Maoist endgame nears, but no political fanfare in offing | India News
NE Delhi: The March 31 deadline set by Home Minister Amit Shah to eradicate left-wing extremism from the country may pass uneventfully, after meeting the objective of creating the right psychological mindset among all stakeholders — Maoist leadership and cadres, security and police forces, local administrations, political leadership of all affected states and the general vision to meet the common vision. aim Sources said that while the March 31 deadline has dominated the rhetoric of left-wing extremism for the past one-and-a-half years, there is unlikely to be any victory march or chest-beating by the political leadership on the actual date. At most, future political speeches and public addresses of other dignitaries may mention, especially during visits to LWE-affected states, that the government promised to end Naxalism within a time frame indicated by it.
“The objective of the deadline was to fix a specific time-target to take the fight against Naxalism to its logical conclusion, so that all hands are on call and the anti-Naxal apparatus can work in mission mode, time-bound planning and systematic launch of operations to destroy the leadership and long-term rehabilitation and field-level rehabilitation aimed at the implementation of initiatives. Lived in fear of guns,” said a central government official. The results are there for all to see; The entire CPI (Maoist) leadership — except for a Politburo member, Misir Besra, and a commander-in-chief, Papa Rao — has either neutralized or surrendered since the announcement of the March 31 deadline. The CPI (Maoist) is no longer a cohesive unit, but a loose bunch of Maoists hiding in the jungles as small, isolated groups with no chain of command to look up to. “Top CPI (Maoist) leaders and commanders themselves came forward to shun violence, leaving cadres on the ground with no reason or motivation to continue a tough life in the jungles with zero manpower and ammunition. Apparently, the March 31 deadline creates a psychological pressure for Maoist leaders to decide between facing the bullet and taking a chance at a normal life with attractive incentives on offer for their rehabilitation and reintegration into society. As their senior colleagues fell to the bullet, the rest of the Politburo and Central Committee members began to turn to the latter. The March 31 deadline must have played on their minds, even if subconsciously, to make them exercise this choice sooner,” Chhattisgarh Inspector General of Police (Bastar Range), P Sundarraj, told TOI.For security forces and the administrative set-up, the March 31 deadline draws a bull’s eye. Knowing the time constraints in advance has helped the home ministry, intelligence agencies, central forces and various state police to formulate their strategies accordingly instead of working with an ill-defined plan. “The target ensured that they coordinated to locate the top leaders and launch time-bound operations to corner them. With the home minister’s deadline clearly visible, there was no chance of guarding the operation. This led to a string of neutralizations of top leaders, keeping pressure on those still at large; In the end, even top Politburo members like Debuji and Sonu and many central committee members thought it wise to surrender well within the deadline,” a CRPF officer told TOI. The common goal has acted as a binding force for the affected states despite the parties being in power. A healthy competition between the political leadership and the states’ police to prevail on the Maoists to surrender by the March 31 deadline has resulted in attractive state-level surrender-cum-rehabilitation schemes. The attractive rehabilitation avenues offered by these schemes reduce the chances of Maoists reverting to violence.
