Maoists failing due to sustained ops, development schemes, say ex-IPS officers
14 former IPS officers lauded the security establishment and said that the CPI-Maoists’ military strategy of “protracted people’s war” through an “armed liberation struggle” appears to have failed.
The security forces have a shot in the arm with successes in tackling left-wing extremism, with the home ministry informing Parliament that there is a close to 77 per cent dip in Naxal-related violence.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had earlier this week informed Rajya Sabha that steadfast implementation of the National Policy and Action Plan to address Left-wing Extremism (LWE) - 2015 has resulted in a consistent decline in violence. Incidents of LWE are down from all-time high of 2,258 in 2009 to 509 in 2021.
Similarly, fatalities among civilians and security forces reduced by 85 per cent, from 1,005 deaths in 2010 to 147 in 2021, the MHA said.
As part of online group Track The Truth, 14 former IPS officers lauded the security establishment and said that the CPI-Maoists’ military strategy of “protracted people’s war” through an “armed liberation struggle” appears to have failed.
READ | How the Jharkhand police are making big gains against Maoists
In a statement, the top police officers said, "The past year is a milestone in containing India’s decades-old Maoist insurgency. In what appears to be sustained, painstaking and long-term intelligence operations, culminating in well-coordinated action by security forces, the number of Maoist-affected police stations has reduced significantly in the past decade from almost 450 to about 200 and districts from about 100 to 50. We have also read several reports of surrenders of senior leadership and disenchantment of tribal youth with Maoism. In our long years of experience in various theatres of conflict in India, intelligence agencies and SF could never have achieved such success without decisive political will and implementation of a clearly delineated path of development, welfare and intelligence-led operations."
With decades of front-line experience in combating terrorism in various theatres of conflict, these officers noted that the ideology of the CPI-Maoists is becoming redundant. Moreover, they stated that the government had implemented twin policy of development and security force operations.
Return of the Maoists | India Today Insight
“It is clear that the PM’s vision in extending social welfare initiatives like PM Kisan, PM Ujjwala, PM Awas, Ayushmann Bharat, PM Garib Kalyan and DBT to hitherto neglected regions were game-changing in Maoist-affected areas as well. Distribution of land titles to tribals and quality education to tribal youth at GOI’s Eklavya Model Residential Schools have raised hopes and aspirations, weaning youth further away from Maoists and therefore reducing fresh recruitment to PLGA. Coupled with a conducive and clear policy environment, sustained inter-agency and inter-state coordination by the Union Home Minister’s hands-on and persuasive style of working must have been a key motivating factor. As a result of all these initiatives, several high-level Maoist leaders were neutralised in the past year,” the statement read.
The group stated that the decimation of the Maoist terrorist movement was a matter of time, given that its leadership is ageing fast, recruitment has reduced significantly and security forces are spreading deeper into Maoist strongholds.