Month in power, Marandi govt struggles to curb Naxalite violence

RANCHI, DEC 14: Nov 16: Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) ultras kidnap 10 villagers from Bishrampur police station limits in Palamau.Nov 24: ...

RANCHI, DEC 14: Nov 16: Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) ultras kidnap 10 villagers from Bishrampur police station limits in Palamau.

Nov 24: People’s War Group (PWG) activists gun down a land-owner in Lohardaga. MCC kills four villagers in Gumla six days later.

Dec 13: Block Development officer Nawal Kishore Prasad is killed by MCC ultras in Chatra. Four villagers are shot dead in Gumla. The double-storyed house of Late K.B. Sahay, former Chief Minister of Bihar, is damaged by a landmine blast triggered by MCC activists at Vrind village in Chatra.

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A MONTH after it assumed power, the Jharkhand government is struggling to contain Naxalite violence in the state. Chief Minister Babula Marandi has sought to start discussions with Naxalites belonging to the MCC and the PWG and exhorted them to give up arms. At the same time, he has repeatedly warned them with stern action if they continued with their killings. But the violence continues unabated.

During the past one month, Marandi has addressed several meetings with his Cabinet colleagues, civil and police officials, including Chief Secretary V.S. Dubey and former Director General of Police S.M. Caire. Caire was today replaced by T.P. Sinha as the DGP of Jharkahnd. He has been posted as DGP (Vigilance) on Wednesday.

“The primary concern of the state government is to maintain law and order and curb Naxalite violence,” said the Chief Minister at a recent meeting with Dubey and Caire at the Administrative Training Institute here. More than 200 secretaries, commissioners, IGs, DIGs and SPs of the state were present at the meeting.

Asked whether the spurt in Naxalite violence in the new state suggests that the Naxalites have no faith in his government, Marandi said: “In few days, the result will be visible.”

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His government has sent a Rs 100-crore plan to the Union Home Ministry for modernisation of its police force, which is desperately short of manpower and material.

A report carried by a local Hindi daily on Thursday said that the PWG had “ridiculed Marandi’s initiatives to start peace talks”. The report quoted a PWG source as saying: “From Day One, the Chief Minister has been making announcements about holding talks. But he has made no meaningful effort as yet.” The report claims that the PWG will participate in talks with the government only when “the state stops its anti-Naxalite activities, withdraws police pickets from villages and false cases framed against thousands of villagers”.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Chief Secretary Dubey maintained that the state administration was dealing with the problem as best as it can. “Naxalism is the legacy of history caused by social inequality and economic disparity. To end it, it is necessary to strike at these socio-economic problems of the weaker sections in villages. We are gearing up towards that,” he said.

Avneesh, Block Development Officer (BDO) of Raidih, Gumla, blamed the absence of a judicial body that could provide speedy justice to people at their doorsteps in cases of land disputes. “The Naxalite-run Kangaroo court will loose its meaning if such a body is set up,” the official said. “The villagers do not seem to have lost hope in the state government as yet.”

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Sudhir Kumar, a lawyer, said that apart from following its carrot and stick policy, the Marandi government can control Naxalite violence provided it implements the provisions of the Panchayat (Extension of the Scheduled Areas) Act of 1996.

A senior IAS officer said on condition of anonimity that the state government is planning to hold Panchayat polls in the state by March 2001.