Bastar:
Shrinking 'Heartland'
Deepak
Kumar Nayak
Research Assistant, Institute for Conflict Management
On November
25, 2016, a Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist)
cadre was killed during an encounter with the Security
Forces (SFs) in a forested area under the Kondagaon Police
Station in Kondagaon District. The body of the slain Maoist
along with one rifle and one 12 bore gun was recovered
from the encounter site.
On November
22, 2016, a Sub-Inspector (SI) of the Central Reserve
Police Force (CRPF) was killed and a head constable was
injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) explosion
in the forest areas of Sukma District. The incident took
place when two personnel of a patrolling team of the CRPF's
74th Battalion, which was out on an area domination
operation between Burkapal Police camp and Chintalnar,
inadvertently stepped on a pressure IED concealed beneath
the ground by cadres of the CPI-Maoist.
In a similar
incident, two CRPF personnel sustained injuries when they
stepped on a pressure IED on November 21, 2016, half a
kilometre away from the CRPF camp at Narsapuram in Sukma
District.
On November
19, 2016, at least five Maoists were killed by the SFs
in the jungles of Tuspal and Becha Kilam villages in the
Abujhmaad area under the Chhote Dongar Police Station
of Narayanpur District. Commenting on the operation, Superintendent
of Police (SP) Abhishek Meena, disclosed, “The counter-insurgency
operation led to the decimation of Military Company No.
six of CPI-Maoist and killing of at least half a dozen
Naxals [Left Wing Extremists (LWEs)]. However,
we could recover bodies of five Maoists along with their
weapons.” SFs recovered three 12 bore guns, one .315 rifle,
and articles of daily use from the spot.
On November
16, 2016, six Maoists were killed in an encounter with
SFs near the Bugum-Perma forest in Dantewada District.
Special Director General of Police, Anti-Naxal
Operations, D.M. Awasthi disclosed that the bodies of
six slain Maoists were recovered, while many more may
have been injured or even killed. “Of these six, three
are men, all of them wore uniform and the weapons recovered
include three .303 rifles, two 12 bore guns and one single
barrel weapon among other items.’’ Two Naxals were
arrested from the encounter site.
Incidentally,
these three Districts – Sukma, Dantewada and Narayanpur
– along with Bijapur, Bastar, Kanker and Kondagaon, form
the Bastar Division of Chhattisgarh, which continues to
remain the nucleus of Maoist-violence in Chhattisgarh
in particular, and the country at large. According to
partial data compiled by the South Asia Terrorism Portal
(SATP), the Bastar Division has already recorded 190 fatalities
in Maoist-related violence in 2016 (data till November
27). These include 124 Maoists, 33 civilians and 33 SF
personnel. Total Maoist–linked fatalities in the State
stand at 195 – 125 Maoists, 35 civilians and an equal
number of SFs. Thus, of a total of 195 Maoist-linked fatalities
in the State in 2016, the Bastar Division alone accounts
for 190, i.e. 97.43 per cent.
Unsurprisingly,
all 16 major incidents (each involving three or more fatalities)
that have occurred in Chhattisgarh during the current
year were reported from Bastar Division. In these incidents,
three civilians, 10 SF personnel and 56 Maoists have been
killed.
Fatalities
in Bastar Division, Chhattisgarh and India: 2010-2016*
Year
|
Bastar
Division
|
Chhattisgarh
|
India
|
Civilians
|
SFs
|
LWEs/
Maoists
|
Total
|
Civilians
|
SFs
|
LWEs/
Maoists
|
Total
|
Civilians
|
SFs
|
LWEs/
Maoists
|
Total
|
2010
|
62
|
153
|
94
|
309
|
72
|
153
|
102
|
327
|
626
|
277
|
277
|
1180
|
2011
|
24
|
66
|
68
|
158
|
39
|
67
|
70
|
176
|
275
|
128
|
199
|
602
|
2012
|
24
|
34
|
41
|
99
|
26
|
36
|
46
|
108
|
146
|
104
|
117
|
367
|
2013
|
46
|
44
|
34
|
124
|
48
|
45
|
35
|
128
|
159
|
111
|
151
|
421
|
2014
|
24
|
55
|
32
|
111
|
25
|
55
|
33
|
113
|
128
|
87
|
99
|
314
|
2015
|
29
|
41
|
45
|
115
|
34
|
41
|
45
|
120
|
93
|
57
|
101
|
251
|
2016
|
33
|
33
|
124
|
190
|
35
|
35
|
125
|
195
|
111
|
65
|
235
|
411
|
Total
|
242
|
426
|
438
|
1106
|
279
|
432
|
456
|
1167
|
1538
|
829
|
1179
|
3546
|
Source:
SATP, *Data till November 27, 2016.
|
Spread
over a geographical area over 40,000 square kilometres,
the Bastar Division is afflicted by low standard human
development indicators, as well as widespread absence
and worsening access to healthcare, education, drinking
water, sanitation and food, creating an alarming humanitarian
situation. These conditions clearly suit the Maoists.
According to the “District Development and Diversity Index
Report for India and Major States,” a joint survey conducted
by the US-India Policy Institute (USIPI) and the Centre
for Research and Debates in Development Policy (CRDDP),
New Delhi, released on January 29, 2015, among the 599
Districts across India covered by the survey, all the
Districts of the Bastar Division were ranked towards the
bottom
. The seven Districts of the Bastar Division were also
among the 35 worst Naxal-affected Districts identified
by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (UMHA) across the
country.
An overview
of fatalities over the last seven years shows that the
Division has recorded 1,106 Maoist-linked fatalities,
including 438 Maoist, 426 SF personnel and 242 civilians.
Thus, of a total of 1,167 fatalities, including 456 Maoists,
432 SF personnel and 279 civilians, recorded in the State,
since 2010, the Bastar Division alone accounted for 94.77
per cent. It is pertinent to recall here that Chhattisgarh
alone contributes to 32.91 per cent of the total of Maoist-linked
fatalities across the country over the corresponding period.
Current
trends do, however, indicate that SFs have made considerable
gains against the Maoists in the Division
and in the State at large. According to the SATP database,
between 2010 and 2015, a total of 314 Maoists were killed
in the Division, as against 393 SF personnel, a ratio
of 1:1.25 in favour of the rebels. Remarkable SF consolidation
in the current year is evident in the ratio of 1:3.75
against the Maoists. Significantly, the Maoists are facing
a challenging time across
India, and particularly, the onslaught
against them in their final bastion,
in Bastar has registered dramatic gains. The marginal
increase in civilian fatalities is, however, a cause for
concern, as Maoists target alleged ‘police informers’,
collaborators, and those who have left their ranks with
increasing frequency in desperate measures to stem the
fragmentation of their organisation.
Moreover,
sustained SF pressure has resulted in at least 821 Maoist
surrenders in the Bastar Division. Overall surrenders
in the State stand at 944 since the beginning of 2016.
Hitting further at the Maoist cadre strength, SFs in the
Bastar Division have arrested 330 rebels in the current
year. The number of arrests in Chhattisgarh stands at
343.
Further
weakening Maoist capacities, the Police have seized 45
automatic weapons, among a large cache of other weapons
and explosives, from the Naxals during various
anti-Naxal operations during the past two years,
in the restive Bastar region, Inspector General of Police
(IGP, Bastar), S.R.P. Kalluri disclosed on November 14,
2016. Significantly, according to the UMHA, during the
same period 1,971 arms were recovered from Left Wing Extremists
from various parts of the country (data till October 31,
2016).
The recent
battering of the Maoists in their own ‘capital’ is, without
doubt, extraordinary, but the Maoists continue to experiment
with new plans to find spaces for survival. The State
Intelligence Bureau (SIB), on October 26, 2016, disclosed
that CPI-Maoist is reportedly working on a plan to create
a new ‘guerrilla zone’ along the Chhattisgarh-Maharashtra-Madhya
Pradesh (MP) border region as an “extension” of its current
stronghold in Bastar. The proposed new ‘guerrilla zone’,
will be nestled in the Satpura Hills range, spreading
over eight Districts in the three States of Chhattisgarh,
Maharashtra and MP. It is said that this will facilitate
the expansion of the CPI-Maoist base north and east of
Bastar. According to the SIB, of the eight Districts,
Maoists have already established bases in Rajnandgaon
in Chhattisgarh, Balaghat in MP and Gadchiroli in Maharashtra.
The extremists are on their way to expand to other border
Districts of Kawardha and Mungeli in Chhattisgarh, Mandla
and Dindori in MP and Gondia in Maharashtra. The new ‘guerrilla
zone’ would function under the Dandakaranya Special Zonal
Committee (DKSZC), the most powerful entity within the
CPI-Maoist operational setup.
Despite
reverses inflicted on them, to believe that the Maoists
are a spent force and will be ready for talks would be
ill-advised. On October 23, 2016, the Chhattisgarh Government
announced that they were open for dialogue with the Naxals.
Reiterating Chief Minister Raman Singh’s statement on
peace talk with Naxals if they shun violence and
arms, State’s Home Minister Ramsewak Paikra, stated, “Government’s
doors for talks with Naxals are always open provided that
the dialogue must be under the purview of democracy and
constitution.” The Maoists have not even acknowledged
these overtures.
The battle
against the Maoists in the Bastar Division is far from
over. Despite mounting SF successes in this region, the
Division continues to be the core of the surviving Maoist
movement, and it is here that the decisive battle against
the rebels would be won or lost.
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