Enemies of the Republic

Assume that Kasab and other terrorists attacked only the Chhatrapati Shivaji Train station and, say, Dharavi slums. The reaction of the elites would have been one of commiseration. But they attacked the core of Indian business that shook the Page Three crowd. The entire media and State sprung into action.  The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) had even prepared a document on the terrorism threat from Pakistan.

The Naxals are creating mayhem and killing innocents too. But as this happens in the backwaters of East of Kanpur (EoK), we only have slovenly debates and discussions about dealing with them.  One set of useful idiots — in the words of Lenin — supporting the Maoists are arguing about means and ends in the air-conditioned TV studios of Delhi.

Make no mistake and have no illusions. The aim of Maoists is to “uproot the current republic run by comprador bourgeoisie and establish the dictatorship of the proletariat”. Their means are savage and the goal is brutal dictatorship. The ‘jholawalas’ will not have multiple TV stations to debate when Maoists come to power. There will be just one station propagating the party line.

Some senile experts want the government to have a dialogue with the insurgents. Should it be about handing over the republic to the rebels?  Some years ago, the Andhra Pradesh government had an elaborate dialogue with the People’s War Group (PWG). All that happened was the collection of truckloads of medicines, cotton and other surgical accessories. Also the ammunition was replenished. It is standard procedure of  terrorist organisations: Go for talks when the going is tough and prepare for the next round of offensive.

The political class has blood on its hands — blood of innocent Indians. This class which operates under the three-B system of bow, bribe and blackmail thinks it can deal with Maoists in the same fashion. Congress leader Digvijay Singh who was chief minister of Madhya Pradesh for 10 years talks about the need for development and talks of Maoists not attacking temples and mutts when they have killed Swami Laxmananada Saraswathi working for tribals in Orissa. Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad who was chief minister of Bihar and a Union minister talks about Naxals killing only police informers as if that is an acceptable thing. Let us not worry about inanities of rootless wonders like Mani Shankar Aiyars.

Even mainstream left parties like the CPI and CPM are behaving like Luddites to prevent any industries coming up in EoK. Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee is playing the dangerous game of riding the Naxal tiger to become chief minister of West Bengal.

The political class is so short-sighted that it does not see the global encouragement to Maoist groups. Suddenly, the Church of England found sacredness in the Nyamgiri hills in Orissa and it has started a movement to prevent any mining there. During  British rule the same church did not discover this sacredness. The Bishop of Jharkand in an interview supports Maoist as saviours of the poor and says they never harm the Church. 

What then are the State and corporations to do? Arrest all sympathisers of the Naxals since they want to destroy this republic and make it treason under our statutes. They should be put in solitary confinement with a one-book (Little Red Book of Mao) library which used to be practiced during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (GPCR) in China. Most of the leaders of Maoists are from two districts of Andhra Pradesh. It should not be difficult for special forces to locate them and “neutralise” them as the Americans call it.

Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) is a banned organisation but not All India Students Association (AISA), the student wing of the Maoists functioning from the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi. The army should be asked to de-mine the entire Naxal corridor. Top 200 corporations should each start 100 Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in the EoK belt and hand over the running of these 20,000 ITIs to the army. Let the home ministry publish the sources of funds of the human rights groups, particularly their foreign sources. There should be a massive police recruitment drive. If these things are done, then it will be possible to uproot the Maoists in about 20 years. 

Can the current government do it? Does it have the political will?  Our home minister is sincere but he lacks credibility within his own party. Also he cannot speak in Hindi and the EoK problem (about which he himself has written extensively when out of power) requires oratorical skills in Hindi. He at the least needs a number two who is very fluent in Hindi and the local dialects of EoK.