Home Ministry okays multipronged action against Maoists

Sources privy to the development told ETV Bharat on Wednesday that under the five-pronged strategy, security forces have been asked to target the top leadership of Maoists followed by targeting Maoists' base and militia. The security agencies have also been asked to stop funding and logistics, besides a check on frontal organisations. Reports ETV Bharat's Gautam Debroy.

New Delhi: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has chalked out a final strategy to make India Maoist-free by 2024. Accordingly, the Home Ministry has asked the central paramilitary forces as well as National Investigation Agency (NIA) to work on the five-way formula to "eradicate the Maoist menace".

Sources privy to the development told ETV Bharat on Wednesday that under the five-pronged strategy, security forces have been asked to target top leadership of Maoists followed by targeting Maoists' base and militia. The security agencies have also been asked to stop funding and logistics, besides a check on frontal organisations. They have also been asked to launch a massive counter-propaganda in the interior areas.

"The Maoists (leadership and lower cadre) have to be put under pressure simultaneously which not only takes them by surprise but also prevents them from regrouping and re-emerging in another terrain," the strategy chalked out by the MHA revealed. Quoting an intelligence report, a senior Home Ministry official said that in Telangana, the state-level special intelligence branch, though checks the activity of Maoists at all levels, its main focus is always on the top leadership and their activities.

A meeting on the Maoist issue held in the Home Ministry recently emphasised that in order to completely eradicate Maoists, almost equal or more efforts have to be placed on the activities of frontal organisations and their members.

"Even though we take actions against the frontal organisation, they continue to exist with reduced vigour. They employ various tactics to escape the judicial scrutiny and buy time for reconsolidation...," the official said. The official expressed concern over the fact that the Maoists have their reach whether it's in the form of student organisations, peasant organisations, unorganized sectors, women associations, tribal communities and other legal democratic organisations.

Intelligence reports suggest that Bhumkal Militia, Krantikiri Adivasi Mahila Sangathan, Dandakaranya Adivasi Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan, Chetana Natya Mandali, Balala Dandakaranya Chetna Natya Manch are some of the frontal organization through which the Maoists try to keep their ideology relevant. Intelligence report further suggests that fraction committee members of the frontal organisation, on behalf of CPI Maoists, collect money in the name of party funds from many contractors, corporations, educational institutions etc.

"This money apart from the extortion which the Moaists do from the contractors and beedi/Tendu leaf contractors in forest areas, form a major chunk of their annual revenue," the official said. What has posed a major challenge for the security agencies in checking the frontal organisation of Maoists is the fact that such organizations use advanced technology and encrypted communication for their dag to day activities.

"Maoists now use PGP for their couriers, encrypted emails, encrypted platforms for day-to-day communication. They are now able to communicate with the frontal leaders in urban spaces with ease," the official said.

Reacting to the development, former director general of Border Security Force (BSF) Prakash Singh said, "Eradicating Maoists within a certain period of time is not an easy task. On earlier occasions as well, former Home Ministers like P Chidambaram and Rajnath Singh also spoke about eradicating Maoists. But, the menace still exists."

If the government really want to eradicate Maoists, the administration should reach the ground zero, he said. "The Maoists take advantage of their communication with the Adivasi people living in the interior areas. Their communication with the Adivasi villagers compels them (villagers) to think that the Maoists really work for them," said Singh. Government need to look into the upliftment of the social and economic condition of the Adivasi people living in the interior areas, he said.