Naxalism is Here to Stay

 It took them four years, but they finally managed to succeed. In 2009, I had traveled to Dandakaranya, deep inside the forests, into the heart of the Naxal movement. The spokesperson for the Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee, Comrade Pandu, had named Mahendra Karma as the public enemy number one for the Naxals. In 2009, they had already made several attempts on his life. When bombs and bullets had failed, they had also attacked him with bows and arrows. However, four years after Comrade Pandu’s open threat, the Naxals succeeded in gunning down Mahendra Karma, the Chhattisgarh Congress leader who was the architect of the Salwa Judum.

According to reports, the convoy of Congress leaders and workers was targeted near Sukma in south Bastar. In a well-executed operation, they ambushed the convoy by felling a tree across the road and setting off bombs at the rear to effectively trap them. They fired indiscriminately, demanded Mahendra Karma’s surrender and then coolly gunned him down along with former MLA Udai Mudaliar. Former Union Minister Vidya Charan Shukla was hit by three bullets and was critical when reports last came in. The Naxals abducted Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee president Nand Kumar Patel and his son and later killed both of them.

Mahendra Karma is credited with starting the Salwa Judum, which translates to Peace Mission in Gondi. This was the first retaliatory movement against the Naxals by the people. Under the Salwa Judum counter-offensive, the government armed thousands of tribal and non-tribal to take on the Naxals. The Salwa Judum is a red flag for the Naxals because it hit at their source of support – the local inhabitants. Bitter battles were fought between the Naxals and the Judum leading to the Judum being forced to live in fortified camps like virtual prisoners. Mahendra Karma who was formerly the state Home Minister, naturally became the top target of the Naxals.

Well Established Jantana Sarkar

During my visit I saw first-hand why the Naxals had been able to entrench themselves so well. They were effectively running the entire administration of the area. They had created the Jantana Sarkar and had eight well-defined departments – Education and Culture, Finance, Law, Defence, Agriculture, Forest Conservation, Health and Sanitation and Public Relations. They claimed they did not need a Land department because they had already carried out land reforms and there were no landless people. They were the lawmakers and the law enforcers. They held mobile courts to hear cases of all kinds and had mobile jails to punish the guilty. In 2009 they had confessed that their Jantana Sarkar was in its embryonic stage and going by reports it would be safe to assume that things have only gotten better for them over the past four years.

Absence of State Administration

The Jantana Sarkar is flourishing because there is nobody to challenge it. The state administration is conspicuous by its absence in Dandakaranya. Just as abruptly as the roads end at a point, so does the state’s control. What used to be school buildings are now bombed-out shells – the Naxals destroyed the buildings to prevent the security forces from using them as camps while hunting for them. Medical facilities are non-existent – villagers have to move by palkis to the road before heading to town. The Jantana Swasthya Kendra run by the Naxals offers basic medication. The lack of development has actually become a vicious circle – the Naxal movement grew to demand development, now they will not let the administration in to develop the area because they do not recognise the state.

Committed Cadre

Naxal strength lies in the commitment of their cadre, which is very strong. The tribal form the cadre and the top leadership rest with people from such diverse backgrounds as medicine and education. In the middle of the jungle, I met one of their official photographers. His rifle slung casually across his shoulder, face covered with a scarf, dressed in fatigues, his weapon of choice was a Sony handycam. He had a long conversation with my photographer friend Mustafa about which camera he should order on the internet to get the best quality night pictures.

Cross Border Links

Along with committed cadres, the Naxals now have cross border links as well. Comrade Pandu had avoided answering a direct question about such links but had said that they were open to joining hands with “like-minded people with a common objective”. The “like-minded people” being Lashkar-e-Taiba and the “common objective” being the destabilisation of the Indian State. He did concur that their arms came from the North-East route. Over the years, this network has only strengthened. Sources confirm that not only are the Naxals collaborating with foreign groups for the supply of arms, but they are also getting military training from abroad. The Naxals have come a long way from the 2005 jailbreak in Bihar where they had simply overwhelmed the security forces by their sheer numbers, to the present day when they are carrying out ambushes with deadly accuracy and military precision.

In 2009 I had met a comrade who had been part of the raid at the police armoury in Nayagarh. He told me how they had returned from the raid, laden with arms, on foot. The entire return trek took over a month because they doubled back and zig-zagged their route to prevent any chances of being followed back to their jungle hideout. Though the security forces are getting their act together – the IB claims that they had information about possible attacks on politicians during May-July – they still have a long way to go before they can uproot the Naxals.

Soni Sangwan is a Senior Journalist based in New Delhi

Views expressed are personal