Naxal terror on the wane

Notwithstanding the bloody encounter between CRPF and Maoist rebels at Latehar in Jharkhand last January 7, according to latest home ministry figures, Naxal violence in the country is on a decline. Shishir Gupta reports.

Notwithstanding the bloody encounter between CRPF and Maoist rebels at Latehar in Jharkhand last January 7, according to latest home ministry figures, Naxal violence in the country is on a decline, and it is Mamata's Bengal which is leading the way in successfully decimating Left Wing Extremists (LWE).

From a high of 350 LWE incidents in 2010 - with killings of 223 civilians, 35 security forces personnel and 42 Naxals - the figure fell to just six incidents of violence in 2012 with just one Maoist death.

Maoist infested states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar are also showing a positive trend.

"There has been a 40% decline in incidents, 60% decline in Maoist killings and last year the least number of security forces' weapons were seized by the LWE since the movement began in 1960s," said a top government official.

While West Bengal government aggressively went after the Maoists after the attack on then chief minister Buddadeb Bhattacharya on November 2, 2008; it was Mamata who really broke its back.

"Apart from the police and security forces, it was Left's Harmud Bahini and Trinamool's Bhairav Bahini that politically countered the Maoists in the affected districts," said an official. "The West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh experiment clearly shows that if the state government follows a tough LWE policy, then the Maoists can be tackled and their core armed strength reduced to manageable levels. Fight against the LWE will not work if it is left only to the CRPF or Central forces," theofficial added.