Printed notes on trees inside villages |
Dantewada, April 12
The question in this tribal heartland of Bastar is not who will win this Naxal-affected constituency, it is whether the authorities will be able to pull off the general elections, scheduled here on April 16, peacefully.
Polls or no polls, security forces and Naxalites are engaged in a virtual war in south Bastar almost every day.
As one drives from Jagdalpur to Dantewada, there is a turn at the mid-point Geedam which takes you to the beautiful waterfalls of Chitrakoot via a scenic Barsur valley and picturesque forests. But anyone trying to venture into the area is advised to stay off the road. This despite police claims that the road is safe and free from Naxal control.
Some 30-km ahead of Geedam on this road is the small township of Barsur, home to some ancient monuments, including ASI-protected temples dating back to the 11th century. The local people believe the Ganesha statue in one of the temples is growing by an inch every year.
The caretaker of the temple explains how as a child he remembers the height of the Ganesha statue to be around five feet. At present, the same statue stands above seven and a half feet, he says.
Barsur is also the last spot where there appears to be the presence of security personnel. For the next 30 km ahead, one is more or less on one’s own. Throughout the drive in spectacular wilderness, there does not appear to be very many signs of human presence. But handwritten notes, warning people against elections, pasted on the trees on the roadside belie that impression.
It is also the time when apprehensive thoughts come to the mind — whether the decision to take the road was correct. After all one had been warned that anyone passing through Bastar could not remain unnoticed by the Naxalites — that is the kind of intelligence network they have.
Some more distance ahead, a couple of small
boys appear on the road. As they see the car, they try to rush back into the forest, vehemently shaking their heads to refuse the bar of chocolate extended to them.
This is the level of obedience that people in the jungle follow. They have been warned against accepting anything from outsiders.
It is only when the forests and valley ends and plains begin at Mardoom that security personnel can be sighted again.
Even the administration admits that 40 per cent of the Bastar region is under the control of Naxalites and another 40 per cent is with the state administration. And in the remaining 20 per cent a constant fight for control is on.
At present besides the police, the CRPF and the SSBP have been deployed in Bijapur and Dantewada for elections.
The police admits that the Naxal violence has increased after the controversial people’s movement Salwa Judumin in the area. “Earlier it was status quo with the Naxalites’ position remaining more or less unchallenged. The real fight started after 2005. The violence increased because the status quo (of Naxalites) was challenged,” explains Dantewada SP Rahul Sharma.
He says the administration is fighting a formidable and consolidated force, which is well quipped with good intelligence network and technology back-up, but says there’s no merit in the argument that tribals had rejected the state-run Salwa Judum and were headed back into the Naxal fold.
“They are not going back to Naxalites. They are going back and settling in villages and areas that have been made free from Naxal violence by our security personnel. People have decided to move out of Salwa Judum camps because our security forces have taken positions and secured several villages from Naxal violence. The administration would also like them to go back to the comfort of their homes if they start feeling secure,” Sharma says.
According to the police officer, the biggest proof of people turning against Naxalites was the polling figures of the 2008 Assembly elections. Dantewada recorded a poll percentage of 53 per cent, and Bijapur 43 per cent despite Naxalites giving a poll boycott call that time as well
“In spite of a clear diktat that whosoever is seen sporting the voting mark on his finger will be punished severely, people still went ahead and voted. The fact is people want democracy, they are fed up with terror tactics,” he says, defending the state-run Salwa Judum movement.
