Clamour to let army fight Maoists rises

New Delhi, Sept. 26: The CPM in Bengal has joined an increasing chorus from the states to deploy the military as the Centre shapes a shotgun strategy counter-Maoist offensive.

Ironically enough, Bengal was the first — and remains the only — state in which the army was deployed against Naxalites since the uprising in Naxalbari (1967) spawned thousands of Maoists who now claim influence over a quarter of the country.

Despite the clamour for the army, Union home minister P. Chidambaram said even yesterday during a tour of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand: “There is no proposal to involve the army in anti-Naxal operations.”

But three days back in New Delhi, Chidambaram had said in two separate meetings, that if need be, the special forces of the army would be called upon to lend their muscle to the offensive he is now shaping.

The Indian Air Force is already involved in the operations and the army top brass is involved in strategising and training of forces.

The demand for the army, being voiced with increasing decibel levels from the states since 2006, cuts across party lines — whether it is the Congress, the Biju Janata Dal or the BJP and, now, the CPM. But the largest constituent of the Left in Bengal is unsure that it can carry the coalition it leads along with it.

Should the Eastern Command, headquartered in Calcutta’s Fort William, be asked to organise a deployment, this will be the second time since 1971. A full corps of the army was deployed in the western districts of Bengal and the eastern and southern districts of Bihar — one of the strongest areas of the Maoists then as it is today — that year under Operation Steeplechase.

That history has been all but forgotten as state administrations look to militarise their drive against the Maoists.

The demand for the army is accompanied by increasing measures to militarise the police force. The scare scenario for the army is that despite their “militarisation” — by means of better equipment and larger numbers — the state and central security forces run the risk of getting stranded.

“A militarised police is necessary but if the military is asked to police, it’s dangerous,” a senior army officer said.

“In that event, the military will be called upon to police the interiors of India, something we do not want,” he said. “In Jammu and Kashmir and in the Northeast, it is important for the army to be deployed because they are border regions,” he explained.

Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik met defence minister A.K. Antony yesterday and sought the military’s involvement in the offensive to take on Maoists in the western and southern districts of his state.

Patnaik was also keen that the army recruit soldiers from his state in larger numbers.

The chief minister is also understood to have requested the defence establishment to formulate special norms suited for the physical characteristics of tribals and others in Orissa so that they stand a better chance of getting recruited.

The Opposition Congress in Orissa has already called upon the Centre to deploy the army in Orissa.

In Chhattisgarh, the BJP government is making space in the outskirts of Raipur for a military cantonment. Chief minister Raman Singh has assured the army chief, General Deepak Kapoor, that land for a sub area command has been marked out. Though Raman Singh does not favour a deployment of the army just yet, his government-backed Counter Terrorism and Jungle Warfare College in Kanker is supported by the army.

It is run by a former army officer, Brigadier (retired) Basant Kumar Ponwar, who was the commandant of the army’s specialised Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School (CIJWS) in Vairangte, Mizoram, when he was in the service.

The army has seconded two Colonels to the faculty of the college that is the only one in the country dedicated to training state and central forces in counter-Maoist tactics. A helipad within the college campus is also used to launch air force helicopters for reconnaissance, casualty evacuation and the movement of troops.

In Operation Steeplechase — similar in many ways to the current security drive in and around Lalgarh — a corps of the army (about 45,000 troops) were deployed from July 1 to August 15 1971, in Midnapore, Purulia, Burdwan and Birbhum districts of Bengal, in Singhbhum, Dhanbad, Santhal Parganas districts of Bihar (now Jharkhand) and in Mayurbhanj district of Orissa.

The army was the outer ring of a cordon spread across the districts on the borders of the three states while central and state forces carried out searches and sweeps through much of the villages in the forested tracts. The army was withdrawn as India began preparing for the war with Pakistan in December 1971 that led to the creation of Bangladesh.

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