In a recent incident, The Maoists have again resorted to violence in Bhadrachalam-Charla highway near Telangana-Chattisgarh border. The CPI (Maoist) had called for a state bandh in retaliation to the killings of Naxal terrorists by security forces in Dhandakaranya region. This is a repeated incident in less than a fortnight as they blew up another culvert at Pedamidisileru village in the same mandal on April 24.
The security forces intensified operations against Maoists. The successful operation near Gadchiroli in Maharashtra where more than 40 Naxal terror operatives have been killed has weakened the morale of both terrorists and their sympathisers. In another operation in Bijapur, in Chattisgarh, more than 7 terrorists have been killed. These operations have been considered as one of the best in four decades resulting in massive losses to Naxals.
Since then Maoists have been retaliating on different fronts. In a dangerous trend, posters and banners have been put up in Repanpalli in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district vowing revenge for the operations. The CPI (M) blamed the security forces and has warned of severe repercussions. The police have also published advertisements in Newspapers regarding price money of Rs 1.6 crore for information on five naxal leaders.
This worrying trend of retaliation is not limited to Naxal forces. Many left leaning journalists have condemned the counter-terror operations. An ex-journalist named Raosaheb Dokhe has called for revenge and urged Naxal forces to kill 400 policemen in responce to the neutralisation their ‘comrades’. In his post uploaded on his Facebook page late on Saturday afternoon, Pune-based Raosaheb Dokhe dubbed the twin anti-Naxal operations as “fake encounters” and said those killed in the two operations were not Maoists. Dokhe had urged: “Let us kill all those police, who killed our comrades brutally.”
A prominent activist and Naxal Sympathiser Nalini Sundar and wife of Siddarth Varadarajan has even mourned for the Naxals. Interestingly Nalini Sundar and four others are accused of the murder of a tribal man in Sukma district of Chattisgarh and she is out on bail.
I am deeply saddened by the deaths of the Maoists in Gadchiroli as I am saddened by the deaths of the security forces who are fighting them. This senseless war must come to an end. If the Govt can talk to Nagas, why not to Maoists. The adivasis of India need peace.
— N S (@nandinisundar) April 26, 2018
Other Maoist-infested states besides Maharashtra — Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana are on a state of high alert, ever since the state security forces here launched their biggest anti-Maoist operations in around four decades.
