CPI(M) was banned about 14 years back. A year later, the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described Naxalism as the ‘single biggest internal security challenge of the country’. Naxalism was at its peak around the year 2000. At that time 200 districts of the country were Naxal affected. Even at that time, the headquarters of Naxalites used to be in Abujhmar of Bastar and Naxalites had made a corridor of 700 km. They would attack at one place and immediately change the area with the help of the corridor. Then he was dreaming of building a Naxal corridor from India to Nepal. However, there has been a vast difference in the situation since then. Today the Naxalites are confined to isolated areas. Bastar, Sukma etc. of Chhattisgarh are one of them. In such a situation, the question arises that why the Naxalites are not being uprooted from Chhattisgarh? Let’s try to find the answer…
The geographical structure of Chhattisgarh is very favorable for Naxalites to hide, plot and carry it out. Surrounded by mountains, this region also has very challenging plateau areas. Naxalites used to speak in areas like Bijapur, Sukma, Dantewada and Narayanpur. Because of this, camps of security forces had to be set up there. But his biggest challenge has been to build trust among the locals. The police-administration is well aware that from children to young and old, whether men or women, all work for the Maoists. They inform the Naxalites about every activity of the security forces. All this is the result of decades of brainwashing of common people by Naxalites.
Those people from remote settlements who have not taken up arms are also a part of the Naxalite network. The slums work like an underground network of Naxalites. In response to the Naxal attack, when the security forces conduct raids in these settlements, it becomes easy for the Naxalites to prove that the government staff is busy in crushing the villagers. The backwardness of these areas, the slow pace of development works and above all the camps of security forces… all these are sufficient to incite the innocent villagers against the administration. They feel bad because of the repeated talk of police and security forces in their own area. They vent their anger by colluding with the Naxalites. In such a situation, it becomes a big challenge for the security forces to gather intelligence.
When campaigns are launched on a large scale, it is not possible that the Naxalites do not get a clue about them. With the sudden arrival of the security forces, the villagers understand the whole matter and all the information is passed on to the Naxalites. Because of this, they are able to fight with all their might against the operations of the security forces. Then not only the Naxalites, the security forces also have to suffer heavy losses. On the other hand, reaching Naxal areas is a big challenge in itself. The jawans have to walk 25-30 kms with more than 30 kg weight in dense jungles full of ups and downs. Maintaining coordination and balance between CRPF, CoBRA, Chhattisgarh Police, STF and DRG is also a big challenge during the operation. The jawans posted in such rugged terrain get 10 days leave every third month. It takes two-three days for him to leave the camp and catch a bus, train or plane. Then two-three days to return. In such a situation, he can stay at his house only for 2 to 3 days. This is the reason why the incidents of soldiers of paramilitary forces posted in the heavily naxal affected areas of Chhattisgarh losing their temper and killing each other come to the fore.
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Apart from all these difficulties, dirty politics is also a big obstacle in the way of the elimination of Naxalites. The seven districts falling in the Bastar region are almost equal in size to Kerala. These include 12 seats in the assembly. Here the development work is never included in the election issues. On the other hand, when there is a Naxalite attack, the issue of nationalism immediately becomes hot. This puts pressure on the security forces to take some major action immediately. This has to be done to pacify the anger of the country and to tell the Naxalites that the punishment for their actions will be meted out immediately, whatever the consequences may be. In the year 2006, KPS Gill was appointed as Special Security Advisor to the then Chief Minister of the state, Raman Singh. He left the post after a few days, saying that he was asked not to do anything, but only to take his salary. The truth is also that local leaders come from among those Naxalites only. Without paying tribute to the Maoists, even a contractor cannot do any work in that area. Then only local leaders are useful in dealing with Naxalites. Overall, it does not seem very easy to fulfill the dream of complete elimination of Naxalites from Chhattisgarh.