Mayhem In Dantewada Yet Again

The killing of ten cops at the hands of the Maoists in an attack in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh should come as a grim reminder that there should be no room for complacency against the threat from Maoism-inspired terror groups and the striking potential of the militants is far from over.

Reports suggest that the District Reserve Guard (DRG) personnel of the Chhattisgarh administration were lured into a trap and guided on a track embedded with about 50 kilograms of explosives. The incident signals that any laxity in matter of vigilance and gathering intelligence would lead to fatal consequences and demoralize the security forces.

Evidence also suggests that the movement of the DRG personnel was being monitored and explosives were detonated from a spot close enough to ensure the accuracy of the target. This being the second most deadly attack during the last two years against the security personnel in the State, there was no reason for lowering the guard against the misguided radicals. It was in 2021 that 22 security personnel were killed in an ambush on areas bordering Sukma and Bijapur.

The attack earlier this week only endorses the fact that no lessons were learnt from the previous episodes and the intelligence apparatus failed to follow the laid down protocol while dispatching surveillance teams. The challenge from the Maoists has been waxing and waning during recent years in Chhattisgarh. Statistics of attack reveal that Maoists mounted 275 attacks in 2018; which fell to 182 in 2019; but rose to 241 in 2020. It then came down to 188 in 2021 but climbed up to 246 in 2022.

The junction of borders of the state of Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Jharkhand had traditionally been the bastion of the radicals. While three states namely, Telangana, Maharashtra and Jharkhand have stamped out the militants to considerable extent, Chhattisgarh still remains a hotbed of their activity due to its ample green cover and poor reach of the development and welfare schemes of the government. The ideology and slogans of the radicals still cast spell over the youth from poverty-ridden families who easily get recruited by the extremist group.

Circumstances that fuel extremism urge a carrot and stick approach towards the socio-economically deprived sections of the people whereby they could be wooed by welfare and development schemes and also made aware of the administration’s strong arm approach to end militancy. It is gratifying to note that with the demise of global communism and its different variants, there cannot be any external sources of aid, funding, or encouragement for the residual leftist radical groups operating out of Central Indian forests.

This vacuum can only be filled with programmes to promote education and skill development aimed at drawing them into the national mainstream and ensuring them equality justice and fairness. The administration should therefore be seen more as a proactive catalyst of change rather than an instrument of retribution.