Articles

Andhra Pradesh has been projecting itself as a successful model in the fight against Naxalites. The state is no longer a citadel of the Naxalites and their top leadership. An effective police action combined with simultaneous developmental activities and an effective field level intelligence in the Naxal affected districts are the primary reasons for the successful containment of Naxalites in the state.

A possibility of replicating Andhra Pradesh model in other Naxal affected states is being discussed. The success of this strategy will depend on how quickly the government machinery in respective states implements the developmental programs in areas from where Naxalites will be flushed out by security personnel. In light of the growing intensity of Naxalite violence in the states like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Bihar and West Bengal, the respective state governments with the help of the federal government have decided to launch large scale security offensive. The operation has been referred to as 'Operation Green Hunt' and the federal government assists respective state governments by providing paramilitary forces, sharing intelligence and technical help. The operation has been in progress since the first week of November 2009. The main idea behind this operation is to simultaneously carry out security operations and developmental activities, aswas done by the Andhra Pradesh government. Through Operation Green Hunt, it seems that attempts to replicate the Andhra model are being carried out.

Replicating the model in other states may not yield the desired results. This could be because the work done by the government of Andhra Pradesh before launching security operations against the Naxalites, not been done in other states. For instance, during the ceasefire period between the Andhra Pradesh government and the Naxalites in 2004, security forces sent informers into the fold of the Naxalites, which helped them strengthen their intelligence machinery. Security forces also collected information on Naxalites during political negotiations with the state government during the ceasefire period. During these negotiations, security forces came to know the hitherto unknown faces of the Naxalites which helped nab these leaders in later days. Moreover, security forces have also undertaken certain confidence building measures like interacting with parents of alleged Naxalites about the future of their children and organizing sports meets, to woo the disgruntled youths into mainstream society. Above all, development work was also done simultaneously, in addition to attractive surrender and resettlement policies.

The states that are attempting to replicate the Andhra model are launching offensive operations against the Naxalites ignoring the background action taken by the Andhra Pradesh government. Consequently, planned operations like Operation Green Hunt are doomed to result in massive failure and most certainly increase the people's animosity towards the establishment. Moreover, in the states like Chhattisgarh, initiatives like Salwa Judum have already created a hostile feeling towards the administration and security personnel among sections of the tribal populace, apart from dividing the tribals into two major groups, one supporting the Naxalites and another opposing them. Before launching an offensive, taking the tribals into confidence is an essential mandatory requirement, without which successful collection of intelligence on the movement of Naxalites and their actions is not possible. Moreover, without the help of the tribals, security personnel may find it difficult to differentiate between Naxalites and tribals, which might result in faulty casualties. Through the massive security offensive, the government is attempting to bring to an end, a decades old problem within a shot span of time. This is unlikely to yield expected results unless massive developmental works like construction of roads, provision of clean drinking water, primary health centres, precedes the security offensive.

The plan to simultaneously carry out both - security action and developmental initiatives - is based on the premise that security action must be taken first and development agenda next, and will lead to confusion. It has no answer for the queries like what will happen to development if security forces failed to meet with success. As a result, the initial premise on which the government has planned the current operations is faulty and lacks foresight.  

On the other hand, though the Naxalites have been contained in Andhra Pradesh, a few of their top leaders who are also part of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of India - Maoists (CPI-M) are still active, if not in the Andhra Pradesh then in neighboring states. One of the objectives of the leadership is to regain their lost ground in Andhra Pradesh. The possibility of Naxalites regaining their position in Andhra Pradesh though seemingly remote, may well become possible if the Naxals are able to gain strength from the lapses of the government like corruption, maladministration and poor governance.