Centre’s Greyhounds strategy pays off, Maoists crippled

The Ministry of Home Affairs’ (MHA) decision to allow the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana police a free hand in anti-Maoist operations has dealt a big blow to the banned ultras. As many as 30 Maoists, including some top leaders, were killed in two spells of encounters in the thick forests of Odisha’s Malkangiri district on 24-26 October. This is a huge loss for the Maoists who are trying to regroup and consolidate their base in the border zone of AP, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Ma- harashtra, also called the Dandakaranya, so that they can expand to new areas in Central India. This week’s killings have almost wiped out the Andhra-Odisha Border Committee (AOBC), the only militarily active wing of Maoists in the country.

The MHA’s key decision, which has enabled the police forces to gain an upper hand over the Maoists is to allow the Greyhounds, the specially trained anti-Maoist commandos functioning in AP and Telangana, to enter the extremist affected areas in Odisha and Chhattisgarh and lead combing operations. Thanks to this, the writ of the Greyhounds now runs in both these neighbouring states.

The free hand has also allowed the commandos of AP Greyhounds to avenge the killing of 38 policemen in an ambush by the Maoists on 28 June 2008, exactly in the same spot near Balimela reservoir in Malkangiri district. The morale of Odisha and Chhattisgarh police has been on the downswing after a series of attacks by Maoists in the past two years.

Since 2005-06, the Centre used to rush in a large number of CRPF and other paramilitary forces to the Maoist- affected areas in Chhattisgarh and Odisha, but invariably the forces suffered substantial losses due to their lack of knowledge about the terrain and understanding of Maoist tactics. The local police in Chhattisgarh and Odisha could not rise to the challenge.

The MHA changed its tactics in Chhattisgarh and Odisha after the National Democratic Alliance came to power at the Centre in 2014, whereby it was decided that the Greyhounds of AP and Telangana would lead the anti-Maoist operations in all extremist affected areas that are mostly hilly and forested,