The spectre of Maoist violence

In a dastardly attack perpetrated on soldiers of our country, ten security personnel returning from a counter-insurgency operation, along with a civilian were killed when Maoists blew up their convoy in Dantewada of Chhattisgarh. The operation was conducted by the Deputy Inspector General, based on a tip-off about Maoist presence in the area. The team of the District Reserve Guard was returning to the Dantewada headquarters when they were targeted by the Maoists, using an improvised explosive device (IED) packed with over 50 kg of explosives.

With this recent incident, the number of security personnel killed in the line of duty by Maoists in Chhattisgarh in the first four months of 2023, has reached 17, which is twice as many casualties reported the year before. It is the biggest attack by the extremists in the State in over two years. The latest ambush has laid bare what is being considered as the final bastion for security forces in Chhattisgarh — foiling IED attacks in the forest tri-junction of Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Odisha, located at the southern tip of Sukma district in south Bastar. It’s a region notorious for witnessing the highest number of such incidents, which includes the horrifying 2010 Maoist ambush in Dantewada that led to the death of 75 CRPF and one Chhattisgarh police personnel.

Per security experts, between February and June, Maoists carry out counter-offensive campaigns in a tactical fashion against security personnel. This is done prior to the arrival of the rains which make it challenging to carry out attacks in this region. What is making things harder for security forces is the lack of foolproof technology to detect IEDs, compounded by a growing desperation within the Maoist factions, who resort to guerilla warfare and avoid direct confrontation with the forces. As many as 34 IED attacks have been reported in the Bastar region till mid April this year, in comparison to 28 attacks last year, and 21 the year before.

The narrative of the Centre is that left wing extremism (LWE) has nearly been eliminated in Jharkhand and Bihar. Sustained operations have brought down instances of violence by 77% in a period of just one decade. Union Home Minister Amit Shah had also remarked two years back that Maoist operations had reduced from as many as 96 districts in 10 States in 2010 to 41 districts by 2021.

The role of intelligence failure is being probed with regard to the latest incident, given that ground zero of this episode is not typically regarded as a core region for Maoist activities.

Political analysts believe Maoists driven out of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Odisha have now holed up in Chhattisgarh, where they are fighting a losing battle. Their outdated ideology has run its course among members of underserved tribal communities. For counter-insurgency operations to succeed, rudimentary strategies like creating rifts between tribal communities need to be abandoned as they can only backfire. It is necessary the government takes such communities into confidence, as they are an integral part of India’s mainstream political narrative.

There is a need to revamp the operational strategies of security forces in such regions to avoid collateral damage. Protocols including the combing of non-critical areas must be emphasised, along with activities like sanitisation of roadways in the event of the passage of large security convoys. Lessons from the past should guide India’s security forces in a clear manner to weed out the last of the LWEs.