India Under Attack, Inside & Outside


SELDA/PUNE: India is clearly under attack. From inside and from outside.  
Last week saw terror hitting Pune when bombs placed at a restaurant called German Bakery exploded. This, apparently, was an attack from the outside. Within a couple of days, the attack from inside came as the Maoists fighting against Indian security forces in West Bengal attacked a camp of the Eastern Frontier Rifles (EFR) at Silda, 10 km from Jhargram town, killing 20 jawans who were clearly sitting ducks. 
So common are terror attacks becoming that India now prefers to call them by numbers: 7/11, 26/11 and now 13/2! This time they struck Pune, the so-called cultural and education capital of Maharashtra. The new aspect of terror in India seems to be that now small cities and towns will be on the target.  
The Maoists are said to have escaped with the camp's stockpile of INSAS rifles and SLRs and the terrorists in Pune seem to be indicating that no one is safe in India. 
The Indian State is responding in its classic way: more guns, more funds to police, more forces, more coordinating strategies. The debate about human rights is being overawed by warnings from Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram that intellectuals should stand up against Naxals. 
All this while, the common people are bearing the brunt of violence frokm both sides. The State is becoming increasingly violent, as is clear from Operation Green Hunt, the Maoists are increasingly losing the claim to be speaking and acting on behalf of the poor. All actions of the Maoists and terrorists are only strengthening the hands of the state which then is justifying its own violations of human rights. 
The Maoist spokespersons are saying that the attack was to avenge the Operation Green Hunt. It came six days after Union Home Minister P Chidambaram visited Kolkata and held a meeting with Chief Ministers of Maoist-affected states at Writers' Buildings giving final touches to what was being planned as a joint operation by security forces. The Home Minister also urged Maoists to shun violence and come to talk.
But within hours of attack, Maoist leader Kishenji called up local TV channels and claimed responsibility for the attack. Threatening to repeat such strikes, he said this was "our reply to Operation Green Hunt" and claimed that "at least 35 jawans" were killed.
Significantly, the Silda market area does not have any forest cover close by. It's a junction from where one can travel to Jhargram, to Bankura-Durgapur, to Belpahari and towards Jharkhand. Clearly, the Indian state was missing in action. So much so that one big Maoist group, after the attack, returned to Dharampur, 40 km from Silda, en route to Lalgarh. They stopped to "celebrate" and fired blanks. Personnel from the nearby CRPF camp fired at the group but the exchange was short and the Maoists dispersed. 
In West Bengal, the attack led to some verbal duels between CPI(M) and Trinamool Congress while the larger debate of human rights, land reforms, marginalisation of tribals, ownership of forests and entry of multi-national corporations has been sidelined. 
India took one positive step of going ahead with talks with Pakistan, but it needs to do much more at home. More than that, it needs to stop doing a lot that it is hell bent on doing in the so-called Red Corridor: attacking its own people.