Wednesday, 04 June 2014 | Deebashree Mohanty
In the country’s Red corridor, victims are looking to the new Prime Minister for relief. They want firm action that brings the region lasting peace
While everyone in my household was rejoicing the decisive mandate for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, my barely educated but politically-agile maid, hailing from Jharkhand, was complaining. She drew my attention to the ever-growing, widespread Maoist problem, rampant in her home State as well as in other neighbouring States. She narrated her personal experience of the atrocities committed by the Maoists on hapless villagers, mostly tribals, as well as on the jawans.
According to my maid, the Maoist problem is roughly a decade-old. It started with stray incidents of murder but now the Maoists have multiplied in numbers. They are spreading terror all around and behave like the rulers of the area. They kill frequently and senselessly, mostly to punish police informants but without ever verifying if the victim was really a mole.
Wailing families is a daily affair as Maoists claim the lives of innocent civilians and jawans. The ultras behave like dacoits, claiming forests areas and its produce as their own. Anyone daring to venture out in their area is killed and his body hung by a tree to send out a strong message to others. People live in a state of constant fear, and no one dares to come out of his house after dusk.
The worrisome part is that neither the Government at the Centre nor the State machinery has so far done anything much to curb the menace. It seems the Maoists rule the roost as they have an edge over the bona fide leaders.
The will to curb Maoists appears to be missing. The ill-equipped police and personnel from the Central Reserve Police Force complain about not their requirements being ignored, but the apathy from the establishment is frustrating. Even during the recently-held general election, the Maoist problem found only limited traction during the campaign.
According to an official estimate, about 5,000 people, out of which 50 per cent are civilians, have been killed by the Maoists in the last decade alone across the eastern Red corridor. This problem has become much bigger than just a simple retaliatory exercise by exploited tribals-turned-Maoists, as human rights activists would like to maintain. Maoism has now become the terrorists' profession, a way of life; it is driven by the lust to be powerful lords; it has become a movement somewhat similar to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Maoists shun development, education and democracy because those jeopardise their evil designs. The Government's decision to offer Maoists an olive branch, so as to give them an incentive to surrender, has also boomeranged many times. The problem has now assumed the proportion of a full-fledged war. A new strategy has to be evolved that allows locals to develop areas that are rich with natural resources and in the process, bring peace and prosperity.
With the kind of mandate that Prime Minister Modi has won, it is as if he has been catapulted to a pedestal, where he is seen almost like God. He is likened to Lord Krishna by many and is expected to descend from his juggernaut and to rid Indians of their miseries. People's aspirations have reached a record high.
Those living in the Red corridor, comprising of the nine Maoist-infected States of eastern India, are looking to the Prime Minister with great expectation. They are optimistic that in due course of time, Mr Modi will be able to find a permanent solution to this menace, because only then the good days for those people will begin.
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