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| Between Red and Khaki |
| Saturday October 24, 2009 |
| I climbed on the rooftop, stretched my arms up in the air and my fingers began fiddling. I just required a very minuscule portion of it. "Wahan nahin," I was advised by a village boy. "Thoda do kadam aage jaayein. Haan.. bas bas.. Ab milenga." And lo! After a good half hour of changing locations, standing on select spots and plenty of expert advise, my E71 began to breathe life again! I had some network on my phone!! Immediately, I called up my office and relayed the good news: Gadchiroli voted in spite of naxal violence. But before I proceed further, let's trace back our journey a little. On the 80 km route from Gadchiroli town to Regdi village, the dichotomies in the naxal-infested district couldn't be more pronounced. Thousands of square kilometres of dense jungles, poor tribals grazing their under-fed cattle and goats, not one industry worth its name, zero mobile network and an administration that's hardly visible on the ground. But, all the way, probably the finest roads in Maharashtra. So good that the lack of development was almost forgotten. Almost. Some credit for these pothole-free roads, I'm told goes to BJP leader Nitin Gadkari, who during his tenure as PWD Minister in the late 1990s transformed them. So today 66 per cent of Gadchiroli's 1,688 villages are well-connected by 8,300 kms of weather enduring roads. A rare privilege - given the extent of distress in rural India - that reaches two thirds of the 10 lakh Gadchirolians. However, most villagers claim these roads were not built for them, but for the efficient movement of vehicles belonging to security personnel. Perhaps they have a point, for these are highways that lead to nothing. Well, that is if you don't consider the two square kilometre land that has been industrialized in the entire district! Go beyond the town of Gadchiroli and you can travel for hours without any trucks or lorries whizzing past you. From the Korchi taluka bordering Chhattisgarh in the north, to Sironcha adjacent to Andhra's Karimnagar district in the south - all that exists here are a handful of paper factories, a few rice mills and some seed processing units. The district has just one railway station, 19 kms of railway 'network' and 14 civil and rural hospitals. Log on to the district collectorate website and industrialization is given an altogether new meaning by the administration: shops that sell furniture, paints, mosaic tiles and outrageously enough confectionary and ice-cream! A pity, especially since the government boasts that the region is rich in minerals and can be mined for diamonds and gold. But of course - convenient and to an extent rightly so - the state blames the lack of development to the 'anti-growth policies' of naxals. After all, bridges, schools, gram panchayat offices, electricity towers have all been blown up to show who is really in control. So what are the options here for a decent livelihood? If one wants to play it safe, then grazing cows is one. And of course, farming. If you are a rebel with a cause, then join the naxal army. If you seek risk then there is the local police force. Harsh, you would say, but this is ground reality. "We are just left with no options. There is no work here. I was not too keen on becoming a policeman given the dangers, but then I have to feed my family. There is of course no question of becoming a naxal," explains a constable. And this is the irony. Naxals accuse the present system of governance for not alleviating the poor from their misery and of politicians being corrupt and exploiting the poor and landless. Allegations that are true and reason why Naxals launched their movement in 1967, justifying even the violence. But then Naxals do hamper growth. Try building a road and the engineer is kidnapped and then killed. Join the local police and your parents will be brutally tortured. Try setting up a small scale industry and you will have to shell out lakhs as 'protection money' to them. First to imposter Naxals who take advantage of the situation and then to the real ones. So what about the tribals and poor villagers for whom they claim the battle is being fought? "Every family is expected to "donate" at least one child to the cause," a villager explains to us in a remote village in the Etapalli taluka. "The police harass us because they are convinced we are Naxal sympathisers. If it is not the police then the Naxals are after us as they suspect us of being police informers. What do we do then? Where does it leave us?" In a very unenviable and sad state of affairs. Caught between red and khaki, they feel that not only has the government not done anything for them, but even Naxals haven't been successful in solving their issues. That does not mean that Naxals don't have local support. Without it, it would be impossible for them to propagate their ideology on the ground. But for those who don't back them, they are in trouble either ways. While reporting from Gadchiroli on Oct 13 when Maharashtra went to the polls, we all felt proud that almost 65 percent of the voters had exercised their franchise. This despite the Naxal call for a boycott and the recent killing of 17 policemen in a bloody ambush. In fact, many tribals applied coconut oil on their voting finger, so that that indelible mark we are so proud of, was removed as soon as possible. "If Naxals find out we have voted, they have warned us that fingers will be chopped off," an adivasi reveals. Heard that before, I said to myself and I was amazed how they still managed to vote. But I also asked: Was the impressive voter turnout here, really an occasion to celebrate? This meant the people had given a thumbs up to democracy and the present system of governance, I argued with myself. But apart from mere symbolism what will it achieve? Will it bring progress and prosperity to the people? Will they be able to live free and normal lives? Not really. Especially when the government soon plans to launch it's biggest-ever offensive against Naxals. 15,000 Naxals and 70,000 paramilitary forces will engage in guerrilla warfare. Many will die in a bloody battle where India will fight India. But the worst affected will be the locals, the adivasis, the villagers. And this won't alone be Gadchiroli's misfortune. The Red Corridor is spread over 20 states, across 2,000 police stations in 223 districts. Already, between 2006 and August 2009, there have been 5,800 incidents and 2,600 policemen and civilians have been killed. This is certainly our greatest internal security threat. Surely, the Naxal onslaught has to be stopped. They are already active in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Reports suggest CPI (Maoists) have been trying to increase their influence and act in parts of Kamataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Uttranchal also. Naxals need to heed to Home Minister PC Chidambaram's call to "abjure violence" and talk. Otherwise, there are no softer options. Back in Regdi village, my mobile beeped. In came all my pending text messages. One read: "Naxalites open fire on polling booth. Paramilitary forces retaliate." In Pics: Reporting from Gadchiroli |
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Tejas Mehta is a Mumbai-based journalist with NDTV 24X7. He is a daily news reporter who enjoys being in the field. Now a broadcast journalist, he was earlier with the print media.
