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BJP was so busy winning elections and othering minorities that they seem to have completely forgotten the Naxal threat. Whether they have the ability to put down the Naxals remains to be seen.
It seems this article is trying to portray the Naxalite menace purely as a law an order situation. The statement ‘an armed forces chief says he won’t send his forces to fight the Maoists, because his troops can’t be seen fighting their own countrymen’ is the most diplomatic admission that this situation is something created by the combined nexus of politicians,mining giants, wood traders who have looted this area from may years depriving the locals of their due. Added to this the coal and wood mafia also grabbed their share making this made a deadly situation, the price for which is being paid by the armed forces now, never mind if in the past some were paid to look the other way when the loot was going on. Even train drivers were paid on a per wagon basis to look the other way. Kashmir and Punjab have also been an outcome of this loot recipe by vested interests which even people still privately admit. Blaming Christian missionaries etc. is just a thick-skinned approach to guard the deep vested interests of all concerned and preserve the deemed cultural pyramid.
This is what solution a senior journalist can come up with.
Its unfortunate that our soldiers died in fighting war not India’s war but of the capitalists friends of yours. Do you really have an idea about ground reality? The tribal Naxalites don’t want to be controlled by New Delhi. If talking like this make people like me “Communist symapthiser”, speaking on behalf of your capitalists friends and RSS makes you “Right wing sympathiser”. Think about it.
“Tribal Naxalites don’t want to be ‘controlled’ by New Delhi”?
People like you who label themselves as “Deshbhakt” are nothing but traitors. The modern day Seth Amirchands and Mir Jafars.
The likes of you mislead the youth and portray Communism as a panacea for all ills. The disastrous experience of USSR and East European countries should have taught you a lesson.
Better keep your ill conceived, utopian and half baked political theories to yourself.
A pointless article. Low quality writing which completely lacks any flow.
Historic wrongs committed in the North-East and Kashmir cannot be used to justify the same in Chattisgarh? Using Armed Forces against own citizens is simply not the right thing in Kashmir, Manipur, Nagaland, Chattisgarh…. Political problems have to be solved politically and not militarily.
Shekharji a lot of ultra left wing radicals who had control over bureaucracy under congrass as unelectable but anti HINDU radicals were responsible for policies that gave fodder and were able to channalise Chinese anti development activities against INDIA.
THE church which saw an opportunity for large scale conversion tactically supported these naxalites through spurious human rights and environmental NGO’S.
We must remember that unless we focus on education and population control and access to proper health care by ensuring elimination of naxalites who survive by denial of developmental services we will not be able to achieve naxal free areas.
Typical smoke and mirrors writing by Mr Gupta. Snide allusions and no solutions.
1. The govt has been using UAPA extensively. Actual terrorists operations have scarcely been affected. Is UAPA working as intended to deter terrorism or has it merely become a tool to incarcerate “unwanted characters”?
2. Demonetisation was supposed to have sucked up all illegal money and rendered terrorism devoid of funds. How did the Maoists manage then to procure arms and logistical supply? Was the intent of demonetisation to end terrorism or win elections?
3. Who are the suppliers of logistical support and intelligence to these killers? We had police officers being arrested in Kashmir who were helping terrorists move about the state in their official vehicles. Same thing happened in Mumbai recently. What is the state of the probe into Davinder Singh case? What is the state of the probe into the Pulwama case?
After every such attack, we have famous journalists, PM and other celebrities with “tears” in their eyes, but scarcely are any real questions asked or answers sought from powers that be. Some cosmetic counter-measures are carried out and all is hunky-dory till the next attack occurs and whole cycle repeats. Reporters get their story, politicians get their glory, and has been rightly pointed out, young Indian soldiers get used as cannon fodder in this gory game.
JNU will be celebrating tonight. And so will Jadavpur University, TISS and similar such institutions.
I recall that when the Dantewada massacre (76 casualties) took place, night long celebrations were hosted in certain JNU hostels. Young “idealistic” students were excited about the imminent revolution and overthrow of the “extortionist capitalist bourgeoisie”.
As pointed out by Mr. Shekhar Gupta, the NAC was full of Maoist sympathizers and was an extra-Constitutional institution with no accountability. However, the liberal/secular cabal had no problem with this as the “threat” to Constitution arises only when the BJP is in power. Top ministers and NAC members back then peddled bizzare conspiracy theories and absolved the Maoists of any wrongdoing.
It appears that BJP government of Raman Singh was handling Naxalites better by running efficient welfare programs in Tribal area, which probably was benefiting Naxals also, so they were keeping quiet. But with Congress in power with their traditional corruption cut was Congressmen and Naxals were not getting their cut.
Basically it is better to buy off forest Naxals, as opposed to urban Naxals, as security forces and army can not effective in deep forest and it would be far more costly to defeat them economically and could also damage forest eco-system.
If that is the case why not minorities move to Pakistan like Hindus moved to India from Pakistan?
You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.
Any violence against the armed forces is a threat to very existence of state. The very defination of state is the entity which has legitimate monopoly on violence. State should ensure that these Maoists are brought to the courts and know how to live in a civilised country. Pathetic losers.
As long as it is poor and backward people who give away their lives in the name of fighting naxals, this game will go on. These kind of writings make no difference whichever party in power.The moment urban and upper class people start losing their lives you can find some solution for the problem. Unfortunately we have enough people in our countryside who are willing to replace these dead security forces.
Sons of urban elites will never be found among the dead soldiers. Our soldiers are typically sons of farmers and villagers who enlist to serve in our military forces.
Dear writer,
There is no military solution to this. There are two types of Maoists. The ideologues who manipulate the foot soldiers. These people want to see a change in the whole system. Nothing will placate them because for them only armed peasant revolt will ever change India. They must be shot at sight unless they agree to join the political mainstream. The second type is the peasants who have bought into the idea of a Maoist nirvana. These people must be provided land, electricity, water, housing, telephone, gas, roads, schooling and most importantly secure jobs. They must be not shot at ever unless they insist on shooting.
The military has no place in this despite you asking them to expand their role. The CPFR and local police are woefully under-equipped. They could easily use satellite and drones to have better battlefield awareness and not lose scores of people all the time. Use technology and sacrifice machines, not men.
My heart was bleeding since I was able to read the news papers, when will this end, is there any one leader Or one party take firm ground about this issue? Who is responsible for the loss of life, where is our national interest? We elected these coward politicians who have no balls to take action in this internal security issue, God give us politician who have balls big enough to take firm action or enlight the brains of flock of sheep i.e votery of this great democracy .
Ideally the Cobra force and other forces who receive such specific tips should conduct a recce with infrared drones on the previous night, and Medium Altitude or High Altitude drones should be monitoring the operation to prevent Maoists springing a trap. And your point about Army’s hesitancy is spot on. With so much money beins spent on arms by India, it is shameful when officers incharge say dehydration may have contributed to high toll. Even though we have 1.35 billion population, we can’t let soldiers die like Cannon fodder. Each soldier dying is someone’s son, husband, father. Hope this incidence leads to permanent change in strategy of the present govt. BJP as such is not too fond of people giving excuses about root causes. Hope the infra push to provide better conditions to remote villages is coupled with high tech, coordinated Anti Naxal Ops, with much greater use of Tech like Drones, to minimize and ideally eliminate human casualties.
A Composite Approach and Clear Intention Needed:
There must be a composite approach to solve the Naxal violence problem. The corporate companies must stop paying the Naxals the extortion money, rehabilitate the poor and the tribal people, make police stations corruption-free, including detangling the Naxals from the machinations of the local politicians. In other words, there must be a clean and clear intention to confront the problem head on — that has been missing in all hot zones.
Shekhar Gupta has hit the nail on the head when he says the following about Dr Binayak Sen — nothing could be more demoralizing to the security forces than this:
” But he is a convicted Maoist sympathizer. Bringing him inside the tent like this, what message were we sending out to the security forces, to the police and intelligence agencies and people of India? Or, to twist the knife, and twist a popular Hindi heartland slogan as well, sainiko tum sangharsh karo, hamein pata nahin hum kiske saath hain (fight on soldiers, just that we are not sure whose side we are on).
I rather wanted to see if any solution was offered by the Author. In absence of the same, it’s just the recollection of the events. Our hearts also bleed when paramilitary forces lose their brave hearts. But, what’s the way out? Scorched Earth policy? Healing Touch?
Nonsense and bakwas analysis. What happened was simple. It was a Congressi government, so the naxals had advance intel about the movement of the security forces. The congressis fed the jawans to the naxals as fodder. The congress government deserves to be dismissed.
Our deepest sympathies and condolences to the bereaved families. The government should ensure, apart from other financial support, a job to one member of the family. 2. The hard part of dealing with this grave internal security threat will be dealt with by the professionals. Intelligence, weapons, training. Some have gone as far as to suggest use of the armed forces and air power. 3. No one could call New India a soft state. So we must ask ourselves why one million men in the CAPF, AFSPA being as old as I am, so much of a free hand is not getting the job done. There was an absolute rogue police officer in Chhattisgarh whom the new government is equally fond of. How does the average tribal family view the instrumentalities of the state, including some terribly avaricious corporates.
He said that ‘Urban Naxals’ is made-up term that the BJP is using for its own political ends. I agree with the rest of your comment.
First time in his life Shekhar Guptha wrote something very very honestly, enough is enough, just wipe out these blood thirsty Naxalas and their chief supporters in Urban Naxals , who disguised in the form of Proffessors in JNU and other central universities, NGOs , Christian missionaries, Civil right activitvists like Medha Patkar , Suzane Arundhathi Roy and Vara vara Rao and all these Urban Naxals ,, journalists who writes columns supporting these Naxals and political leaders. just wipe them out.
BJP was so busy winning elections and othering minorities that they seem to have completely forgotten the Naxal threat. Whether they have the ability to put down the Naxals remains to be seen.
The author of this article is a proud patriot.
It seems this article is trying to portray the Naxalite menace purely as a law an order situation. The statement ‘an armed forces chief says he won’t send his forces to fight the Maoists, because his troops can’t be seen fighting their own countrymen’ is the most diplomatic admission that this situation is something created by the combined nexus of politicians,mining giants, wood traders who have looted this area from may years depriving the locals of their due. Added to this the coal and wood mafia also grabbed their share making this made a deadly situation, the price for which is being paid by the armed forces now, never mind if in the past some were paid to look the other way when the loot was going on. Even train drivers were paid on a per wagon basis to look the other way. Kashmir and Punjab have also been an outcome of this loot recipe by vested interests which even people still privately admit. Blaming Christian missionaries etc. is just a thick-skinned approach to guard the deep vested interests of all concerned and preserve the deemed cultural pyramid.
What a solution! Gupta ji. Kill them All.
This is what solution a senior journalist can come up with.
Its unfortunate that our soldiers died in fighting war not India’s war but of the capitalists friends of yours. Do you really have an idea about ground reality? The tribal Naxalites don’t want to be controlled by New Delhi. If talking like this make people like me “Communist symapthiser”, speaking on behalf of your capitalists friends and RSS makes you “Right wing sympathiser”. Think about it.
“Tribal Naxalites don’t want to be ‘controlled’ by New Delhi”?
People like you who label themselves as “Deshbhakt” are nothing but traitors. The modern day Seth Amirchands and Mir Jafars.
The likes of you mislead the youth and portray Communism as a panacea for all ills. The disastrous experience of USSR and East European countries should have taught you a lesson.
Better keep your ill conceived, utopian and half baked political theories to yourself.
A pointless article. Low quality writing which completely lacks any flow.
Historic wrongs committed in the North-East and Kashmir cannot be used to justify the same in Chattisgarh? Using Armed Forces against own citizens is simply not the right thing in Kashmir, Manipur, Nagaland, Chattisgarh…. Political problems have to be solved politically and not militarily.
Shekharji a lot of ultra left wing radicals who had control over bureaucracy under congrass as unelectable but anti HINDU radicals were responsible for policies that gave fodder and were able to channalise Chinese anti development activities against INDIA.
THE church which saw an opportunity for large scale conversion tactically supported these naxalites through spurious human rights and environmental NGO’S.
We must remember that unless we focus on education and population control and access to proper health care by ensuring elimination of naxalites who survive by denial of developmental services we will not be able to achieve naxal free areas.
Typical smoke and mirrors writing by Mr Gupta. Snide allusions and no solutions.
1. The govt has been using UAPA extensively. Actual terrorists operations have scarcely been affected. Is UAPA working as intended to deter terrorism or has it merely become a tool to incarcerate “unwanted characters”?
2. Demonetisation was supposed to have sucked up all illegal money and rendered terrorism devoid of funds. How did the Maoists manage then to procure arms and logistical supply? Was the intent of demonetisation to end terrorism or win elections?
3. Who are the suppliers of logistical support and intelligence to these killers? We had police officers being arrested in Kashmir who were helping terrorists move about the state in their official vehicles. Same thing happened in Mumbai recently. What is the state of the probe into Davinder Singh case? What is the state of the probe into the Pulwama case?
After every such attack, we have famous journalists, PM and other celebrities with “tears” in their eyes, but scarcely are any real questions asked or answers sought from powers that be. Some cosmetic counter-measures are carried out and all is hunky-dory till the next attack occurs and whole cycle repeats. Reporters get their story, politicians get their glory, and has been rightly pointed out, young Indian soldiers get used as cannon fodder in this gory game.
JNU will be celebrating tonight. And so will Jadavpur University, TISS and similar such institutions.
I recall that when the Dantewada massacre (76 casualties) took place, night long celebrations were hosted in certain JNU hostels. Young “idealistic” students were excited about the imminent revolution and overthrow of the “extortionist capitalist bourgeoisie”.
As pointed out by Mr. Shekhar Gupta, the NAC was full of Maoist sympathizers and was an extra-Constitutional institution with no accountability. However, the liberal/secular cabal had no problem with this as the “threat” to Constitution arises only when the BJP is in power. Top ministers and NAC members back then peddled bizzare conspiracy theories and absolved the Maoists of any wrongdoing.
It appears that BJP government of Raman Singh was handling Naxalites better by running efficient welfare programs in Tribal area, which probably was benefiting Naxals also, so they were keeping quiet. But with Congress in power with their traditional corruption cut was Congressmen and Naxals were not getting their cut.
Basically it is better to buy off forest Naxals, as opposed to urban Naxals, as security forces and army can not effective in deep forest and it would be far more costly to defeat them economically and could also damage forest eco-system.
CRPF is famous for fake encounters of minorities.
Why not send RSS khaki cheddis and Bajrang Dal bravehearts to fight the Naxals ? They never seem to rise to the occasion.
If that is the case why not minorities move to Pakistan like Hindus moved to India from Pakistan?
You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.
Any violence against the armed forces is a threat to very existence of state. The very defination of state is the entity which has legitimate monopoly on violence. State should ensure that these Maoists are brought to the courts and know how to live in a civilised country. Pathetic losers.
As long as it is poor and backward people who give away their lives in the name of fighting naxals, this game will go on. These kind of writings make no difference whichever party in power.The moment urban and upper class people start losing their lives you can find some solution for the problem. Unfortunately we have enough people in our countryside who are willing to replace these dead security forces.
Sons of urban elites will never be found among the dead soldiers. Our soldiers are typically sons of farmers and villagers who enlist to serve in our military forces.
Dear writer,
There is no military solution to this. There are two types of Maoists. The ideologues who manipulate the foot soldiers. These people want to see a change in the whole system. Nothing will placate them because for them only armed peasant revolt will ever change India. They must be shot at sight unless they agree to join the political mainstream. The second type is the peasants who have bought into the idea of a Maoist nirvana. These people must be provided land, electricity, water, housing, telephone, gas, roads, schooling and most importantly secure jobs. They must be not shot at ever unless they insist on shooting.
The military has no place in this despite you asking them to expand their role. The CPFR and local police are woefully under-equipped. They could easily use satellite and drones to have better battlefield awareness and not lose scores of people all the time. Use technology and sacrifice machines, not men.
Thanks for sharing your views. These inputs make much more sense.
It seems shekhar ji has written with teary red eyes and full of anger and with lot of emotion also
My heart was bleeding since I was able to read the news papers, when will this end, is there any one leader Or one party take firm ground about this issue? Who is responsible for the loss of life, where is our national interest? We elected these coward politicians who have no balls to take action in this internal security issue, God give us politician who have balls big enough to take firm action or enlight the brains of flock of sheep i.e votery of this great democracy .
Recall how SC ended Sulva Judum, the local resistance to Naxals. Will SC now take responsibility for death of 22 jawans?
Well , jnu 4 student and prof. Name is missing because urban naxal love communist
Ideally the Cobra force and other forces who receive such specific tips should conduct a recce with infrared drones on the previous night, and Medium Altitude or High Altitude drones should be monitoring the operation to prevent Maoists springing a trap. And your point about Army’s hesitancy is spot on. With so much money beins spent on arms by India, it is shameful when officers incharge say dehydration may have contributed to high toll. Even though we have 1.35 billion population, we can’t let soldiers die like Cannon fodder. Each soldier dying is someone’s son, husband, father. Hope this incidence leads to permanent change in strategy of the present govt. BJP as such is not too fond of people giving excuses about root causes. Hope the infra push to provide better conditions to remote villages is coupled with high tech, coordinated Anti Naxal Ops, with much greater use of Tech like Drones, to minimize and ideally eliminate human casualties.
A Composite Approach and Clear Intention Needed:
There must be a composite approach to solve the Naxal violence problem. The corporate companies must stop paying the Naxals the extortion money, rehabilitate the poor and the tribal people, make police stations corruption-free, including detangling the Naxals from the machinations of the local politicians. In other words, there must be a clean and clear intention to confront the problem head on — that has been missing in all hot zones.
Shekhar Gupta has hit the nail on the head when he says the following about Dr Binayak Sen — nothing could be more demoralizing to the security forces than this:
” But he is a convicted Maoist sympathizer. Bringing him inside the tent like this, what message were we sending out to the security forces, to the police and intelligence agencies and people of India? Or, to twist the knife, and twist a popular Hindi heartland slogan as well, sainiko tum sangharsh karo, hamein pata nahin hum kiske saath hain (fight on soldiers, just that we are not sure whose side we are on).
I rather wanted to see if any solution was offered by the Author. In absence of the same, it’s just the recollection of the events. Our hearts also bleed when paramilitary forces lose their brave hearts. But, what’s the way out? Scorched Earth policy? Healing Touch?
Nonsense and bakwas analysis. What happened was simple. It was a Congressi government, so the naxals had advance intel about the movement of the security forces. The congressis fed the jawans to the naxals as fodder. The congress government deserves to be dismissed.
What nonsense are you talking ?
Fully agree with the views of the writer
Our deepest sympathies and condolences to the bereaved families. The government should ensure, apart from other financial support, a job to one member of the family. 2. The hard part of dealing with this grave internal security threat will be dealt with by the professionals. Intelligence, weapons, training. Some have gone as far as to suggest use of the armed forces and air power. 3. No one could call New India a soft state. So we must ask ourselves why one million men in the CAPF, AFSPA being as old as I am, so much of a free hand is not getting the job done. There was an absolute rogue police officer in Chhattisgarh whom the new government is equally fond of. How does the average tribal family view the instrumentalities of the state, including some terribly avaricious corporates.
He said that ‘Urban Naxals’ is made-up term that the BJP is using for its own political ends. I agree with the rest of your comment.
First time in his life Shekhar Guptha wrote something very very honestly, enough is enough, just wipe out these blood thirsty Naxalas and their chief supporters in Urban Naxals , who disguised in the form of Proffessors in JNU and other central universities, NGOs , Christian missionaries, Civil right activitvists like Medha Patkar , Suzane Arundhathi Roy and Vara vara Rao and all these Urban Naxals ,, journalists who writes columns supporting these Naxals and political leaders. just wipe them out.
very well written shekarji. but wow what anger!! i have never seen such anger in your writings. i would definitely like to see more of it.