Editorial: India’s fading Red terror

The NDA government should now focus on addressing tribal grievances, as the fight against naxalism cannot be won without good governance

The killing of the top Maoist commander Madvi Hidma in a recent police encounter came as the most decisive breakthrough in the decades-long fight against the Left Wing Extremism. Already on the last leg of survival, the Maoist movement received a series of major blows in recent times, with the killing or surrender of a large number of its senior leaders. Leading security experts believe that the latest turn of events may well signal the end of Maoism in the country. While the security operations have been successful in breaking the back of the extremist movement, the government should now focus its attention on addressing the grievances of the tribal communities, especially in Chhattisgarh’s Bastar region. The fight against naxalism has to be on both ideological, and security and development fronts. It would not be won unless good quality governance is provided. The tactical victory achieved by the security forces must be turned into a durable peace. For this, the authorities must focus on building roads, infrastructure, schools, hospitals, and ensuring the rights and livelihoods of the forest communities of Bastar. Much of Bastar continues to suffer from chronic underdevelopment, and an enduring trust deficit between tribal communities and the State. Access to healthcare, quality schools, land records, and functioning welfare delivery remains patchy. Many villages still experience the administration mainly through the presence of security forces, not civil institutions. Weak governance, corruption, and inadequate provision of basic services in affected regions contribute to a sense of alienation and disillusionment among the local population.

The inability of the government to address the root causes of discontent creates space for extremist groups to exploit the situation. Unless governance becomes visible, accountable, and culturally sensitive, the vacuum that once allowed the insurgents to project themselves as protectors may persist. Hidma, the commander of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army’s Battalion 1 and notoriously called the ‘ghost of Bastar’, orchestrated some of the deadliest attacks on security forces and civilians in the last three decades. His elimination by Andhra Pradesh’s ‘Greyhounds’, an elite anti-naxalite force, in the Maredumilli forests — along with his wife and several other Maoists — signals the erosion of the CPI (Maoist)’s operational structure and a significant victory for India’s counterinsurgency apparatus. He was the mastermind behind the 2010 Dantewada attack in which 76 CRPF personnel were killed, the 2013 Jhiram Ghati ambush, and numerous high-casualty assaults on security forces in Sukma. These operations reshaped India’s security calculus. Earlier in May this year, Nambala Keshav Rao, alias Basava Raj, the general secretary of the CPI (Maoist), was killed in an encounter with security forces in what is seen as a watershed moment in India’s counter-insurgency history. The surrender of Mallojula Venugopal, ideological head, in October, may well have come as a last straw for the outlawed outfit already in the grip of an existential crisis.

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