Stop Politicking On Red Terror

God alone

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Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee struck right cord while expressing his concern over the spread of Left-Wing Extremism in some of the backwaters of the country. Calling Naxalism the biggest threat to the country’s peace and security, Mukherjee, on the occasion of the 71st Raising day celebration of CRPF in the national capital, couched that its spread in part a reflection of failure in meeting the expectations of local people.

He deserves a heap of encomium for accepting the fact that the government failed to meet the expectations of locals and sufferers that triggered the Naxal terror. But mere embracing the truth will not douse the Red-fire which is scorching sizable swathe of the country. His pinning blame on government for surging Naxals could not drive home the point whether it is the Centre or state governments responsible for it but being federal set up of the Constitution, both the Centre and states are together accountable and should take cognizance of this insurgency, the enormity of which is no less than that of external terrorism.

The ripples of cataclysmic impact of Naxalism cover major part of the country, so the Central dispensation could not simply pass buck on states. Naxals have infested those states which are rich in resources like minerals and forests and the Centre has strategic interference in these states. It will be better that the Centre and state governments should part with politics of parochial interests and take a concrete steps to eradicate the Naxalism which has snowballed into major threat to internal security.

As polls are drifting closer in West Bengal, the Central dispensation and the state governments have started playing politics of brinkmanship. Union Home Ministry under the pressure of Mamata Banerjee shot off letter to the West Bengal government but it reached to media before getting its destination, which summarily spells out how the political grandstanding is played out rather than dismantling the Naxals network. In the name of Red terror, the Centre and states are more busy drawing line between their domains than weeding out Naxals.

Profound irony is that there has been political chorus that Naxalism has become a major threat to the internal security but no calibrated discussion on talking trouble has taken place so far. Sometime back the Centre took tough stand against the Red terror but now it appears cold, for the state governments show their slackness and some spin doctors of the Central governments discouraged the Home Ministry. That is why the Naxals have unleashed terror recently.

Ramakant/ Dr A K JHA