It was exactly 20 years ago that the two prominent ultra-Left groups, one unleashing violence in the Bihar-Jharkhand region, identified as the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) and the other, the People’s War Group (PWG), operating, mainly in the mineral rich Central regions of Bharat, merged to form a formidable alliance and emerged as Communist Party of India Maoist (CPI Maoist).
In the years to come, the Maoist outfit not only established itself as the biggest anti-democracy, anti-Bharat force operating on the sovereign land of Bharat, but it also unleashed a reign of terror in the geographical stretch once identified as the so-called Red Corridor, spreading over Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh (undivided) and pockets of Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Maharashtra.
“After the formation of the BJP government in Chhattisgarh, Vishnu Deo Sai was elected as the chief minister and Vijay Sharma as the state home minister. In the last four months, 90 Naxalites were neutralised under the BJP Government” — Amit Shah, Union Home Minister
At its zenith (2009–10), the outlaws had its footprints in around over 100 districts or roughly around 1/3 of the sovereign land of Bharat as claimed by many, running parallel Governments in the regions under their hold, generating crores of revenue per annum. More significantly, they were unleashing raw violence against the civilians, security forces, politician and Government officials at their will.
The group, which was augmenting briskly as a grave threat for the country, was declared an unlawful association by the then Congress–led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government in the year 2009, though it was three years ago in 2006 that the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had referred them as the ‘single biggest internal threat for the country’.
The then UPA Government (2004-2013) after imposing a ban on the group in 2009, also launched a few operations (Green hunt) aimed at containing the spread of insurgency in subsequent years, though neither the approach nor the outcome of the campaigns launched by the Government turned out to be impactful. changes in the last decade
Undoubtedly, the last decade has proven to be a decisive period in tackling and curbing the spread of insurgency in the hinterlands of Bharat. The success achieved at containing the spread of insurgency can be measured on many scales including the decline in deadly attacks carried out by the Maoists, the lives lost due to violence and the spread of the insurgency-infested areas across separate States that falls under the so-called ‘Red Corridor’ that is shrinking briskly.
Integrated Action Plan to tackle Maoist issue
Significantly, the incumbent Government in 2015 had launched ‘National Policy and Action Plan’ to contain the issue of Maoism in Bharat. The action plan launched by the Government emphasises three major factors, including establishing firm control on Maoist activities through offensive campaigns, the participation of the masses in development projects, and smooth coordination between the Maoist affected States and Centre.
According to the details provided by the Union Government, as many as 195 security camps (250 as informed by the Union Home Minister) have been established across separate States of Bharat as part of the government plan to fill up the vacuum in Maoist affected regions. The plan includes the fortification process of hundreds of police stations falling in the Maoist infested regions.
As of December, last year, a total of 603 out of the proposed 704 fortified police stations had already been established by the Government for which a whopping fund of more than 1500 crore had been allotted by the Centre.
The plan of action also includes schemes such as Security Related Expenditure (SRE), for Maoist affected districts, Special Central Assistance (SCA) for most affected districts, and the Special Infrastructure Scheme (SIS) focusing on strengthening of infrastructure in the core Maoist zones under which allocation of crores of rupees have been made.
Civic Action Programme and development work
One of the brightest initiatives taken by the Security Forces stationed in Maoist affected remote terrains is the ‘Civic Action Programme’. Troops in these areas have been consistently organising free medical camps, and distributing medicines, clothes, utensils, and sports items.
Another flagship initiative being carried out by the personnel in these regions is the Tribal (Janjati/Vanvasi) Youth Exchange Programme (TYEP) under which selected youths from the remote regions of insurgency-hit districts are sent for an educational tour in separate cities across Bharat.
“The encounter is a big dent for the north Bastar division. “Villagers in the area where the encounter happened suffered from Maoists collecting illegal levy, and some parts were a safe haven for Maoists. After this encounter, the Maoists have lost significant strength” — P Sundarraj, inspector general of police (Bastar)
Going on further, a significant change during the said period has also occurred on the development front, under which projects aimed at providing basic amenities such as roads, electricity, culverts, bridges and drinking water have been carried out at war footing in regions, earlier considered a no-go zone for the forces as well as government officials.
Notably, in one of the most significant developments towards ensuring the smooth reach of the government schemes and security forces in remote regions infested by insurgency, a total of 10,476 km of roads has been constructed between 2015 to 2023.
Gradual decline in violence, killings & insurgency
Since the launch of the New Action Plan in 2015, the collective efforts of the Union and the respective State Government have, so far, proved to be fruitful, as the figures pertaining to Maoist activities suggest a gradual decline over the years.
According to the statistics, released by the Government lately, the overall figures of violence unleashed by extremists have come down to 76 per cent in 2022, compared to an all-time high in 2010. Further, the number of deaths including those of security personnel and civilians, has also reduced by 90 per cent from an all-time high of 1005 in 2010 to 98 in 2022.
In terms of the geographical spread of the outlaws, it has now reduced to only 176 police stations out of 45 affected districts of Maoist terrorists, compared to a high of 465 police stations of 96 districts in 2010. In all, an overall dip of 52 per cent in Maoist violence, 69 per cent in causalities related to Maoist violence and a significant drop of 71 per cent has been noticed in number of lives lost of security personnel in encounters against the Ultras.
To choke funds of the extremist, the Central and the State Governments agencies in separate crackdown have so far seized a whopping 68 crores of funds enroute to the Maoist in the said period. Further efforts have been also made to crackdown on the urban network of the extremists (commonly referred as Urban Naxal group) which operates in the guise of separate right groups across various cities and small towns of Bharat.
Containing the violence and spread in Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha
These collective efforts of the Government in the past few years have now started to yield fruitful outcomes, which have been duly reflected in the success stories of security forces in regions such as Swabhiman Anchal of Odisha, Chakarbandha region on Bihar- Jharkhand border, Budha Pahad and Parasnath Zone in Jharkhand all erstwhile hotbeds of left wing insurgency.
Apart from neutralising the network and organisational structure of the outlawed CPI Maoist through persistent counter-insurgency drives such as operation double bull and octopus, security forces in recent years have also nabbed top Maoist leaders such as Pramod Mishra, Prashant Bose alias Kishan Da Sabyaschi Goswami and PLFI supremo Dinesh Gope. All of them were active in Central Eastern part of the country.
These arrests are followed by a number of surrenders of the noted Maoist commander which includes names like Navin Yadav, Aman Ganjhu and dreaded Maoist commander Duryodhan Mahto against which a total of 104 cases against them pending.
Similarly, the Maoist affected region of Swabhiman Anchal has also witnessed similar success for the security forces as thousands of Maoist sympathisers have changed sides citing disbelief in the hollow ideology of the Maoist in recent few years.
Moreover a number of top security officials in recent years have time and again disclosed that the Maoist insurgency is breathing its last in States like Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha, suggesting that the forces in recent years have managed to cornered the Maoist in a narrow stretch in these States and the outlaws are on the verge of eradication.
Making inroad in Maoist heartland
Additionally, the integrated efforts of the security forces and the administration tasked by the Government to augment the development work has also started turning the tides in the Maoist bastion of Bastar, an administrative division of the State of Chhattisgarh, home to the strongest formation of the Maoist across Bharat.
Indeed, the most significant developments that have taken place under the incumbent Union Government regime pertains to the deployment of security forces in the core Maoist zone of Dandakaranya, a geographical stretch covering seven most Maoist affected districts of Chhattisgarh.
The region, which adjoins borders with several States is considered a long held de-facto headquarters of the Maoists, where the security forces have established more than 50 security camps in the recent few years mostly in core Maoist zones of Bijapur, Dantewada and Sukma districts, ultimately restricting the frequent movements of the extremist who had been dominating these region for decades.
The recent of these camps has been established in the remote village of Puverti, an alleged headquarters of the Maoists, which is home to hundreds of members of the outlawed outfit, including top commanders like Barse Deva, the incumbent commander of the People’s Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA) battalion no 01 (the most dreaded unit of the Maoist armed wing) and Madavi Hidma, a central committee members of the outlaws carrying a bounty of Rs1 crore.
It is assumed that the establishment of the camp at Puverti is a body blow to the Maoists, who have already been facing the heat in their own bastion given the fall in their recruitment process and the support of the masses which has been on a continuous decline over the years.
The tightening of the grip by the security forces in South of the State has forced the Maoist cadres either to flee to Andhra and Telangana or to move upwards towards Maad region (region surrounding Abujhmad of Narayanpur and neighboring Kanker) to secure a safe passage towards Gadchiroli of Maharashtra, another long held bastion of the Maoist.
Though, despite the retreat of the ultras from the down south, the security forces is keeping a vigilant eye on the movements of the cadres of the outlawed outfit leading to several encounters lately including the fierce exchange of fire in Kanker resulting in neutralisation of as many as 29 Maoist including of a few top commanders.
According to the statistics revealed recently, as many as 80 cadres of the banned outfit have been so far killed in various encounters since the formation of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the State, indicating the government’s firm resolve to get rid of the insurgency from the State in a few years time.
Anti-TRibal Maoists
Undoubtedly, the aforementioned success achieved by the government has frustrated the Maoists in such a way that they have trained their guns towards the innocent civilians, killing dozens of them by labeling charges of espionage.
According to the figures provided by South Asia Terrorism Portal (SATP), the State of Chhattisgarh (the most affected State) recorded at least 66 incidents of killing carried out by the Maoist in the year 2023, resulting in a total of 88 fatalities. This includes the killing of 37 civilians, 26 security personnel, and 25 Maoists.
In 2022, the State registered a total of 62 incidents of killings, resulting in the death of as many as 30 civilians. This indicates that as many as 69 civilians were perished in violence unleashed by the Maoist in the last two years alone, this include the killings of the political representative mostly from the BJP. According to the security experts, the surge in civilian killings denotes nothing but the brewing frustration among the ultras that their long held bastions have started to fall one after the other.
What lies ahead
Now, at one hand while the significant success achieved by the forces under the integrated action plan suggests that the government is on the verge of eradicating the Maoist menace from Bharat within a span of few years as asserted repeatedly by the Union Home Minister Amit Shah himself, though on the other hand some of the recent disclosures which emerged from the Maoist’s den of Bastar are nothing but worrisome.
The attack carried out by the Ultras in the Teaklgudem in January this year, resulting in the martyrdom of as many as three security personnel, revealed shocking details about the capacity and battle preparedness of Mao’s men.
In the attack carried out by hundreds of cadres of the PLGA, the ultras were wearing helmets and bulletproof jackets. In terms of weaponry, the extremist during the attack launched Barrel Grenade Launchers alongside sophisticated weapons including Light Machine Guns (LMG), Insas rifles and AK47.
Similar cache of weapons and ammunition were also recovered by the security forces after the recent Kanker encounter, indicating an abundance of sophisticated weapons in possession of the Maoist. It has been further revealed that the Maoist had also deployed half a dozen sniper teams in the Tekalgudem attack and hours later, after the deadly attack, the security forces during a search operation astonishingly uncovered a 130-meter-long underground tunnel built with an aim of launching attacks or taking shelter after any such major attack.
The unearthing of the tunnel indicates the Maoist preparedness to deal with any large-scale offensive by the forces which may come in the near future.
Though the Government has left no stone unturned towards its resolve to eradicate the Maoist menace from Bharat, the ultras are still believed to be holding their last bastion firmly. There is no doubt that achieving the final objectives in Dandakaranya would not be a cakewalk for the forces as the Maoist still have a solid backing of their urban counterparts who are leaving no stone unturned in opposing the advancement of the forces in the Maoist hotbed. However, the strategic establishment of the security camps in the recent few years, backed by development projects, have not only given a decisive edge to the forces, who are now executing frequent targeted operation leading to arrest, neutralisation and surrender of the Maoists.
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