Reiterating his pursuit of “uprooting Naxalism” before March 31 next year, home minister Amit Shah said the surrenders “attest to the fact that Naxalism is breathing its last due to the relentless efforts of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government to end the menace”
It could be disillusionment in part over the core ideology but mostly the fear of annihilation of their rank and file that has been motivating several top leaders of the outlawed Communist Party of India (Maoist), the most aggressive outlawed domestic insurgent outfit in India till date, to surrender before the government.
On Thursday, the 69-year-old Mallojula Venugopal Rao alias Sonu laid down arms along with 60 associates in the highly insurgent-infested Gadchiroli of Maharastra in the presence of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis taking the total of “battle-hardened left-wing extremists” courting arrest in the last two days to 258 as announced by the home minister.
Takkalapalli Vasudeva Rao alias Ashanna, another top militia committee member, too, surrendered almost leading to collapse of the leadership that is
yet to recover from the slaying of several top leaders including the general secretary Basavraj in May this year.
Reiterating his pursuit of “uprooting Naxalism” before March 31 next year, home minister Amit Shah said the surrenders “attest to the fact that Naxalism is breathing its last due to the relentless efforts of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government to end the menace”.
Indeed, these “efforts” have taken place on an unprecedented scale in the past one year. As many as 25,000 personnel of paramilitary forces have combed the almost-inaccessible Abujhmad, declared as a red corridor by the Maoists, leading to the surrender of about 2,100 Maoists and the deaths of 471 in this period. And in these confrontations, the District Reserve Guard, a local force developed with surrendered Maoists, has delivered for the state what the earlier experiment of Salwa Judum failed to. Improved road network, use of cutting edge technologies including satellite and drones to map and trace the hideouts, cutting supplies, both food and arms, but most critically, pulling off covert operations by the armed forces have all dealt a fatal blow to Maoists, whose foray into the use of mobiles also proved counterproductive.
Earlier, the government of united Andhra Pradesh had enjoyed some success in wiping out extremists after the 2004 peace talks. Making best use of inputs gathered on the movement of the cadre during the ceasefire, the elite police force Greyhounds had been able to eliminate several leaders. Welfare initiatives, too, resulted in diminished public backing for the Naxals, who were even disowned by their supporters who, in several pockets of Telangana, went on to form a class of neo-rich following forced takeover and cultivation of lands belonging to landlords.
But what makes the present “Operation Kagar” noteworthy is that it has almost annihilated the outfit lock stock and barrel while the previous offensive had been limited to driving away the leaders and cadre out of the state into Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Maharashtra.
Ironically, the newly surrendered leaders had themselves vehemently opposed the proposal to stop armed struggle mooted in the early 1990s by Kondapalli Seetharamaiah, PWG founder. It is hoped that they and their followers will successfully re-integrate into society and take advantage of the benefits offered to them by the administration. It is indeed the right time for the government to offer these and at the same time renew its focus on development.
