Crossing the thin red line

The problem for India’s largest police force does not end here. Move west and in chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav’s home district Etawah, dreaded bandit Nirbhay Singh Gujjar still rules by the gun. Gujjar, who’d earlier explored the option of surrendering, is now running trigger happy in Etawah, Jalaun, Jhansi and other districts bordering Madhya Pradesh.

A LITTLE to the east in Allahabad and Chitrakoot districts where Gujjar’s reign ends, the Dadhua gang’s begins. The kidnapping industry, till now restricted to eastern UP, now extends to the heart of the state. As many as five children have been kidnapped from Lucknow by organised gangs in the past few months — there is no trace of four-year-old Renal Gupta, son of a millionaire family, kidnapped way back on October 15.

Sunday Express travelled to the red zone of Chandoli near Varanasi to find reasons for the Naxalite resurgence. The danger zone is a dense forest where the police have carved out a kuchha track. It was on one such track that the Naxalites had blown up the PAC truck killing 15 policemen.

HOME to the Kol community, these forests are the new battleground. The tribals and the forest officials are fighting for the control of the forest’s precious tendu leaves. The seeds of the Naxalite attack were sown last month after a forest ranger removed 400 houses of the Kols which encroached the forest land. Naxalites attacked the ranger’s office last month, killing three forest officials. They then targetted the police a day later.

Ask the five constables posted at the Chandraprabha post, 4 km away from the blast spot, and they say ‘‘we are living at the mercy of the AK-47 weilding Naxalites. We have stopped going out for patrolling now.’’ The post lost six of its men in the blast. No telephone, no bullet-proof jackets, just five single-barrel rifles and dilipidated kuchha posts — this is all in the name of infrastructure at this last police post before the red zone begins. ‘‘No policemen wants a posting here,’’ says constable Balwant Yadav.

Senior police officials of the UP police also appear to have taken the threat lightly till recently. ‘‘Until the Naxalite attack, SSP Varanasi held double charge of Chandoli district that should ideally have a separate SP. Just ASP (anti-Naxal operations) K K Pushkar was holding fort here. Now, ASP Pushkar has been suspended. IG (Varanasi Zone) Devraj Nagar has now taken that responsibilty himself,’’ says an officer.

The fight, however, is far from over. UP police now speaks of a 12-point programme to counter Naxalites. The ill-equipped force is hardly motivated though. ‘‘One can die for the uniform but at least we need a chance to face the enemy equipped as well as them. At present, we are sitting ducks for Naxalites,’’ say policemen at Chandoli.

INTERVIEW: V K B NAIR

‘Bullets can’t be answered with talks’

Is the UP police feeling cornered?
Yes, we are cornered but not panicky. The present Naxalite attack has opened a new frontier and challenge for us on the border we are sharing with four other states but we do not find it an insurmountable challenge. We have fought terrorism for 12 long years in the past and succeeded.

How have the Naxalites found a foothold in UP?
Two months ago, PWG after getting a stamp of legitimacy from the Andhra Pradesh government, it joined hands with the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) in UP. In my view, bullets cannot be answered with talks as the AP government did. This only led to the Naxalites joining hands, getting stronger and spreading their wings in states like UP.

Is the role of PWG in the present attack clear?
We had intelligence that 20 PWG men dressed in military uniforms slipped into Chandoli area of Varanasi as early as November 5 and imparted training to MCC for carrying out the underground landmine blast. There was a slip-up as our officials in the area took the threat lightly.

How do you plan to fight the Naxalites?
At present, the infrastructure to fight is not there. We are short on vehicles, sophisticated arms as well as staff. But the Centre has now sanctioned Rs 236 crore to the UP police after the Naxalite attack. The grant will be used to strenghten the force against Naxals and checking Maoist operations on the Indo-Nepal border. A massive anti-dacoity operation against Nirbhay Gujjar is already on.