Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh is very soft in dealing with terrorism and the atrocities of Maoists in Indian states. Instead of talking tough the Home Minister is only making statements that India will retaliate. People burnt Singh effigy and demanded his suspension. One should have the guts to take action fast instead of merely issuing statements. Both late V.K. Krishna Menon as Defence Minister, Indira Gandhi as Prime Minister showed their courage to fight enemy fire with fire. Late Lal Bahadur Shastri resigned his job as Minister once a major railway accident occured. But the present day Ministers are just buying time and failed to perform at the highest level and not having the guts to quit when they don’t deliver. Just like Pakistani terrorists, Maoists were also causing havoc within our country and after a long time we could kill 20 odd Maoists overall and they finished off 25 CRPF men in one stroke. It is now or never situation to act swiftly before the situation goes out of hand.
BJP government makes several promises when the economic growth was at its lowest ebb but there is less importance paid to security aspect. The incumbent government failed to prevent terror attack and the influx of Maoists in various parts of the country. The latest one was in Sukma region and the area is strife torn most of the days. Just like improving the economic stability, it is of utmost importance to give more attention on internal security as well. We welcome Modi’s approach to the problems and his frequent foreign visits but at the same time it is of utmost need to prevent Maoist strikes on a regular basis. In the mid-day attack occurred between Burkapal-Chintagufa, 25 security CRPF jawans were killed and some of them were seriously injured after armed Maoists ambush. The Maoists are equipped with powerful improvised explosive devices and it is a permanent threat in this region. These are pre-planned attacks by Maoists and the Home Ministry should have the firepower to prevent serious attacks and avoid loss of our armed force jawans and other security people in the wake of such a well planned attack.
Ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took charge of the government, he was instrumental in introducing new schemes for the benefit of the people and it goes a long way in promoting his image. Inaugurating two projects with an estimated investment of Rs.24000 crore in the Bastar region, Modi was trying hard to bring out a change in these backward regions of Chhattisgarh and was making a big leap in the right direction. However, the menace created by Maoists in this region and other areas is causing more worry as they take people on hostage and are not afraid to kill them as well. Attack on CRPF jawans gave them more confidence to go beserk.
On the verge of completing three years in office, the Union Government should have a close watch on the law and order problem. There were frequent strikes by Maoists and that created a panic among the people living in this region. Priority should be given by PM to curtail violence and make the land free from the Maoists menace. PM’s appeal to Maoists to give up arms appears sound good but the position is not changing much after Modi assuming office. Maoists challenge is to be tackled with tact and bring the culprits to books before bringing normalcy to safeguard the interest of the people and our security personnel, who are dying in well knit ambushes by the Maoists. It is a shame for our forces to lay down arms in front of Maoists in such fierce attacks. It is time to beef up security.
(The views expressed by the author in the article are his/her own.)
