This top cop claims 'Urban Naxals' term is a reality, Maoists get help from intellectuals

New Delhi/Ranchi: The 'urban Naxalism' menace is a "reality" and often the human right activists and intellectuals back the Maoists and their nefarious movement to the hilt but on the other hand they seek to weaken the resolve and mechanism to eradicate Naxalites, top Jharkhand police officials have said here.

"I can give you a live example. Sometime back when the new Surrender Policy of the Jharkhand government was announced and that fetched rich dividends bringing in many Maoists join mainstream, there was a PIL in the High Court opposing the Surrender Policy. The message was clear," R L Mallick, ADG Operation and Law and Order, told a visiting group of journalists from Delhi.

Mr Mallick said most often 'money too' plays a part as the intellectuals stance in favour of the Maoists vis-a-vis alleged government high handedness is not "voluntary" always.

"Moreover, the timing factor is crucial....We have followed these developments. As a trend we have seen the hue and cry by the intellectuals, the columns in newspapers and so on would increase whenever the Maoists or Naxal elements are under stress," said Mr Mallick.

"Financial return cannot be ruled out as the actions from the intellectuals are often not out of altruistic and philanthropic approach," he said.

To strengthen his argument, Mr Mallick said the Naxal elements in the state have come under extreme stress after about 100 of their cadres, including at the level of Special Area Committee member, have surrendered in last three years.

In June this year, the state cabinet gave its nod to frame the new Surrender and Rehabilitation Policy for Maoists enabling "more and more" rebels to join the mainstream. 

"For surrender of a Maoist who has been member of the Special Area Committee, the government also announced that entire reward amount of R 25 lakh would go to the surrendered Naxal," Mr Mallick said.

As per the revised policy, family of a surrendered Maoist will get all benefits given to a common man, in case he is killed in Naxal violence, besides getting increased incentives.

According to sources in Jharkhand Jaguar, the special force to fight Maoists' menace, the changes were made to make surrender policy more simple and attractive so that more and more Maoists shun violence and get back into the mainstream. "Under the revised policy, one of his (surrendered Naxal) nearest eligible kin will also get a government job, in case a surrendered Maoist is killed by his former colleagues," police sources said.

Ashish Batra, IG Operations, said there were 39 surrenders in 2016 and 47 in 2017 as against 12 in 2014 and 13 in 2015.

In this context, he said these figures can be linked to number of Naxal-related violent incidents too. "Compared to 2007 and 2008 when Naxal related incidents were 478 and 436 respectively, there was gradual decline in number of incidents and in 2017  the number dropped to 196," he said.

Mr Batra also said the Naxals have been trying to enter the student bodies, trade unions and other pressure groups to often camouflage their actions and create public sentiments in favour of the movement or present the state and the police forces as enemies of the society. "Therefore, we say while Maoism has come down in Jharkhand, yet the challenges remain," he remarked.

In this context, he said the one pro-Naxal group Mazdoor Sangathan Samiti (MSS) organised meetings in a college inviting senior Maoists leaders and sympathisers. 

"The state police acted quickly and the organisation was banned. However, in no time Visthapan Virodhi Jan Andolan too has come up....," he said.

In fact, the central government sources too have said in the past that various 'mass organisations' mostly operating under the garb of human rights NGOs are organically linked to the CPI (Maoist) structure but maintain separate identities.

Mr Batra said, the Mazdoor Sangathan Samiti (MSS) was banned in January by the Jharkhand government under the provisions of the Criminal Law Amendment Act as it was allegedly found to be 'frontal organization of the Communist Party of India (Maoist)'. 

President of Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF) Vara Vara Rao wasted no time in condemning the move. But Mr Batra said "the trade union's offices in Ranchi, Dhanbad, Dalton Gunj and Girdi" were raided and about Rs 27 lakh was recovered too.

The ADG, Jharkhand police, Mr Mallick said the Maoists in running their structured organisations do use 'intellectuals and educated' sympathisers but hesitate to give them pro-active role in higher committees or so. 

"This is because the educated class cannot be good or blind foot soldiers....In the process, they start banking mostly on semi literates and also uneducated cadres. But when senior Maoists die, there comes leadership crises...So that inherent contradiction is also a reality," he said.(UNI)