Naxal Conflict in 2008: an Assessment
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NO. 93 IPCS ISSUE BRIEF FEBRUARY 2009 Naxal Conflict in 2008 An Assessment Rajat Kumar Kujur Analyst Recently the Government of India has approved According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, a special development package for the 33 Government of India, there was no let up in Naxal-affected districts, along with 22 districts violence during 2008. The level of violence was around the Naxal infested areas. With a budget particularly high in the states of Orissa, Chhattisgarh, of Rs. 20,000 crore for the next three years, it aims Jharkhand and Bihar. Over all, the situation in to provide a health center and school within one Andhra Pradesh was comparatively better with kilometer of every habitat, roads connecting all about a 40 per cent drop in Naxal incidents. villages, skill development programmes for youth and help in increasing agricultural output. This Naxal Violence in Orissa initiative by the Central government is being looked upon as a remarkable step forward for the Orissa with a total death toll of 132 in Naxal related resolution of the decades old problem of incidents remained a hotbed of Maoist activity. Naxalism. Some of the spectacular attacks include the following: the coordinated raid in February of a On the other hand, as India celebrated its 60th Police Training School (PTS), the district armory and Republic Day on 26th January 2009, CPI (Maoist), district police station in Nayagarh; and the ’marine’ the outlawed Naxal outfit, showcased it’s might attack in June, of a motor launch inside the by clamping a ban on the celebrations in many Balimela reservoir, in the Malkangiri district. parts of the red territory. With the Central government going unconventional in formulating Malkangiri is separated from Andhra by the Sileru anti-Naxal policies, it’s time to ask whether such a river and from Chhattisgarh by the Saberi river. paradigm shift would be useful? What about the Besides the Sileru and Saberi, there is another inter- unprecedented growth of the violent Naxal state river, the Mahendrataneya, between Orissa network? and Andhra. Operationally this is the area where Naxals have recently raised a Boat Wing to I facilitate faster movement of their cadres and NAXAL VIOLENCE IN 2008 weapons. Changed tactics of Maoist warfare along with a In August, Swami Laxmananda Saraswati, a Vishwa marked shift in government strategy were two Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader, and four others were notable developments of 2008. Armed cadres of killed by Naxal cadres in the Kandhamal district of CPI (Maoist) proved their abilities in newer Orissa. Sabyasachi Panda claimed that Naxals techniques of Mobile warfare, Marine warfare, were behind the assassination. There were many and Communal warfare. Politically speaking, CPI who suspected Panda’s claim on the grounds that (Maoist) during 2008 experienced new dynamics Naxals have no history of interfering in religious of organizational politics. While formulating matters. However when it comes to studying policies on the Naxal front, the Government of movements, generalizations are deceptive; Naxals India seemed to get caught in the dilemma of may not have interfered in religious issues in the making a choice between ‘warfare’ or ‘welfare’. past but that does not prevent them from entering Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, New Delhi developing an alternative framework for peace and security in the region NAXAL CONFLICT IN 2008 PAGE 2 into the arena of communal politics. The remained the epicenter of the Naxal Movement. Kandhamal operation was well in the line with Being the election year for the state Legislative deliberations of the last party congress of CPI Assembly, 2008 witnessed hectic Naxal activities in (Maoist) wherein fundamentalism was considered Chhattisgarh. While politics overshadowed the second biggest threat, after globalization. everything else in the election year, the threat of Naxalism continued to loom large in the The Kandhamal incident led to two distinct Maoist background. With Naxalites making their presence formulations in Orissa. First, a split of CPI (Maoist) felt in more than half of the 18 districts in on religious grounds which led to the formation of Chhattisgarh, year 2008 also saw large scale Naxal a new outfit called Idealize of Democrat Guerrilla related violence and killings. Army – Maoist (IDGA-Maoist). Second, in a related development the Central Committee of the CPI- During the year, a total of 261 people including Maoist expelled Sabyasachi Panda, secretary of 131 civilians, 63 security personnel, 14 special the CPI-Maoist's Orissa unit, from the party. police officers and one secret police person and 52 Naxal cadres were killed. The 2008 statistics are These two developments are bound to bring slightly better, as compared to the death toll of significant change in the Maoist strategies in the the previous two years but that does not mean state. Undeniably Panda was the pillar of Naxal that in 2008 the Naxal Movement showed any movement in Orissa, and it’s to be seen how the signs of weakness. Continuing with their stand of a state and Naxal actors react to the changed complete rejection of the Parliamentary methods, ground situation. Orissa suffered from multiple the Naxals called for a complete boycott of the systemic failures which ultimately added strength election in their strong hold in South Chhattisgarh to Naxalism. It was evident through out the year and killed 20 security personnel in four separate that Naxals were quick to fill in the gap between incidents during the assembly elections. Salwa the government and its people, caused due to Judum continued to be the rallying point for all the nagging problem of faulty models of the players who are, some way or other, related to industrialization and mining causing massive the politics of Naxalism. The government insists the displacement in the tribal pockets. While the Salwa Judum is a spontaneous homegrown government persisted with the industrial model of movement. But in the last three years the conflict has only gotten worse. At least 70,000 tribal villagers were displaced, and had to live as The Kandhamal incident led to two distinct refugees by the roadside. Maoist formulations in Orissa — a split of CPI (Maoist) on religious grounds which Naxal Violence in Jharkhand led to the formation of a new outfit called With a death toll of 286 during 2008, in 405 Idealize of Democrat Guerrilla Army – separate incidents, Naxals in Jharkhand Maoist (IDGA-Maoist) and a related showcased their ability in implementing the tricks of ‘mobile warfare’ where the extremists actually development the Central Committee of the control ‘liberated areas’; a certainly improvement CPI-Maoist expelled Sabyasachi Panda, over the ‘guerrilla warfare phase’. A total of 39 security personnel, including a deputy secretary of the CPI-Maoist's Orissa unit. superintendent of police, were killed against a toll of 11 in 2007, according to police data. The police development it failed miserably in proper said they succeeded in killing 99 Maoists over the implementation of relief and rehabilitation. The year as against 60 in 2007. Though police officials growth of CPI- Maoist (Janashakti) and IDGA in claimed that more rebels were killed in 2008, they two separate regions which were relatively were rarely able to recover the bodies of the untouched by the Naxal problem also added to fallen rebels. At the same time, the number of woes of the state. civilians killed went down in 2008 to 148 civilians, against 175 in 2007. However, 39 of these were Naxal Violence in Chattisgarh killed because they were termed police informers by the Maoists, up from 27 killed in 2007 for the Chhattisgarh, since its inception, has always same reason. CPI-Maoist, with an estimated 2,700 NO. 93 PAGE 3 armed and political cadres, appears to be in the to vacate their strongholds and reduced their total control over 1,200 of the 4,564 panchayats in armed struggle to a mere fight for survival. the state. However, Andhra Pradesh continues to remain in the priority list of the Maoists. “Like the Phoenix, we There are six main groups of Naxals in the state; would rise again from the ashes” roared Varavara Tritiya Prastuti Committee, Jharkhand Prastuti Rao, the key Naxal ideologue in one of his recent Committee, the People's Liberation Front of India, interviews. Jharkhand Janshanghars Mukti Morcha, Sanyukta Pragatisil Morcha and the CPI (Maoist), who at the The greatest obstacle in implementing moment are in a position to dictate terms in most of the mining and industrial belt of the state. government strategy has been the lack of co- Naxalism in Jharkhand has forced all operation between states in fighting development activities in remote areas to shut Naxalism. Also there is a lack of trust down. In the name of revolution, Naxals have linked it to structural injustice and violence. In fact, between the Central government and several after the merger of the MCC and PWG, a new state governments in the matters of pattern of Naxal violence has emerged. Previously, the ultras rarely killed innocent civilians, implementing anti-naxal programmes. but since the merger, a larger number of innocents have lost their lives. By resorting to In Bihar, casualties on account of naxal violence violent means the Naxals also seek to establish a were once again high with 71 deaths. The largest link between underdevelopment and violence, number of incidents were reported from Gaya which is illogical. District (30), which also accounted for the largest number of fatalities in terms of Security Forces (8); Naxal Violence in other States followed by Jamui (total fatalities, 12), which also accounted for the highest civilian fatalities (9); The level of Naxal violence in other affected Aurangabad (9) and Rohtas (8). Deo, Madanpur, states was also considerably high.