Rajnath’s ‘Samadhan’ for Naxal violence

Mukesh Ranjan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 8

“Unity of purpose” and “aggression in policy” were the two mantras to tackle Naxal menace that Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh referred to while making the inaugural address at the meeting of the chief ministers of Left-wing-extremism (LWE)-affected states. 

Bihar and Jharkhand Chief Ministers Nitish Kumar and Raghubar Das, however, argued that the Centre should revive the time-tested integrated action plan (IAP) initiated by the Manmohan Singh government as it was giving good results in tackling the menace.

The Bihar CM went a step ahead in slamming the Centre for stopping funds for the purpose and also “declining” the state’s request for a helicopter for quick deployment of forces in affected areas. He said the UPA’s IAP helped in building capacity in dealing with ultras. He gave details how violent incidents in the six most affected district of the state had declined by 60 per cent between 2011 and 2016.

The Jharkhand CM also asked for IAP to be revived, while demanding that the Centre should establish an air surveillance unit in Ranchi besides effecting modernisation of madrasas in the state to counter Naxal violence.

The Home Minister, however, coined an acronym—“SAMADHAN”—with “S” for Smart leadership; “A” for Aggressive Strategy; “M” for motivation and training; “A” for actionable intelligence; “D” for dashboard-based KPIs (key performance indicators) and KRAs (key result areas); “H” for harnessing technology; “A” for Action plan for each theatre and “N” for no access to financing.

Claiming the choking of funds to Left extremists as the “most basic mantra”, he urged the affected states to “take ownership” of anti-Naxal operations and frame an “integrated strategy to deal with guerrillas”.

“We have to bring aggression in our policy, in our thinking, in our strategy, in deployment of forces, in operations and in bringing development, including road construction,” he said.

Besides the CMs of West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and MP, six other heads of state governments attended the meeting, including Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, UP, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh. Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh were represented by state ministers, whereas other two sent their chief secretaries and Director General of Police (DGPs).

An idea was floated at the meeting to adopt weapons fitted with biometric trackers so as to check the use of weapons looted by the Naxals. Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh suggested the use of air power, targeting Naxal leadership etc. to eradicate the Left-wing extremism.

What ACRONYM means

• S Smart leadership
• A Aggressive strategy
• M Motivation and training
• A Actionable intelligence
• D Dashboard-based performance indicators
• H Harnessing technology
• A Action plan
• N No financial access

Need to go ‘aggressive’

We have to bring aggression in our policy, thinking, strategy, deployment of forces, operations and in bringing development, including road construction. —Rajnath Singh, Union Home Minister

Nitish takes on Centre

• Says the Centre should revive the integrated action plan initiated by the Manmohan Singh government as it was giving good results
• The Centre stopped funds for tackling the Naxal menace besides ‘declining’ the state’s request for a helicopter for quick deployment of forces