Jagdalpur, Chhatisgarh:
For Home Minister P Chidambaram, who has spearheaded the recent thrust on anti-Naxalism, the Chintalnag massacre comes as a tremendous setback.
"We deeply mourn the loss of 76 lives, and we salute the brave jawans who laid down their lives in the defense of freedom, liberty and democracy. It's the Naxalites who have described the state as their enemy and the conflict as the war. It is a war that has been thrust upon the state by those who do not have legitimate right to carry weapons or to kill," he said in Jagdalpur on Wednesday after paying tribute to the brave jawans killed in the massacre.
His day began with explanations - why did trained and armed jawans die so helplessly?
"Five platoons of the 62nd Battalion of the CRPF had established a base camp at Chintalnag, in Dantewada district. A decision was taken that the security forces will undertake an area domination and operations exercise, including night halts, in the area. It's a joint decision taken by IG Bastar, DIG Dantewada, and DIG CRPF. It was an 81-strong party, accompanied by one Head Constable of the civil police. They had two night halts. On the 6th morning about 5:50 am, they came under heavy firing," the Home Minister said.
But was it an intelligence and strategy failure, or did they walk into an improvised trap?
"This was a familiarisation exercise to understand the terrain. It wasn't an intelligence-based operation. Something has gone wrong," he added.
Sources tell NDTV that many things went wrong:
Local police know the terrain better, but the CRPF took just one policeman along.
On Tuesday, the government said it was a Chhattisgarh Police-CRPF joint operation. Today, Chidambaram clarified it was a joint decision. The local police were informed about the operation on March 29, but were certainly not a part of it.
The CRPF men were on an area domination operation to assert their presence in the terrain and here they made a vital mistake: Instead of taking different routes to go in and return, the jawans came back the same way and got hit.
Sources also sources say the jawans appear to have bunched up in one area against standard operating procedures, which made them an easy target for Naxals who anyway had vantage point on a hillock.
Meanwhile, the Opposition is slamming the government.
"There should be coordination at all levels, between the state and the Centre. There was a lack of that. Intelligence was also poor. The Home Minister slept for four years, thinking it was some socio-economic problem. Only now the Home Ministry is feeling the crisis," Arun Jaitley, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said.
The government insists there is no change in their stand.
"I don't think there should be a knee-jerk reaction. It's long-drawn struggle. It will take two-three years, perhaps more. We must remain calm," Home Minister P Chidambaram said.
Chintalnag has become a low point for the Indian government and it is facing political humiliation over the unprecedented manpower loss at the battlefront. But while battling the Maoists, experts say, one must understand that there would be casualties on both sides, and India will have to come to terms with it.