Naxalites

The term naxalites is used for Indian Maoists or communism seeking terrorists. The term came from Naxalbari, an underdeveloped village in West Bengal where the movement is said to have begun. With an ideology which appealed to an intellectual mind and compassionate heart, it lured many a rich and educated youngsters in the organisation, especially in WB (where every man who can just about read and write thinks of himself as someone worthy of a Noble or knighthood, if given a chance). With the young blood pumping rearing to rebel and the spread pf communism around the globe, the ideas were easy to believe too.

All this made the Naxals quite a nuisance back then. But the times were different. From what I understand, police brutalities, although prevelant, did not create a lump in the dog's thorat which keeps a watch on human rights. The political parties and media too were unequivocal in their stand against the Naxalites. This gave the govt. a good support and it dealt with the problem with an iron fist, knocking it down for a good 20 years. The only mistake, perhaps, was that they failed to crush it completely. But a govt. cannot order mass executions.

Times have changed. The movement has changed course. What was an ideology driven movement has now disintegrated in to terrorist outfits who harrass and torture the upper class for their bread and butter. The ideology is pretty much lost with the fall of communism, the learned ones rather had the free market take care of the poor. In spite of all this, the Naxalites are stronger than ever, whether in numbers or affected area.

This should not have happened, in spite of the Chinese money allegedly pouring in. But we are not what we were back then. These days, every action has a multitude of reactions and barring one, all are opposite ones. Suppose the army storms and shoots down a few at a Naxal camp. Apart from the ruling party, it will be criticised by everyone in the assembly. The media will raise a hulabaloo about a milkman who died in the crossfire, pressurising the govt. to take full responsibility and compensating its family. The human rights' people will slogan-shout their lungs out and the Madhur Bhandarkar or Nandita Das will make a film about it portraying Naxals as the Robinhoods and police as the villians.

Add to the mix a govt, which talks more and does a tad less, and you have a rather dangerous situation on hand. Mr. Chidambaram has been reminding us about th threat the Naxalites are to us for sometime now but has not quite achieved a lot. I don't understand why he even needs to declare a war on them. It's a job best done quietly. Just keep going after them and just show us the result. All this talking just seems to have reached those terrorists and might have made them feel that they needed to end a message. I hence think that today's hijack scare had more than a little to do with Chidambaram's statements.

PS: Just to emphasise on my point of hostil reactions to anything govt; there wasn't a single movie made on Naxalism until 1998. Since then, there have been at least 3. Needless to say, all of them take a sympathetic look at them.

Bizzarre Bihanis

Me: Dad, I should gift a note counter. Will give you some rest. (He's in to a business which involves a lot of cash dealings, but not so much cash :( unfortunately )
Dad: You just gift me notes. Lemme worry about the counting.