MAOISTS PlANNING MAjOR STRIkES IN CHHATTISGARH

‘Leaders’ are worried about the setback their movement received in the recent past.

The Communist Party of India ( Maoist), which has been put on the back foot due to relentless anti-Maoist operations, is planning to carry out major strikes in Chhattisgarh to make its presence felt, officials in the security apparatus have said.

Officials tracking Maoist leaders said that 19 top Maoist leaders, who comprise the Central Committee, had met in February and then again recently, where these “leaders” expressed concern over the setback that the movement had received in the past couple of years and that a series of strikes to cripple and alarm the “enemy” was needed to keep the Maoist/ Naxal movement relevant.

As per intelligence inputs generated by the security agencies, these Maoists who attended the meeting said that the “movement” was witnessing a “difficult” phase as the number of their cadre was decreasing due to an increasing number of surrenders, encounters and lack of interest among the people in the “movement”.

“Their supply of cadre, which consisted of young tribals, is going down as more and more development is taking place in the remote areas. Their influence in the urban areas was already on the wane and now a similar trend is being observed in the rural areas. Our twin strategy of using force whenever necessary and promoting development in the rural areas is showing credible results,” a senior official tracking the development said.

Officials said the penetration of mobile phones and internet has led to more and more young people devoting their time on “fruitful work” rather than join the Maoist ranks, something that has also been taken notice of by the Maoists.

Compared to 2,200 Naxal related incidents reported in 2010, only 550 were reported in 2017.

In 2016, a record 222 Maoists were killed and 1,400 surrendered. In 2010, 256 incidents of snatching of arms by the Maoists were recorded. However, such incidents came down to three in 2016.

The security forces suffered a massive setback in 2004 when former rivals, the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) People’s War, and the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC), came together and formed the CPI (Maoist).

However, that was halted in recent years, when a well synchronised and massive counter-response was initiated by involving paramilitaries, state police and specialised troops like CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) with the single objective of eliminating the Maoists.

“They used words like ‘setback’, ‘weak’ and ‘difficult’ to describe their status in the area of dominance in the meeting. However, we have not become complacent and are on full alert to stop their expansion as they become more desperate,” a senior police officer said.