[Reader-list] Reg: Your views on Naxalism

[Rakesh Iyer]

Dear Rajendra

Let me state a few obvious things:

1) With respect to brute American force, neither the Iraq led by a Saddam
Hussain regime, nor an Afghanistan led by Taliban had the might to challenge
it and enforce its' own sovereignty and attack America. At least Iraq had a
few ineffective missiles, but Taliban had nothing. Sovereignty is enforced,
not accepted by people. If America did the same in India, we will simply
nuke America or its' allies and that will be the end of the story, even if
it be just one city of America.

2) It is very easy to say that innocents are collateral damages. If your own
wife and children had been killed due to such an attack, would you still
consider them as only collateral damages? This is mass murder, whether you
like it or not. It is as much a mass murder as 9/11, 26/11, 1984 Delhi
pogrom or 2002 Gujarat pogrom or even the attacks organized by Maoists which
kill people on a large scale.

3) The state has been given the sole right to violence only to ensure that
rights of people as a whole are protected. For example, when the state takes
action against rioters, it's only to ensure that the rights of other human
beings are not sacrificed due to the action of the rioters, like the right
to life.

I am not saying that those whom Naxals kill don't have any rights. They have
rights, which is why I accept the need to fight Naxalism. The tribals have
been cheated, but organizing violence is no way to get justice and only
leads to further problems for others. But I feel that to solve a problem,
realizing its' root cause is important, otherwise we will be shooting arrows
in darkness in the hope that it somehow strikes the 'enemy', which is what
we are currently doing.

The adivasis have rights, which people are forgetting here. You people think
that by teaching a lesson to adivasis, we can wean them away from the
Maoists. You can't. There are only two ways of winning the  war, if you call
it that:

1) Kill all adivasis in the countryside and ensure nobody remains alive.
Then you have won. Don't care about the innocents at all, as they are
collateral damages in the war. If they still remain, force them to migrate
and run away.

2) Realize that you have to get back the support of the adivasis to counter
the Naxals. And some feel it's only to counter Naxals. I go beyond that. We
need to get support of adivasis back to strengthen the Indian democracy, to
make the Indian state less of a beast and more people-friendly.


I support the 2nd. I know we can't use excessive force, and I do understand
the frustrations of those who have the power to use it but not in offense,
be it the army or the CRPF. But I care for their lives, even if they don't
care for themselves. I don't want them to die for the ineptness of the govt
or lack of strategy or choices. I want a coordinated strategy where armed
forces and bureaucracy are able to work in tandem with civil society and
adivasis and the poor to ensure that Maoists become irrelevant and the
problem is solved.

As for those who want maximalist use of force, why don't you go ahead and
lives in those areas to begin with? That will teach you certain lessons.

I deplore the complete lack of concern for both the soldiers and also those
who have to live in their fear, among people on this forum. Both of them
suffer, the latter both physically and mentally, and the former mentally.
The people who lost their lives in the CRPF don't come from the middle class
which can only chatter and sit on TV's asking to 'smoke out' Naxalites, they
come from the poor families which live in villages and still live in joint
families. Think of them at least. How will you feel if your own family
member were to die because of the ineptness of the govt and the lack of
understanding of the problem.

I still state it, those who believe in smoking out approach should be the
first ones to undergo military training by joining CRPF and the army and be
sent there, rather than only shouting here while enjoying the comforts of
life. I care for my citizens and other fellow human beings, be it the army
or the adivasis, and strategically too realize this is not the solution. And
I don't romanticize the Naxals ala Arundhati Roy.

Rakesh