WILL THE NAXAL STRATEGY SUCCEED?

The abduction drama has come to an end.The chief minister of Odisha Navin Patnaik announced that the government would facilitate freeing 27 prisoners for an early release of B.J.D.MLA Jhinna Hikaka and an Italian.


The government of Odisha will free 27 prisoners including 8 Naxals from Koraput and Malkangiri jails for the release of B.J.D.MLA Jhinna Hikaka and an Italian. Though this is not for the first time in the history of Odisha that such a step will be taken to free the abducted foreign nationals and an MLA.



In fact, naxalities have a long history of abducting prominent persons and get them released in exchange for top leaders. The abduction drama was first played out to attract media`s attention for their cause without spending money for coverage and to halt combing operations.


In 1987, the naxalities kidnapped 11 government officials including 7 IAS officers along with a doctor S R Sankaran of 1956 batch and demanded the release of their comrades. It was for the first time that the abduction strategy had been resorted to by the naxals in Andhra Pradesh. They secured the release of 16 top leaders, then lodged in Rajmedary Central Jail.


Among them W.Chandramauli was accused in 16 murders. The abduction drama continued for 10 days and almost all the newspapers gave very good coverage. The 16 naxals were put into a non-police jeep with non-policemen drove into the forest in a journey that took roughly 8 hours. The same jeep brought the officials out with instructions that they should not speak to the press. The officials were on a visit to Rampachoudavaram of East Godavari district for the welfare of tribal welfare school.


Mr. Shankaran was than the Prinicipal Secretary of SC/ST department of Andhra Pradesh. The then Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi even wanted to send special well-trained commandos to rescue the IAS officers. But the then Chief Minster of Andhra Pradesh, N.T.Rama Rao, managed to get them back by releasing the top most Nexal leaders.



The success of abduction in Rampachodabaram made the Naxals do a repeat when they kidnapped MLA P. Sudhir Kumar, son of a senior Congress leader of Andhra Pradesh in May 1991. They kept him for some days under custody of Naxals and later released him. And the deal between the naxals and Sudhir is still not known.



P. Balaraju a Congress MLA from Visakhapatnam district was another high profile victim in 1993. Bala Raju was kidnapped along with an IAS officer and 4 engineers and remained in Naxal custody for 23 days. The top Naxal leader Kranti Randev released in return for securing Bala Raju (Bala Raju now the Tribal Welfare Minister in A.P).


When contacted, Bala Raju admits each day in captivity was spent in fear. "I was very scared and mentally very disturbed. I know the possibility of being killed and being released were equal. I and family still feel insecure as we are still a target, and it could happen again. He opined that all political parties come together to resolve the issue.


Again in 2011, in February, the Malkangiri Collector Mr. R.Veenil Krishna along with two engineers, while inspecting remote villages under Chitrakonda Tahasil to strengthen the economic condition of the tribals, were abducted. The Collector was kept under Maoist captivity for about 9 days and the entire government was completely paralyzed - focussing entirely on the release of the Collector.


After his release he was in Malkangiri for a couple of days and left for Delhi on deputation. He was reluctant to speak about the difficulties he had to face mentally to the press. For the release of the Collector, the interlocutors appointed by the Naxals continued talks for implementation of 14 demands. Out of which, the leaders of Maoist party Ghanti Prasad and other 4 persons have been released and cases against them have been withdrawn.


So far, every every abduction in a democratic county like India, the Naxals are getting their political benefit. However if we go through the back history the abduction drama itself, it seems Naxals have gained through this strategy but in the long run the movement of Nexals may be derailed.