Says it’s trained only to guard the nation’s borders.
The proposal to redeploy the BSF to counter Left-wing violence has triggered a bitter debate in the home ministry with a section of the BSF top brass questioning the efficacy of the move on the ground that they have been trained only to guard the country’s borders.
BSF director-general ML Kumawat held a series of meetings with the home secretary and other home ministry officials to discuss the issue that forms part of the 100-day action plan on internal security, a key component of which is countering Maoist violence.
Ministry insiders say a sizable section of the BSF top brass was sceptical about the move. Kumawat told DNA that the BSF was ready to perform any task assigned to it but raised questions about the force being pressed to counter Maoists without proper training and armoury.
There is also the big question of availability of BSF personnel for this new assignment as the entire force is engaged, either at the border in Rajasthan, Eastern Sector and J&K or in counter-terrorism duties. Kumawat said 29 more battalions have been sanctioned to the BSF. “Maybe we could spare some of them for internal security (read anti-Maoist) operations,” he said.
In the face of a serious challenge by Maoist and other Left-wing groups, the home ministry has asked the BSF and CISF to join anti-Maoist operations. But the feeling in BSF circles is that their personnel would become sitting ducks if they were pressed into service without relevant training in guerrilla warfare.
A senior BSF official reminded that in the 1990s then CRPF chief KPS Gill had dispatched his force to Maoist areas of Andhra Pradesh without any training. Gill’s force employed tactics used in tackling communal violence. They took out marches on gun-mounted vehicles as a show of strength but were waylaid and blown up by the Maoists who inflicted heavy casualties.
At present only the CRPF are trained to take on Maoists. They had recently raised two battalions of Combat Battalion for Resolute Force (COBRA), especially trained in anti-insurgency tactics.
However, in the face of growing Maoist challenge and reports that insurgent groups were receiving sophisticated foreign arms, the home ministry is contemplating a coordinated response involving all central para military forces.
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