Centre demystifies Maoists' modus operandi/Decoding the 'mystery' behind Maoists

Centre demystifies Maoists' modus operandi

Vishwa Mohan, TNN | Feb 21, 2012, 02.50AM IST


NEW DELHI: Decoding the 'mystery' behind Maoists, the Centre has for the first time brought out in open many facts that have hitherto remained in official papers and urged aam aadmis to expose true colours of Red rebels in whatever ways they can, including use of social media like Facebook and twitter.

In a document, brought out in the form of frequently asked questions (FAQs) last week, the Union home ministry has classified naxal-hit states into three categories in terms of intensity of the problem and tried to answer a range of nagging queries like presence of women naxal cadres, Maoists' organizational structure and the rebels' motive behind destroying schools.

Classifying the Maoist-affected states, the ministry puts four states - Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Bihar - under the category of 'severely affected', followed by two - West Bengal and Maharashtra - under 'partially affected' and two others - Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh - in the 'slightly affected' bracket.

It claims that there is a major improvement in Andhra Pradesh that was earlier considered 'severely affected'. But, Maoists' area of influence is not restricted to these nine states.

The ministry points out that some armed cadres of CPI (Maoist) - the largest and most violent naxal group - exist in Karnataka, and they are making incursions into Assam and Arunachal Pradesh that has serious long-term strategic ramifications.

In the six-page document, the ministry highlights that Maoists' front organizations are active in 20 states to push ultras' agenda to capture state power through "a combination of armed insurgency, mass mobilization and strategic alliances". It also points out that the Red ultras also express their solidarity with the J&K terrorist groups as part of their "Strategic United Front" against Indian state.

"The issue of Maoists' growing influence and the measures being taken by government will be discussed in a meeting of director generals of police and chief secretaries of eight states here on Wednesday," said an official.

He said the top officials would fine-tune coordination among state police and central police forces and firm up a strategy on how to go after the ultras, who often flee from one state to another after committing a crime.

The document explains that Maoists have large number of women cadres because "many poor adivasi parents (faced with coercion and threats) prefer to part with girl child" in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

"This inhuman practice by Maoists is the reason behind large number of young girls\women being present among the Maoist cadres. They are also pushed to the forefront of engagements with the security forces," says the document.

It also says the much-hyped 'Operation Greenhunt' (against Maoists) does not exist in any record of the home ministry. It explains that the term 'Operation Greenhunt' was used by a Bastar SP in Chhattisgarh for a local operation, but the Maoist propagandists and front organizations, in a masterly strategy, attributed it ad nauseam, to the Central government, conjuring up visions of hapless tribals being targeted by the government machinery.

The paper says Maoists had killed as many as 5,467 civilians and destroyed 281 schools from 2001 to 2011. The ministry believes that the schools are attacked by ultras because they don't want tribals to join the mainstream through education that promotes a spirit of enquiry among local population.