[Reader-list] IGNORE THE 'IDIOTS'. FIGHT THE WAR

[Bipin Trivedi]

http://www.dailypioneer.com/248225/Ignore-the-
<http://www.dailypioneer.com/248225/Ignore-the-'idiots'-fight-the-war.html>
'idiots'-fight-the-war.html

 

Chandan Mitra

The Goebbelsian propaganda of Maoist sympathisers posing as 'intellectuals'
should not deter the state from launching an all-out offensive against the
guerrillas

I am not suggesting that Facebook users are necessarily representative of
public opinion, but for whatever they count, the networking site reflects
the urban professionals' mind to some extent. Therefore, I was heartened by
the significant number of comments on the site asking why Arundhati Roy and
her ilk are silent after the Dantewada massacre. Some even demanded that
these breast-beating publicists come out in the open and condemn the Maoist
marauders. I was tempted to respond to the outraged middle-class Facebookers
that far from being shamed, this anti-India cabal is probably busy plotting
an eloquent defence of the merchants of mass murder; so, expect a 5,000-word
tear-jerking essay in a newsweekly soon suggesting that the CRPF jawans
committed mass suicide or were killed by agents of the diabolical Indian
state just to give a bad name to the Maoists. 

This line of argument would be perfectly understandable from people who had
alleged that the December 13, 2001 attack on Parliament was an elaborate
conspiracy by the Vajpayee Government to justify warmongering against
'peace-loving' Pakistan and even more 'innocent' terrorist outfits sponsored
by Islamabad. Similarly, hasn't it been repeatedly claimed by some of them
that the 58 kar sevaks who were burnt alive inside coaches of the Sabarmati
Express in Godhra were actually possessed by pyromania and a burning (pun
unintended) desire to go up in flames? So, it won't be surprising if we are
told that a bloodthirsty Government gunned down its own security forces only
to justify launching a genocidal military campaign against helpless tribals.

In a brazenly Goebbelsian style of propaganda, these self-styled human
rightswallahs and various wannabe Arundhati Roys have started using Maoist
and tribal as synonyms. This is a deliberate attempt to portray all action
by the state against Maoists as part of a plot to terrorise innocent tribal
people into submission so that their lands can be grabbed for mining or
setting up industries, their women can be happily raped and their children
brutalised. That the overwhelming majority of tribals in all Naxal-affected
States are actually fighting Maoist depredation and that the bulk of the
security forces, especially policemen of the States concerned, are of tribal
origin are facts consciously overlooked.

The aim is to put the average urban Indian on a guilt trip and mount public
pressure on the Government to slow down or even call off the armed
confrontation with the Maoists. These conspiratorial bleeding heart
'intellectuals', most of whom have little knowledge of history or even
Communist literature, obviously don't know the contempt in which Mao Zedong
held their kind. As a senior columnist recalled last week, Mao called
"intellectual" supporters of his revolution, "Useful idiots, but idiots all
the same"! 

Fortunately, the breast-beaters' plot is not succeeding this time. Opinion
is, in fact, running high against the desperadoes and from all accounts
people want sterner action to eliminate the scourge of Left-wing
adventurism, which none other than the father of the Russian Revolution,
Vladimir Illych Lenin described as "infantile disorder". So, I have been
telling my friends not to get too agitated by the offensive, anti-national
utterances of these professional India-baiters. Over the years we have dealt
with a whole range of lily-livered liberals who, if they had their way,
would have gifted away the North-East, Punjab and Kashmir to India's
neighbours and even now advocate restraint in dealing with jihadi
terrorists, perhaps also the Taliban. India survived the onslaughts of its
'intellectual' Fifth Column and I am confident will do so yet again.

Having said that I must also express my deep dismay at the manner in which
the Government is conducting its anti-Naxal offensive. It is almost akin to
the mindless way the US Army fought the Vietcong guerrillas in the
late-1960s and, predictably, got routed. It does not seem to have penetrated
the impermeable skulls of New Delhi's security establishment that we are
facing an all-out guerrilla offensive, not conventional insurgency. The
Dantewada tragedy demonstrates the alarming absence of the mindset required
to take on heavily armed, highly trained and motivated Maoist insurgents who
undoubtedly enjoy some degree of support from a section of the local
populace, whether at gunpoint or otherwise. 

The French Leftist ideologue Regis Debray once wrote, "In other to combat
the enemy you must first come to grips with it." In other words, it is very
important to understand, internalise and anticipate the opponent's tactics
in a guerrilla war. I would prescribe a crash course in the war manuals
penned by Mao Tse-Tung and Che Guevara for all security force jawans when
they are sent to combat zones. Nearly 70 years after Mao led a successful
insurrection in China, his self-styled pupils in the jungles of India are
employing classic Maoist tactics with considerable success. We don't seem to
believe that these rudimentary and outdated mid-20th Century tactics can be
easily countered with the experience of counter-insurgency operations since
those days. 

In Dantewada, Naxals followed Mao's dictum: "When the enemy attacks, we
retreat. When the enemy camps, we harass. When the enemy retreats, we
attack." A cursory look at the sequence of events in Dantewada last Tuesday
proves this. The CRPF got a tip-off that a Maoist training camp was in
progress and decided to go in pursuit. (Maoists retreated). The CRPF did not
camp on reaching destination, so the second part of the dictum got skipped.
(Incidentally, at Sildah in West Bengal last month, 24 members of the
security forces were killed in a sudden guerrilla attack on the police post
- a clear instance of the dictum being followed there.) In Dantewada, as the
jawans retreated, confident they had secured the territory and complacent
that the guerrillas were on the run, they were attacked. This is not the
first time that Naxals have meticulously followed Mao's well-publicised war
manual.

A pall of depression has gripped India's security establishment in the
aftermath of the Dantewada massacre, affecting even the otherwise ebullient
Home Minister P Chidambaram. I fear it will take several weeks for the
security forces to get their act together again, allowing Maoists vital time
to regroup, re-arm and re-strategise, apart from gaining the psychological
upper hand. Mr Chidambaram is still our best bet as Home Minister and he
must lead the counter-offensive. 

Clearly, there is inadequate coordination between the State police and
Central security forces. This is a lacuna that has to be overcome without
delay. I am no security expert, but my experience of covering insurgencies
over two decades convinces me that you can't win the war against insurgents
until the State police turns into a deadly combat force. They know the
terrain, they have contacts even in Maoist-dominated villages, and if
motivated they will fight to the finish to defend their families' honour.
Instead of paratrooping Central forces (who need to be used sparingly in
joint operations), the Centre needs to help and if necessary compel States
to train, motivate and equip their police the way KPS Gill's Punjab Police
fought the Khalistanis till they became history.