like Narayanpur, Sukma and Dantewada to reach the interiors of Bastar.
“Today, Maoists hide in the interiors and the attacks have come down drastically,” he said.
Two retired director generals of police said though strides have been made against Naxalism, the fight is far from over.
“Just statistics cannot prove if Maoism has increased or decreased. There are a few parameters that need to be analysed – whether new recruitment is taking place, how many senior Maoist members have surrendered, whether their military capacity has increased,” said retired Chhattisgarh DGP R K Vij.
Two retired DGP-level officers, requesting anonymity, said the Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 helped Naxal recruitment. Apart from new recruitment, sources said Naxals are also using drones, bunkers and developing barrel grenade launchers.
Vij, who served as Additional Director General (Anti-Naxal Operations) from 2012 to 2015, said, “The two-pronged Government of India policy of development and direct action needs to continue with added emphasis on medical facilities and good education. Maoists do not harass doctors or teachers, hence the government must work hard on these two aspects. Then, Maoists will not be able to ask villagers what the government has done for them.”
Former CM Singh said the number of inter-state joint operations have come down. “The issue with such operations is that our jawans too lose their lives but if we sit in a police station thinking Naxals will run away, it will not happen. You must go inside jungles. This (Congress) government does not have the willpower… The Congress thinks (the Naxals) are messed-up children of our family and we will counsel them and they will change.”
But a retired DGP of Chhattisgarh said “ruthlessness and aggression” must be reserved for “higher-ups”, and not “low-level Naxal cadres or sympathisers”. “And security forces must ensure proper policing, that is, not misbehaving with village women and no human rights violations,” he said.
Retired Army Brigadier B K Ponwar, who trained 38,000 security personnel until January 2023 at the CTJW College, said, “In areas where Naxals have strongholds, CRPF posts must be made as soon as possible.”
The Congress government under Baghel has relied on a three-pronged strategy of ‘Vishwas-Vikas-Suraksha’ (trust-development-protection). The idea, say those in the government, is to win the confidence of locals through proactive development initiatives.
The Baghel government claims that in the last four years, they have contained Naxal influence in 589 villages with a population of 5.74 lakh, while 2,121 villages are still considered under their influence. The government also claims to have reopened 262 schools, provided electricity to 196 villages, set up 600 mobile towers, and granted forest rights to 4.38 lakh people.
Other initiatives include free education till the higher secondary level, a focus on eradicating malnutrition, and medical clinics to treat malaria and anaemia.
A senior police official from the Chhattisgarh Police elaborated, “The state is resolved to fight the conflict legally, minimise collateral damage, strengthen the leadership of security forces, and abstain from human rights violations. Security forces are committed to protecting the population… instead of merely confronting Maoists on a large scale. The problem should be challenged sensibly and sincerely by presenting better alternatives to the Maoist approach.”
Sources in the security establishment explained that between 2000 and 2006, the focus was on creating safe routes from one district headquarters to the next. In the second phase until 2016, safe routes were created from the seven district headquarters in Bastar division to several development blocks.
Currently underway is the third phase, in which security personnel proactively enter Naxal strongholds to contain them. “Only after containing them can we think of eradicating them,” said a senior official.
According to IGP Sundarraj, out of the 10 Naxal strongholds, six have been sanitised or contained while four still have a security and administrative vacuum.
“We are slicing into their areas. Construction of roads is the main antidote, followed by mobile connectivity. Once the native population gets connected to the world, they have an option to choose an ideology and Maoists fear their ideology is outdated… We are turning our police camps into integrated development centres. Once a police camp is set up, we construct roads, schools, health centres, provide electricity, and make their government identity cards so they can avail government schemes,” Sundarraj said.
