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WHAT’S THE SOLUTION TO MARXIST THUGGERY?

How long is this country to suffer the Maoist ravages perpetrated day after day, with the government showing itself weak-kneed and either unable or frightened to take on the criminals? The latest developments are an insult to the Home Ministry. A senior police officer is beheaded; it is taken as a routine incident. In Gadchiroll district of Maharashtra, 17 policemen get killed by Naxalites. On October 1, sixteen people including five teenagers belonging to the Backward classed are gunned down and Home Minister Chidambaram says it is not the intention of the UPA government to wage war against fellow Indians. An IAF helicopter had come under Naxal fire at Bijapur in Chhatisgarh while it was ferrying electronic voting machines. This kind of devily is becoming endless. In such instances the IAF should have the right to shoot back but Defence Minister A.K. Antony says this is being "examined". The government stand, apparent, is not to use the Armed Forces to launch offensive operations against Naxalites. The prevailing thinking is that the root cause for Left wing extremism is poverty, and that has to be addressed first. But how long are we to wait for "removal of poverty"? Ten years? Twenty five? One hundred? In June this year a senior Congress leader, Mahendra Karma, a front-line anti-naxalite campaigner in Bastar was quoted as saying that Salwa Judum which was created five years ago to fight Naxalites is transforming into a "non-cooperation" movement in the tribal Bastar region of Chattisgarh with its top activists changing strategy from direct conflict to creating awareness among tribals to isolate the rebels. Today Salwa Judum is reportedly a failure with Maoists getting the upper hand over it with its "soft approach". There are, let us face it, three approaches to the triumphalism of Marxist. One is Gandhian approach. This means recruiting over a thousand young men and women to live in tribal areas to teach the forest dwellers how to become economically self-sufficient through creative activity. Actually since 1952, the RSS has been running Vanavasi Kalyan Ashrama and has reportedly carried out some 14,000 projects. All credit to the RSS. But this is a long-term plan calling for patience. The second is an Administrative Approach. This presumes the creation of an administrative mode involving the setting up of a totally committed Indian Tribal Service (ITS) like the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) whose members will be functioning inside the tribal belt and offering leadership to the tribals even as now the Maoist do, living like tribals and responding to their needs. This again has its shortcomings but should not prove to be deterrence. And, surely this country is not short of idealists? The ITS would do well to recruit tribals themselves, so that they are not culturally apart from the very people they are asked to serve. The third option is what Lord Bentinck adopted when he decided to take on thugs. The thugs, history tells us, were a well-organised confederacy of professional assassins who traveled in various guises throughout India, in gangs numbering from a low ten to a high 200, worming themselves into the confidence of the wealthier traveling class. They were also known as "phansigars" or "noose operators". Their way of killing their victims was thro’strangulation. According to The Guinness Book of Records, the thuggee cult was responsible for approximately 2,000,000 (two million) deaths, though, according to a British historian, Dr Mike Dash, no more than 50,000 might have been strangulated. In any event the thuggish cult was a menace to government and something had to be done. Lord Bentinck, Governor General of India from 1828 took on the job in all seriousness. He established what was called "The Thuggee and Dacoity Department" with William Sleeman as its superintendent and promoted an extensive campaign involving profiling, intelligence and execution. Sleeman was merciless. In executing his aim he might have erred. The fact is, earlier Governors General had made attempts to eliminate thuggery but with little success. Sleeman was given full powers and he used them to the fullest extent possible. By 1870 the Thug Cult had become extinct. "Sleeman-ry" can be the choice of last resort but it cannot thereby be dismissed. If Gandhism fails counter–violence remains the only practical option. The tragedy is that in India Gandhism has been forgotten and some of our intellectuals have come to accept that Maoism, with attendant violence of the cruellest kind, is the only answer to what they call ‘police atrocities’. They are the ones who help raise funds to arm the Naxalites with guns and the most modern weaponry. They are the ones who give moral support to the murderers. And among them can be named some of the most distinguished writers and artists in Bengal. It is well-known that among supporters of the Lalgarh movement are writers like Mahashwetha Devi. On October 5, Kolkota police arrested "two Maoist sympathisers" in the city for collecting money to help the Lalgarh movement. The enemy of peace in the country is not the tribal but the sophisticated intellectual like Kobad Gandhy, a rich man who went to Doon school and is heir to riches. These are the people who need to be handled first. Maoism which contributed to the deaths of millions in China is out of fashion in the country of its origin, but it has stupid followers in India who will not accept the thought that it is the business of the government to stop violence. What is interesting is that the Communist Party (Marxist) having been in power and having realized that violence is no way to wipe out poverty has taken on itself the task of arresting violence and in early October arrested two men belonging to the Ganatantrik Adhikar Munch, a platform for pro-marxist activities. What today needs to be remembered is that we have a problem on hand, just as Pakisthan has a problem with the Taliban and the only option before us to face it with courage and determination. No one way can possibly succeed. Whatever seems feasible should be tried out. If the wisest way is the Gandhian way, it must be given first preference, but where, O where, are the Gandhians? Meanwhile one must remember that uniforms, guns, explosives don’t fall from heaven. They are smuggled into tribal areas by our misguided intellectuals. The government needs to keep an eye on them and get them arrested. We just can’t let India go to pieces because we can’t undo poverty overnight. Our Maoist should know despite sixty years of freedom Maoists have not been able to wipe out poverty in China itself. There is nothing more ignoble than ideological arrogance. And that is what Maoists are more infamous for.

Dr. M. V. Kamath