The National Identity VI: The Undeclared War Between Two Indias
How one State effectively ended the Naxal menace
Operation Green Hunt mobilised close to 50,000 paramilitary personnel and turned a little known place in the centre of India into one of the world’s most militarised zones. Bastar, turned into the eye of the storm in the all out offensive that the Indian government launched against the Naxals (Maoists) in September/November 2009 — the Indian government denies its existence.
“Yes. I want to become a Maoist if this is the model of development. But I can’t at this age” – V.P. Singh, Former Prime Minister of India (and he instead gave India the Mandal Commission)
The heavy concentration of paramilitary forces, also gave the Naxals a unique opportunity – to inflict a death toll on the central forces, the likes of which India hadn’t seen in close to fifty years. The Home Minister, P Chidambaram, had called the Naxals “cowards enacting dramas”, which would be a grave insult to any self-respecting fighting force the world has seen, let alone one which stretches across half the sub-continent and discharge automatic weapons at will. The Naxals had long been used to being ridiculed in New…
