Central and South Asia

India’s Maoist insurgency

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India is preparing to strike at Maoist rebels. The 40-year-long Maoist insurgency has claimed more than 600 lives just this year. Maoists have a presence in more than 223 of India’s 600-odd districts across 20 states, according to the government. The BBC’s Tinku Ray traveled to a village in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. It used to be under Maoist control but the government has taken it back.

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MARCO WERMAN: As you heard earlier Pakistan’s army made no secret of its plans for the offensive is South Waziristan. Now the government in Pakistan’s eastern neighbor India is preparing to launch a similar offensive. And again everyone knows it. Indian forces are planning to strike at Maoist rebels. The 40-year-long Maoist insurgency has claimed more than 600 lives just this year. The BBC’s Tinku Ray traveled to a village in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. It used to be under Maoist control but the government has taken it back.

TINKU RAY: The village of Kuttur is more than 100 miles north of the state capital, Hyderabad.

[YOUNG GIRLS SINGING]

It’s dark and a group of young girls clap and dance around a colorful pattern of flowers they’ve made on the ground.

[YOUNG GIRLS SINGING]

This wouldn’t have been possible just a few years ago when the village was in the hands of Maoists. Villagers rarely went out after dark because of the danger of police raids. At one time there were up to 4,000 Maoists controlling large parts of this state. The rebels still draw their support from India’s poorest and most powerless. They appeal to those angry at India’s government for failing to lift them out of their poverty. Lingaih Gaur is the village headman in Kuttur. He’s a former Maoist who’s now joined the mainstream congress party.

LINGAIH GAUR: [SPEAKING TELUGU]

TRANSLATOR: There was no development here before. The landlord ruled the village and kept us uneducated. He didn’t want us to get wise. So we joined the Maoist to fight the landlord and we chased him out. Then the police raided the village and we were force to cut our relations with the Maoists.

RAY: After the Maoists were driven out of this village the government gave thousands of dollars to develop the area; something they couldn’t do while the rebels were in control. The government built roads; it gave money to the villagers to construct brick homes; and it put up electricity poles.

GAUR: [SPEAKING TELUGU]

TRANSLATOR: Now there’s a lot of development. New roads have been built; there’s electricity and water for everyone. The Maoist don’t trouble us anymore and I’m not afraid of being hung by them.

RAY: But local farmers disagree. They’re still poor and village roads are not paved. The low voltage lights in the crudely-built homes are dim and eerie. The police are still on edge, afraid of the random attacks by the Maoists. So the government is putting significant resources into a law and order campaign to defeat the Maoists. It’s also trying to entice more of the rebels with a surrender and rehabilitation package. They pay the rebels for handing over their weapons and give them vocational training. Shri Ram Tewari is a former chief in the Special Intelligence Bureau in Andhra Pradesh.

SHRI RAM TEWARI: We should encourage them because most of the people who join there on account of certain personal allegiance not on account of ideology or some poverty or some problem in the village or family. So such people should be weaned away. And they should be properly rehabilitated.

GADAR: The basic problem is not properly dealt by the rulers.

RAY: This man is a Maoist who goes by the name Gadar. He was once underground with the movement but is now living openly on the outskirts of Hyderabad. Gadar says the government has not sent enough aid to wean the villagers who he calls tribals away from the rebels.

GADAR: The tribals who are living in the forest, they don’t’ have any facilities of the constitution – health, education, employment, welfare.

RAY: Dr. Ajay Sahni, executive director at the Institute for Conflict Management in New Delhi says many people have taken advantage of the surrender package. He couldn’t give me a figure but he says the government strategy is not working right now.

AJAY SAHNI: For a long time the Maoists were consciously using the surrender schemes as a retirement policy. Number two, a large number of purely opportunistic surrenders take place. This surrender scheme can only really provide quantifiable advantages in a situation where an insurgency is near defeat. Then it is the humane thing to offer the core of fighters an opportunity to rehabilitate themselves.

RAY: the influence of the Maoists in much of rural India is growing. Everyday there’s news of yet more violence. Just last week 17 policemen were killed in a Maoist attack in the Western state of Maharasthra. The Indian government says it wants to use a more holistic approach to the problem but only after it’s defeated the left-wing rebels with the gun. For The World I’m Tinku Ray in Andhra Pradesh, India.

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