Skip to main content

Chhattisgarh Naxal attack: Why no CRPF jawan from Delhi, Mumbai upscale area?

By Aviral Anand* 
A jawan from Tripura about to get married. Another, from a village in Bilaspur, looking forward to a new home. A recent father... The stories of martyred jawans are almost always the same, and the scenes of mourning too similar, set as they are overwhelmingly in rural or mofussil India. Has one ever heard of someone from, say, the preposterously-named residential complexes like "Maple Gardens Society" in the posh outskirts of the national capital, for example, ever falling victim to an ambush in Bastar?
No jawan from upscale areas and gated colonies of Delhi, Gurgaon or Mumbai, or even Lucknow is ever in such tragedies.
The victims, from mostly peasant backgrounds, choose careers in police, paramilitary and other armed forces in good faith, out of a vague sense of pride in "serving the nation" and, in most cases, out of economic necessity. Only to be mowed down by the bullets of a variety of actors who are fighting the very exploitative state that the jawans unwittingly end up serving.
The CRPF's record in confronting Left-wing extremism is beyond pathetic, with failure after failure, ambush after ambush, often on account shockingly poor planning and execution of their operations. According to a piece on the South Asian Terrorism Portal (SATP) site, there have been at least 18 attacks against the security forces by the Maoists since April of 2017. The same piece quotes IPS officer KPS Gill noting after a 2017 ambush that, 
"…it is abundantly clear, even from what is publicly known, that flagging discipline, poor training and bad leadership will have contributed directly to the debacle. Suffice it to say that even the most rudimentary imperatives of self-preservation appear to have been ignored by the targeted unit."
Another retired IPS-officer NC Asthana penned an article recently in The Quint titled, in no uncertain terms, "What Went Wrong in Chhattisgarh? Same Old Mistakes, Nothing New." He writes about the shoddy and corrupt CRPF-leadership as follows:
"It has been observed since long that the nexus of the police leadership and their masters in the government go out of the way to hush things up so that the guilty IPS officers are saved and eventually the blame is passed on to the poor men for not having followed the mythical, non-existent SOP (Standard Operating Procedure)."
So, it is these "poor men" -- the CRPF jawans -- who pay with their lives for so-called security operations which are flawed in their very conception and whose planners probably know that they have no chance against a better prepared and more dedicated rebel group.
Yet, government funds for such operations must continue flowing, especially to safeguard the myth of development in those areas.
As adivasi activist Hidme Markam's arrest demonstrates, protesting against the various projects that seek to exploit the rich resources of that part of Chattisgarh can lead to false charges and incarceration. Hidme was active in an anti-mining campaign protesting a new mega-project in the region's Bailadila mountains. 
The Bailadila -- "ox's hump" -- range has long held some of the largest and best ore deposits in India. Not for nothing did the Shipping Corporation of India name one of its ships after the hill range. The state-owned National Mineral Development Corporation (NDMC) has been active in that area for decades now.
In 2018, the Adani group set up the subsidiary Bailadila Iron Ore Mining Private Ltd which is supposed to act as a contract miner for a new iron ore mine in the region ("Deposit #13"). The Bailadila range is sacred to the adivasis in that region.
The conflict over resources in the name of development of the region -- and the routine harassment of adivasis who stand in the way -- is a long-standing one. The UPA government launched its infamous Operation Green Hunt to tackle this so-called insurgency. As the continuing encounters with the Maoists demonstrates, the state's efforts -- whether one constituted by the UPA or the NDA --  often using disproportionate force, has yielded no substantial results.
On the contrary, the security forces have routinely suffered heavy casualties in situations that bespeak extremely dubious circumstances. Yet, no fact-finding report, even if successfully carried out, has indicted any senior-level staff of any misdeeds and faulty planning.
CRPF's record in confronting Left-wing extremism is beyond pathetic, with failure after failure, ambush after ambush
It is as though it is an open secret that the foot-soldiers will always be available for being the cannon-fodder in an effort to tackle the rebels. So, their lives are casually played with by sending them out on ridiculously planned operations, straight into traps supposedly set by the Maoists. 
The facade of the government tackling the state's -- and its development policies' -- enemies continues unabated, no matter which government is in power. And meanwhile the state keeps handing out contracts to the capitalists for exploitation and despoliation of the region's precious natural resources.
While the state keeps losing the real battle with the Naxalites/Maoists, it oppresses the adivasi population of the region by slapping false charges on them and accusing them of being Naxalites. And to remove any other voices and opposition to its collusion with the capitalist class, it plays the "Urban Naxalite" card by accusing and arresting those who object to the predatory model of development it pursues.
All the while, the jawans of the security forces are lambs to the slaughter for the pleasures of the ruling classes' games. The myth of nation and nationalism is kept alive by carefully orchestrated theaters like that at Pulwama, where the death of the CRPF jawans became a spectacle and an egregiously chauvinistic rallying-point for nationalism and patriotism.
Such instances bolster the appearances of a fighting force dedicated to national security and artificially prop up illusions of valor and bravado. But the reality of the jawans' conditions, morale and spirits is always far removed from this artificial portrayal. Back in 2010 after the death-by-ambush of 76 CRPF jawans in Chintalnar in Dantewada, a reporter visiting a CRPF camp in the area had written about the fear and desperation of the jawans in a piece titled, "Save us from this hell, beg CRPF jawans."
The hell is an ongoing one for the CRPF jawans -- Q -- they know that they are being condemned to death by their posting in areas where the Naxalites range. The greater tragedy is that all such death and devastation is totally avoidable. Just as is the victimization of the adivasis and the stealing of their resources to feed the whims and comforts of the upper classes.
---
*Writer based in Delhi NCR

Comments

TRENDING

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Central pollution watchdog sees red in Union ministry labelling waste to energy green

By Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran*  “Destructors”, “incinerators” and “waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration” all mean the same thing – indiscriminate burning of garbage! Having a history of about one and a half centuries, WTE incinerators have seen several reboots over the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. 

First-of-its-kind? 'Eco-friendly, low cost' sewage treatment system installed in Gujarat

Counterview Desk Following the installation of the Unconventional Decentralized Multi-Stage Reactor (UDMSR) for sewage treatment, a note on what is claimed to be the  first-of-its-kind technology said, the treated sewage from this system “can be directly utilized for agricultural purposes”, even as proving to be a “saviour in the times of water crisis.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Indo-Bangla border: Farmers facing 'illegal obstacles' in harvesting, transporting yields

  Counterview Desk  In a representation to the chairperson, National Human Rights Commission, human rights defender Kirity Roy, who is secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), has said that Border Security Force (BSF) personnel are creating "illegal obstacles" for farmers seeking to harvest their ripened yields and transport them to the market in village Jhaukuthi of Cooch Behar district.

Wasteland, a colonial legacy, being used to 'give away' vast tracts to Ratnagiri refinery

By Fouziya Tehzeeb* William D’Souza, a 55-year old farmer from Kuthethur, Mangalore, was busy mixing cattle feed when we arrived at his doorsteps. Around 25 km from the bustling city of Mangalore, Kuthethur is a lush green village with thick vegetation. On the way to William’s house the idyllic view gets blocked by the flares and smoke arising from the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL).

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

CAA disregards India's inclusive plural ethos, 'betrays' ideals of freedom struggle: PUCL

Counterview Desk    "Outraged" at the move of the Central government to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA 2019) weeks before the election, the top rights group, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), has demanded that the law be repealed. 

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Sections of BSF, BGB personnel 'directly or indirectly' involved in cross border smuggling

By Kirity Roy*  The Border Security Force (BSF) of India and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) of Bangladesh met for 54th Director General level meeting at Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 5th to 9th March, 2024 to discuss on minimizing killings at border area, illegal intrusion, trafficking of drugs and other narcotics, smuggling of arms and ammunitions and other crimes at bordering areas. Further, the summit had an agenda to discuss on overall development in 150 yards area at both sides of the border and design an activity plan for the same.