INDIA

Breach of Security

Continuing a long tradition of targeting polls in the Bastar Division of Chhattisgarh, cadres of the Communist Party of India–Maoist (CPI-Maoist) triggered an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blast and subsequently opened fire, targeting the convoy of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA), Bhima Mandavi, in a forested patch near Nakulnar village under the Kuwakonda tehsil (revenue unit) of Dantewada District in Chhattisgarh’s ailing Bastar Division, on April 9, 2019. Those killed included MLA Mandavi and his three Personal Security Officers (PSOs), as well as the constable-driver.

According to the Chhattisgarh Gazetted notification dated March 28, 2019, the State is going for Lok Sabha (Lower House of Indian Parliament) polls in three phases on April 11, 18 and 23. All eight parliamentary  constituencies which fall under the Bastar Division (Bastar, Bijapur, Chitrakot, Dantewada, Jagdalpur, Kondagaon, Konta and Narayanpur) go to the polls in the first phase on April 11, 2019.

It is useful to recall that the Maoists have carried out at least 22 attacks, resulting in the death of 28 persons (nine civilians, 10 SF personnel and nine Maoists), during the State Assembly polls held in two phases on November 12 and November 20, 2018. Significantly, all those attacks had taken place during the first phase of polls on November 12, which covered all 18 assembly constituencies falling in the Bastar Division. No violent incident was reported from the remaining 72 Assembly constituencies in the State, held in the second phase.

In the worst ever attack during the poll process, at least 28 persons were killed, and another 30 sustained critical injuries, in a swarming attack by CPI-Maoist cadres targeting Mahendra Karma and the Congress leadership in the Darbha Ghati region of the Sukma District of Bastar Division on May 25, 2013. Those killed most prominently include Karma, the controversial architect of the armed Salwa Judum anti-Maoist ‘people’s movement’, which long received support from both the State Government and the Centre, and was projected as a model for ‘popular resistance’ in other theatres afflicted by Maoist violence. Eventually the strategy was excoriated by the Supreme Court for its indiscriminate violence and violation of human rights, both of its victims and of its own uneducated, backward, often underage cadres. 

The Maoists have for long been averse to the idea of strengthening the democratic set up in the forested stretches of Bastar Division, once their heartland. They are now struggling to regain their hold in the region. Despite repeated calls for poll boycotts by the Maoists, Chhattisgarh has held elections quite successfully, even in the Bastar Division, during all the years since the formation of the CPI-Maoist in 2004. Not surprisingly, they have not lost any opportunity provided by the political parties and security establishment, to carry out audacious attacks.

Reports indicate that MLA Mandavi was strongly advised against moving in the areas without fool-proof security. The State Director General of Police (DGP), D.M. Awasthi disclosed that a local Police officer had called Mandavi and asked him not to take the route, citing security reasons. The DGP asserted , further, “Mandavi proceeded on the route and the attack took place... The MLA was alerted, but he ignored it. If he had not gone through that route, the incident could have been averted.” Highlighting the Maoists’ thorough approach, Superintendent of Police (SP), Abhishek Pallav, noted, “It was a meticulously planned attack. Maoists specifically targeted BJP MLA’s bulletproof vehicle...’’

The Maoists are fighting a battle for survival in the region. According to an April 7, 2019, media report, admitting that the CPI-Maoist has suffered many “military setbacks” in recent years, Sanket, the spokesperson for the Maoists’ Eastern Regional Bureau (ERB), admitted, “This happened because many of our senior leaders in central India were either arrested or surrendered. Our rank and file were not unable to cope with new challenges.”

Nevertheless, the Maoists retain the residual capacity to plan and execute major attacks against civilians and SFs from time to time. These attacks have helped them boost the flagging morale of their fighting units.

Other Maoist-affected States are also going to polls in the seven-phase General elections between April 11 and May 19, 2019. The votes will be counted on May 23.

Massive SF deployments have been made for the election process, but vulnerabilities persist in this gigantic nationwide exercise. There is simply no scope for the pattern of negligence and adventurism that created the opportunity for the attack on Bhima Mandavi. The overstretched security apparatus can protect candidates and political workers only if they are willing to accept some rational restrictions on their movements and canvassing.

Deepak Kumar Nayak
Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management