M F AHMAD
Daltonganj, May 4: The CPI Maoists are up to their old design where they have come out with posters and leaflets asking the rural populace to abstain from panchayat polling.
Sources have said that this is a conflict of interest for the Maoists. Nominations for all the seats are on in the state without any Naxal hiccup. It is only for the voting that the Maoists are dictating the residents in rural areas to boycott it.
It was in 1995 that the then Naxals called MCC (Maoists Communist Centre) and the CPI-ML party unity had started giving calls for a poll boycott.
A correspondent of lagatar24.com today spoke to the Additional Director General (ADG) of police (operations) Jharkhand Sanjay Anand Lathkar as to how the state police view this panchayat poll boycott calls of the Maoists or how far the Maoists can influence the 4 phase elections in Jharkhand.
Q: Maoists ask rural folks to boycott panchayat elections. How do you see it?
A: The Maoists are up to their old game. They are out with posters and ‘parchas’ against the panchayat elections. People will thumb down their boycott call.
Q: More than 4,000 panchayats in Jharkhand are to go to the polls. How damaging the Maoists may prove for the conduct of the panchayat elections here in the state?
A: The Maoists are now in a depleted military strength. They stand demoralised by huge setbacks coming to them. Their leader Prashant Bose and others are behind the bars. Their arrests, surrenders and neutralisation by the security forces have dwindled their numerical strength. Besides, the Naxals have their own interest too in the panchayat elections. Their kin is said to be in the poll fray. The Maoists have no qualms about not collecting money also from the candidates.
Q: The Maoists are known to regroup faster than any other Naxal organisation. How do you see it?
A: The Maoists are known for this. When the Maoists find security forces have the upper hand, they make a tactical retreat and when the Maoists see anything that can help them, they regroup, reconsolidate and reorganise. An election is a handy situation for them. But we are also in all preparedness and readiness to thwart or abort any diabolical design of the Naxals.
Q: The Maoists are countable now. But it is they who make or mar the peace. Just one Naxal incident and the entire state gets into a kind of tizzy. Why?
A: We have information about only two dozen Maoists perching on the Burha Pahar. Similarly, there are less than a dozen left in the Bulbul jungle.
Q: Saranda, Porhat and the border of Saraikela Khunti are still a pain in the neck of the security forces. Do you agree?
A: The stretch of Saranda, Porhat and border of Saraikela Khunti does find them but we are also on them. Security forces have made them run short of the ground. The Maoists are always on the move. Their space is getting shorter and limited.
Q: More than 4,000 panchayats will go to the polls in Jharkhand. Is there any apprehension of the Maoists attacking the polling booths?
A: No. Not at all. It will be their harakiri. There is no such episode of this kind of offensive of the Maoists at the polling booths in the past ten years. The Maoists know that the public will rise against them if they touch the polling booths. They can’t afford to antagonise people. Their base is eroding fast. There is no new recruitment in their fold.
Q: But Maoists cause harm to the polling parties and the security forces accompanying them.
A: There have been instances of this kind of offence by the Maoists. We have also readied our counter-strategy to foil any such move of the Maoists. The movement of our boys and polling parties are our prime concern for safety. From cluster to booths and then back all such movements are our top priority.
Q: The loss of lives of the commoners in the improvised explosive devices laid by the Maoists on the border of Lohardaga Latehar is a matter of deep concern. Is this not?
A: People are too angry with the Maoists. When we were having our sustained operations against the Maoists in the Bulbul jungle, locals helped us more than our expectations. This proves that locals are disenchanted with the Maoists.
Q: The Maoists are down but not out. Any complacency on the part of the security forces will be disastrous. Do you agree?
A: We are never complacent. There is no space for it. Complacency is not a word with our boys. We are always up. Right now we have got the upper hand and we will strive hard to have all the time against the Naxals.
