Lessons to learn from Naxal assault in Orissa

D N Singh

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently described Naxalism as the biggest internal security threat to India, but states which are fighting the menace seem to be taking it lightly. This became amply clear when on February 14, the Maoists showed their might once again and carried out attacks in Orissa’s Nayagarh, Daspalla and Nuagaon. The lessons had not been learnt because this time too, like always, the policemen were reduced to mere onlookers in front of the ultras’ bullets. Hundreds of Naxals came like a 'baraat' party and entered the crowded town at 10:30 pm with an ease difficult to comprehend. And when they left the town with looted armoury, what was left behind was policemen’s bodies. The police administration kept claiming all night that security had been tightened to prevent ultras from sneaking out into safer area, but they still managed to escape from right under the nose of the police network and did it with an authority. The Naxals only stopped in the safer enclosures of Ghasma Hill range in Kandhmal district. The journey from Nayagarh to Ghasma Hill was of about 100 kms through the hostile terrains, but the police force which had launched a massive manhunt, failed to find any of their trace. However, the decision to launch a manhunt by police was still a brave one as they knew well the might of Naxals who had looted arms and ammunitions and were camped in the Ghasma Hill. In other words, it can be said that the police nearly volunteered itself for the suicidal combing operation. The result is now part of history – three cops were brutally shot down by the ultras, while the rest somehow managed to escape from the blaze of the guns. Villagers living in the downhill Ghasma village, located barely 600 metres from the battle spot, described the fighting as a “three hour-long blitzkrieg” involving the LMGs of Naxals and sending shudders down the locality like an inauspicious Diwali. While the Naxals were firing down from the hills, the cops were replying from the open paddy fields hardly without any preventive shield. It is hard to make out which wisdom prevailed upon the top cops in charge of the operation, to push their forces to the claws of death knowing well the height at which the Naxals were positioned and the firearms they possessed. Too tentative and too suicidal a decision by the top police brass who were comfortably tuned to the VHFs at the Bhanjnagar Forest IB, about 40 kms from Ghasma Hill, waiting for ominous messages. The damage had been done by the time the Grey Hound from Andhra Pradesh and the CRPF re-captured the hill. The Naxals had by then moved away, leaving behind Orissa cops to condole the deaths of 18 of their colleagues. The only saving grace for the state police were some obsolete 303s and bullets abandoned by Naxals on the hill. Once the Grey Hound and the CRPF seized the armoury and made sure that the Naxals had decamped, the top cops of Orissa police in charge of the operation, made an obvious show of (unachieved) victory by marching to Ghasma Hill along with a large number of forces in full media glare. After an hour long hulla-gulla on the then tranquil lap of Ghasma, the mock exercise was over for the day. However, left in the desolation of the hill are the jawans of Grey Hound from Andhra who have been slogging since then in the absence of a minimal hospitality from the state authorities. The state police had one more headache to tackle – the (false) claim made by the government that the police had shot down 20 Naxalites. The statement was made by none other than the state's Home Secretary and later repeated by others, including Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. It became a challenge for the police to prove to the media and people that they had gunned down the said number of Naxalites, in the absence of any bodies or other concrete evidence. Where does the failure lies is not the main question right now. What puzzles many is that with 16 districts of the state being affected by the Naxal menace, the Orissa government has till date not been able to give shape to a grassroot policy to combat Naxal surge. In the absence of such a policy, the cops lack preparedness, advanced arms and a foolproof intelligence network. What’s baffling is that the DIG of Central Intelligence overseeing the state’s battle against the Naxals is stationed in Bhubaneswar, and only seen active in the affected areas as and when such incidents occur. It is no justification for a lackluster fight against the Naxal menace that the tribals or poor offer the required logistic support to them Naxals. The argument does not hold much water now as the ultras are also trying hard to woo the middle-class. The incident in Nayagarh was perhaps a manifestation of such a shift of focus. The Naxals know that with the tribals already with them, caught between the widening gap of the rich and the poor, the middle class could be an easy target to be swayed. This must sound alarm bells for the people in power. It would be better for the government to swallow the setbacks suffered in the recent times and get its acts together before another Nayagarh bogs it down.