'Crisis of governance feeding Naxalism'

More than the lack of development, Naxalism is thriving due to a 'crisis of governance' where the political will to tackle the menace is 'lacking,' feel experts.

According to them, the oft-given excuse of underdevelopment to explain the reason for growing insurgency is nothing but an 'alibi for inaction.'

At a discussion on Left Wing Extremism in New Delhi on Monday evening, former Manipur Governor Ved Marwah said nearly one-fourth of the country's area was afflicted by the menace where no government writ holds good and hence, talking of eight-nine per cent growth was 'misplaced and grotesque'.

"Some misconceptions that Naxalism is a political problem that needed a political solution, that democracy was their ultimate goal and that their ideology was the core obstacle in negotiations, were grossly off the mark," he said.

"Actually, it has essentially become a law and order problem, and a strict action was the need of the hour to first establish the government writ. The Naxal concept of 'people's rule' was wrong as they consider democracy bourgeoisie and believe in communist dictatorship," he said, adding that it was not ideology, which was the bottleneck but their very method of rule.

''And topping it all, parties were playing politics with the issue, least concerned about solving the problem. In fact, they were using them to further their own ends," Marwah claimed.

Dr Ajay Sahni of the Institute of Conflict Management claimed that the authorities, instead of curbing violence, were more interested in just playing with statistics and records. "According to the data for 2003, 55 districts in nine states were Naxal-affected, which rose to 149 districts in 12 states the following year. This year all of a sudden it merely talked of 76 districts," Dr Sahni observed.

They were trying to obfuscate the problem even while being totally unaware of its gravity, he said.

''Talks of reforms and development in Naxal-infested areas were meaningless as they were opposed to growth, which they felt, would loosen their grip on the masses. Moreover, all the money meant for such areas comes back to the politicians, right from the lower rung to the top," he alleged.

Former Additional Director (Intelligence Bureau) J N Roy, while questioning the government's sincerity in solving the problem through regular funding of tribal areas in the last 50-odd years, asked: "Where had all the thousands of crores gone that were pumped into these areas. How many officers from the tribal areas have been inducted and how many of them actually have a say in local governance."