BJP Future - 4

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<!--emo&:argue--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/argue.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='argue.gif' /><!--endemo--> Here, it’s BJP-Congress vs Naxalites


Chhattisgarh CM backs Cong leader’s campaign to win over tribals


VIVEK DESHPANDE


Posted online: Monday, February 27, 2006 at 0210 hours IST
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SOUTH BASTAR (CHHATTISGARH), FEBRUARY 26: In the last six months, scores have been killed in the war between Naxalites and the government-backed tribal army, Salva Judum, in South Bastar region of Chhattisgarh. But it never made it to national headlines or political debates because of an unusual cooperation in the state between the ruling BJP and Opposition Congress.

Chief Minister Raman Singh and Leader of the Opposition Mahendra Karma have joined hands to beat the Naxals at their own game—winning over the tribals, by any means.



It was Karma who first threw his weight behind the movement. He took the fight to the Naxal camp by leading a march of thousands of tribals in the Naxal heartland last September. Having lost four of his family members including cousin Podiyaram Karma, a Janpad president of Takilod village near Bhairamgarh, in Naxal violence, Karma had twice earlier organised public awareness campaigns against Left extremism. Naxalites, however, allege Salva Judum is the handiwork of a few tribal feudal lords of whom Karma is one. Says Karma: “Naxalites have destroyed the traditional socio-cultural, economic and administrative set-up to create a parallel administration. Superior tribal leaders were browbeaten, resulting in total collapse of the resource centers. It has led to a lot of frustration among the tribals. We are only channelising that frustration.”

Some Congress leaders from the region say Karma has nothing to lose if the campaign fails, but will become a hero if it succeeds. “I am a public figure. I can take up any cause anywhere. And then there is no problem in my area,” Karma says. CM Raman Singh, for whom it’s a big political gamble to allow the Congress leader to walk away with the credit for the movement if it succeeds, says Karma is doing a good job. For Singh, it was a call that needed to be answered. “As CM, it was my duty to provide security to those who had raised a banner of revolt against the Naxalites in June. Those without arms cannot fight RDX and AK-47. Don’t mistake it as a political agitation. It’s a spontaneous uprising by those who are tired of the backwardness, poverty and destruction of the region’s economy during the last 25 years of insurgency by Naxalites,” says Singh. Both the CM and Opposition leader agree on the need to deliver special developmental plans for the Naxal-affected region. “We are connecting Salva Judum to a Rs 1,000-crore employment package currently under planning stage,” Raman Singh says.

“Building roads, schools and reaching medical facilities far and wide will also be our priority,” he adds. The Centre doesn’t want to be seen as being inert. “We support Salva Judum,” Union Minister of State for Home Shriprakash Jaiswal told mediapersons during a recent visit. “We have provided the state with required security forces,” he added. There are some dissenting voices within the political mainstream though. Says Bijapur tribal Congress MLA Rajendra Pambhoi: “Naxalite terror must end, but the manner in which many people are getting killed calls for a rethink. We must ensure that people won’t have to die. And how many days can you maintain the relief camps? The tribals will have to return to their villages one day. Who will take care of their security then?” Pambhoi, whose constituency is now the Judum heartland, says he can’t move around because of death threats. “Even if you push the Naxalites out of state, they will take refuge in Maharashtra, Andhra and Orissa. Once the campaign loses its steam, they could again stage a comeback,” he warns. Raman Singh blames it on the Centre. “If the Centre becomes serious, this menace can be weeded out permanently,” he says, “we can create clusters of villages so that Naxals won’t be able to strike easily.” But Karma doesn’t care. “Once we weed them out, they won’t dare to come back. People won’t let them in.”
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