Anjani Kumar, Deputy Inspector General (Guntur Range), has been getting a lot of calls on his mobile phone these days from villages in Guntur, Nellore and Prakasham districts. The calls come in fast and furious. After all the officer’s number is on speed dial of 50 people in the Naxalite-affected villages of the three districts. The calls and even SMSes, which have been pre-fed into the phones, are all about Naxalite activity in the area and whereabouts of PWG leaders. The cellphones have been provided by the police for the elections. So far the police have taken on Naxalites in three encounters in the area based on information relayed by informers. Kumar, who is from Gaya in Bihar, sits in his house, a bare 5 km from NH 5, after a hard day’s work (which includes arranging security for Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s rally) and ponders over the similarities between PWG activities in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar. He talks about how the functioning of the PWG in Andhra and Bihar has become slick and professional in the last few years. ‘‘If they decide to kill me today and burst into this room, they will kill me but won’t harm you. They have realised that random killings only harm their purpose,’’ he says. The 1990 Andhra cadre officer has just returned after a year-long stint with the CISF in Bihar. ‘‘Andhra and Bihar share the same problems: Naxalism and casteism. but look where Andhra has reached. Bihar has gone back in time. Hyderabad has developed so fast but Patna is the same, may be even worse,’’ he says. The last couple of months have been a tense period for Anjani Kumar and numerous other officers who have been keeping a check on extremist activity in the state. Almost 400 policemen and three IPS officers have lost their lives in the last 10 years in Andhra. There have been sporadic outbreaks of violence recently, and the uneasy silence is only making the police jittery as polling day nears. Patrolling has been increased, helicopters have been deployed and forces are ready for April 26. In the six months since Andhra Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu escaped a bid on his life, the PWG has stepped up its activities against TDP and BJP politicians in the area. ‘‘There has been random killing of village heads belonging to the TDP to deter middle and lower-level functionaries from campaigning,’’ admits Kumar. Naidu has also time and again in rallies and meetings accused the Congress of having a tacit understanding with the PWG in targeting his workers. An accusation the Congress dismisses as rubbish. Raipathi Sambasiva Rao, the Congress candidate from Guntur Lok Sabha seat and a former RS member, says: ‘‘How can he dissolve the Assembly? He says he got threats from Naxalites, that’s why. But when he can’t safeguard himself from Naxals, what security will be provide to the people?’’ He adds: ‘‘Naxalism has grown due to the wrong policies of the state government. Under them, unemployment has gone up. The Naxalites want justice and employment. The common man is not affected by Naxalites. The Naxals only target those who are doing injustice in society.’’ Rao claims even Congress workers are targeted. ‘‘Three years ago, Devarkonda sitting MLA Raghya Naik was killed by the PWG.’’ In the last 15 days, there have been three exchanges of fire between the PWG and police, while six Naxalites have been killed in encounters in Guntur and Prakasham. The police are now working hard to prevent the spread of Naxalism to areas surrounding the Golden Quadrilateral in Nellore, Prakasham and Guntur. Twenty mandals or tehsils in Guntur, 12 mandals in Prakasham and three mandals in Nellore are Naxal areas. The villages bordering the highway have so far been free of Naxal activity. But over the last three years the PWG has spread its tentacles through the three districts, especially around the remoter Nalamala forests, and is getting closer to the coastal areas. To get around this problem, for the first time this year, the police will airlift EVMs and polling staff to 12 remote areas of Guntur and three of Prakasham, allowing those who never voted before to exercise their right. The only thing that Anjani Kumar wishes for now is that the polls end on a peaceful note.
