Let`s not compare Orissa with Lalgarh

D N Singh Unmistakably the Union Home Minister P Chidambaram has made a dog`s breakfast of his government`s avowed stance to combat Naxalism after his recent visit to a few extremist infested areas of Orissa. Among which, the first, of course, was Koraput district which of late, has been in the firing line of the Maoists. The HM`s visit, for whatever reason, was confined to the district head-quarter town, Koraput conspicuously skipping the embattled Narayanpatna block, hitting the headlines for last few months. Since last 15 days almost, Narayanpatna block is in the grip of the Maoists leaving the fate of the entire civilian population in their hands. The Red-rebels had succeeded in executing three major attacks in this area besides reducing Narayanpatna into a virtual island of terror. Even on the day the HM was to arrive in this town the rebels dared to give a ` warm` welcome by blasting off three cell-phone towers and a control room of a railway station. Thousand of felled tress all around had sealed this thickly populated block from the outer world. The police, so far, was not able to clear the blockade fearing landmine blasts. However, PC during his press meet in Bhubaneswar confidently aired a deadline about Narayanpatna`s liberation from the hold of the rebels in a day or two. Till the writing of this item the place is still in the clutches of the rebels notwithstanding the claim by the administration. It would be a perceptual error to compare Red terror in Orissa with Lalgarh in West Bengal. After the Koraput visit the HM`s priority should have been a visit to Malkanagiri, the virtual capital of the Maoists in Orissa. Malkangiri, barely 70 kms from Dantewada in Chhattisgarh, has practically gone out of the control of the security forces or the state police administration. The chilling reality is that the Centre and the state government have failed to wage the required fight-back here so far. The HM`s visit had no mention of Malkangiri, which is ten times worse than Lalgarh. During his short press briefing in Bhubaneswar PC was seemingly in a great hurry, which scuttled the chances for the local media men to raise many pertinent questions relating to the Red menace in Orissa, which the state officials would not have dared to press upon him. So, instead of giving more time to Koraput or the Maoist issues, the HM was quick to switch over to his Kandhamal visit. There was a perceptible shade of truimphalism on his face while talking about Kandhamal. He minced no words in castigating the state government for its failure to contain the communal strife in Kandhamal last year. Which is true to a great extent and the state government can not pass the buck. But, the HM was surely off the mark to have claimed that the entire credit for peace in Kandhamal should go to the Union Home ministry or the Centre. There cannot be two opinion on the fact that after the unfortunate and reprehensible act of killing of Swami Lakshmananand Saraswati and his disciples on August 23. 08, preceded the communal conflagration that ripped apart the social fabric of this region. It became really a long and arduous task for the state for the restoration of peace; a fact that the centre has grudgingly admitted. The vulnerability of the situation paved the path for the Red rebels to make their presence felt. This led to bouts of political shadow-boxing, further vitiating the atmosphere in Kandhamal. It is not one community that is facing the effects of post communal disorder. If 1,400 from one side are still in relief camps, whom the HM met, there are over three thousand from the other side of the divide those who are in the jungles fearing police excesses. It was difficult to assess if the Union Home Minister was in Orissa to simply underline the note of warning for the state, or to chalk-out the modalities to combat Red-menace or he was here in a mission to pass a judgement on the past happenings in Kandhamal. He took the state police to task for its ` failure` in containing the unrest. Which was quite apparently a swipe at the government under Naveen Patnaik. If Kandhamal was a shame, the ever deteriorating situation due to Maoists` invasion over more than half of Orissa is not something to be combated by statements alone. Among the many peculiarities facing Orissa, one bitter paradox is the unevenness in its socio-economic structure. Which for any government, with scarce resources and a corruption-ridden administrative apparatus, is tough to balance in a situation which has been made difficult by extremism.