IF THIS is the way states start functioning on issues of terror then God help this country. The CPM who has been upstaged in the recently held West Bengal elections by the Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress with a thumping majority have been saying all along that Mamata has a soft corner for the Naxals. Mamata after becoming the CM of West Bengal has suspended the anti Naxals operations going on in the state and has appointed a six member civil society team to talk to the Maoists. May be that Mamata wants to try a different approach to deal with this menace which today has emerged as a major threat to the internal security and integrity of the country but can this be justified specially when people in neighboring states are getting killed in Naxal originated terror ?
The biggest mistake, which our founding fathers who wrote Indian Constitution have made was when they copied “The Colonial Government Of India Act 1935” in toto on Center and state relations placing public order and police under state jurisdiction. To that extent Mamata Banerjee’s action is technically correct. Nevertheless having stopped anti Naxal operations in her state, now these Maoists carry out their terror activities in the neighboring Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Jharkhand and then revert back to the safe havens in West Bengal.
This situation is akin to what India is facing against Pakistan in Kashmir and the American troops are facing in Afghanistan against Pakistan. This is morally wrong and will damage our internal security in a big way in the time to come. Then what happens if other states also stop listening to centre and start behaving this way? It is these shenanigans of our Netas, which has resulted Naxal strong hold increasing in the country from 19 Districts earlier to 60 now, spanning seven states and 40 percent of Indian land mass. This despite the much tom tomed operation Green Hunt launched by Centre against Maoist supposedly in full swing.
It is a fact that despite rising trend of terror both of Naxal and Jehadi kind our internal security in the Country remains dysfunctional. Centre today has no statuary role in internal security except for providing the States additional central paramilitary forces. Offences like terror and interstate crimes are not bound by state boundaries but the police is. As result most of the time against terror we are reactive and not proactive. The biggest shield against terror, the local actionable specific intelligence also remains poor.
Realizing this, in 2001, the then NDA government recommended a change by placing direct responsibility of terrorism and inter-state crimes on Ministry of Home Affairs. However, nothing happened and things remained where they were till 26/11 Mumbai horror took place. After this government in power established NSG hubs at other metros also apart from Delhi, National Investigative Agency was set up, Counter insurgency and anti terror schools were opened, police strength and their equipment were augmented, still it is yet not the half way mark.
This current action of West Bengal highlights the fact that the regional politicians of India are more interested in their own area then what is good for the country.
This will not work. The need of the hour is for all political parties agreeing to put terror and interstate crime on con current list of both Center and state. There must be a new Internal Security Ministry in Centre with a cabinet Rank Minister at the helm. A system of joint Command must be established from the Centre to States. All decisions must be taken by the centre and states jointly and they must be implemented in letter and spirit. The thrust of the anti Naxal operations should be to hit hard, liberate and hold the area and then develop. The bureaucracy must be held on tight leash and corruption dealt with a heavy hand.
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