News reports have stated that the Chief of Army Staff General V K Singh met Home Minister P Chidambaram recently and that armed forces are finalising action plans to meet any contingency if their role in the ongoing anti-Naxal operations is extended beyond the present one, which is restricted to training and surveillance. A senior army officer is reported to have said:  “If the Government orders us, we will have to step in. Drawing up of contingency plans gained momentum after the Commander’s conference this month”.

Drawing up contingency plans, finalising strategies and tactics, and training for various real and perceived threats – present or future – is the normal function of the armed forces. There is nothing wrong in armed forces  drawing up contingency plans to deal with the Naxal problem. However, this meeting of the Army Chief with the Home Minister in the wake of spectacular successes by the Maoists in attacking government forces, namely killing of 24 policemen in Silda , West Bengal on Feb 15, 80 CRPF men on April 6 in Dantewada, 8 CRPF men in Bijjapur on May 8, 40 including SPOs on May 17 again in Dantewada and over 150 killed and 200 injured on May 28 in a train blast in West Bengal,  conveys that the government is losing its nerve and preparing to use a sledge hammer to swat  irritating mosquitoes. This reminds one about the Tom and Jerry comic series where the small, agile, innovative and intelligent Jerry makes life miserable for the all powerful cat, Tom. Tom uses various tactics, weapons, big guns, etc, trying to lure Jerry with promises of talks to catch him. All his tactics and weapons fail, and often boomerang on him.

There is an impression further gaining ground, that the Government is confused and indecisive. The Home Minister is on record saying his hands are tied. The major party in the ruling coalition is talking in many voices. Mrs Sonia Gandhi’s  ’cause and consequence’ statement published in her party’s mouthpiece Congress Sandesh and her condoning of the attacks by Digvijay Singh and Mani Shankar Aiyar on the Home Minister, have caused a strange situation which gives an impression  that she doesn’t approve of Chidambaram’s approach. Furthermore, there is no consensus among the various political parties about how to deal with the problem. In fact, major political parties are taking pot shots at the ruling establishment for lack of direction, failures, high handedness, etc. The Home Minister is obviously looking demoralised. The Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, who is spearheading the fight, is also isolated without any support. The morale of the police forces is at its rock bottom and whenever they venture into the forests, they are likely to make mistakes and be killed. Every such Dantewada will further sink the lawkeeper’s morale. Under the circumstances, when the political leadership is undecided and unclear about its objectives and the police force is untrained and ill-equipped with low morale, it is a ripe situation for the Maoists to strike and seize power.

It is high time the political parties sit together and decide whether they want the democratic system to survive, or they will be happy to live under a Maoist dictatorship. If we keep floundering like we currently are, Maoist dictatorship is a distinct possibility in the not too far future, as the events in Nepal have demonstrated. Clarity of direction and determination of the political leadership is the precondition for ensuring the defeat of the Maoists. The Prime Minister should call for an all-party meeting, to take everybody on board, and give the nation a clear signal that we cherish democracy, and are prepared to protect it by all means. Once this political message is conveyed, the fine tuning of the operations should be left to the government. It is not to say that government actions should not be examined and criticised. The criticism should however be constructive in nature.

Coming to the operational aspects, the armed forces are the sledge hammer and an instrument of last resort. They should not be involved in the operations against the Maoists. This will do more harm than good, like the big guns used by Tom against Jerry, that ricochet on Tom. The operations should be handled by the police. Agreed, that the police forces in the affected states – except Andhra Pradesh – are not self-sufficient in numbers, training, equipment and morale. They will need lots of resources and time to be able to take on the Maoists. We have allowed the Maoists to come to this stage due to neglect over the past 40 years. A few more years will not matter much. What will matter, is how quickly we get our act together and strengthen our police forces – both at the state and central level. In the fight against a local guerrilla, it is the intimate knowledge of the area and people that is critical. Something only the local police possess. The central police forces that are deployed after short periods of familiarisation do not possess that knowledge. The best intelligence is received by the SHO of the area who lives and works in that area, and with whom people interact on a day-to-day basis. In both Andhra Pradesh and Punjab, it was the state police that defeated the Maoists and the Khalistanis. And in both the states, the central forces had suffered heavy causalities in their security operations.

The Maoists have gained influence over more than 200 districts over the last 40 years, by a strategy called oil spot strategy. Their approach was to gain control over a small area and then increase their control in the surrounding areas like an oil spot that spreads on the water surface. The government should adopt a counter oil spot strategy. Instead of spreading resources thinly all over the affected states, it should identify areas where it can gain and maintain control and apply resources – vis-a-vis men and material – sufficient to achieve the intended objective. Once the Maoists are driven away from that area, the socio-economic programs and services should be expeditiously and effectively provided. Such successes will convey to people in other areas that the government is serious about providing to them the benefits of democracy and development. Once certain areas are liberated from the Maoists, the neighbouring areas should be targeted and liberated like the oil spot spreading across the water’s surface. Once such a situation is obtained, the inflow of actionable intelligence will reap dividends.

Let us take lessons from the trials and tribulations of Tom and not be tempted to use the Army or air power to deal with the Maoists. Strengthen the police, especially the local police, use the oil spot strategy, and ensure that the socio-economic concerns of the people are met in real terms.

Ram Avatar Yadav, IPS (retired) was the Director General of Police of Andhra Pradesh.