17/7: Terrorists again

If Maoist terror is to be stamped out, it is the State that should stand firm -- and not a phalanx of civilian vigilantes posted between the Naxalites and itself.

The Dantewada district in Chhattisgarh is not Kashmir Valley or Mumbai megalopolis. But let there be no doubt that what took place around midnight on Sunday/Monday in the district, claiming at least 26 lives, was a terrorist attack that requires national attention. That the killings were conducted by Naxalites, and not by nefarious jehadis, should not lull people into a sense of treating the act of terror as just a law and order problem spilling over. Unlike the other violence unleashed on Indian soil in the last week, the Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh cannot be blamed on the proverbial ‘foreign hand’. If there needs to be any example of home-grown terrorism, this is it.

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Much has been said about how to contain Naxalite terror. Many prefer to still see the Naxalites solely as ‘class strugglers’ opting for a bloody path. For these theorists, peace would descend on Maoist-terrorised areas the moment desperate ‘have-nots’ are allowed to become ‘haves’. Unfortunately, as the Andhra exercise showed when talks with Naxals broke down in January 2005, development and social progress alone do not de-fang a Naxal menace. But the latest Chhattisgarh violence shows how approaching the problem from the other extreme can be even more damaging.

The Salva Judum (peace campaign) movement, started by the Chhattisgarh government in June 2005, used the ‘set a thief to catch a thief’ philosophy as a counter against the Maoists. What started as an attempt to encourage the resident tribals to stand up against the Naxals and discourage sympathisers has resulted in the criminalisation of a whole society. With the civil administration collapsed, the state authorities thought it fit to ‘outsource’ law and order to armed locals and thereby create a vigilante force to stand up to another criminal force. A year after the SJ was established, not only has the Dantewada district become a cesspool of anarchy, it has also drawn up a clear dividing line of conflict. It is shameful that the state government thought it fit to relinquish its responsibilities to outlaws. If Maoist terror is to be stamped out, it is the State that should stand firm -- and not a phalanx of civilian vigilantes posted between the Naxalites and itself. Chhattisgarh -- or, for that matter, any part of India -- can do without a civil war pretending to be a war against terrorism.