Letters: Taking on Naxals - I

With the massacre of more than 70 security personnel in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district in a planned manner, war has been declared against the Indian state by the Naxals. Your editorial “Time for stocktaking” (April 7) is not wrong in urging the state governments to address the concerns of people and ensure that they do not fall prey to the ideology and appeal of highly organised extremist groups. However, the Naxalites have made it amply clear that they have nothing to do with people’s concerns. Dealing with the Naxalites and addressing problems of the people of the affected areas are, therefore, now two different issues. Clearly, this war is for a parallel state.

Anti-Naxal operations have not yielded desired results because of the involvement of multiple agencies controlled by the Centre or the state governments. Moreover, a lack of political will on the part of the state governments for political reasons has also been a bottleneck. A single national command for war against the Naxalites needs to be created and the Centre needs to acquire special powers for carrying out anti-Naxal operations in the states through legislation or even through an ordinance. There should be no hitch in even imposing president’s rule in the states that are not cooperating or are soft on the Naxals.

M C Joshi, Lucknow