The security cover provided to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi will be tested today as he travels to Jagdalpur in the Maoist-infested Bastar region to campaign for the Raman Singh Government, amidst clear alerts given by the Intelligence Bureau that Naxals are planning to target Narendra Modi during these elections; as many as 41 suicide bombers are reported to be on the prowl. A similar alert has also been sounded for Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi who will also be campaigning in Jagdalpur on November 8.
Maoist cadre have been visiting many villages in their stronghold Bastar district over the past month, and putting up posters asking people not to vote in the elections. They have given a bandh call from November 7 to 12 in support of their call to boycott the first phase of polls on November 11. Security agencies have noted a sharp rise in Maoist activity in all red zones in recent weeks, namely, Orissa, Maharashtra, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and West Bengal, among others.
The Intelligence Bureau has reportedly alerted the Union Home Ministry about a Maoist plan to disrupt the Chhattisgarh elections, to give effect to which the elusive CPI (Maoist) chief Ganpathy (last seen in 2010), met with the cadre at Abujmad on October 8. All of October, there has been large scale mobilisation of rebels in the districts of Narayanpur, Bijapur and Kanker, and IEDs have been supplied to groups to attack polling booths and roads during the elections.
A high level meeting on Maoist commanders from Odisha, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand is said to have taken place on October 29, in Bastar, which was attended by as many as 400 members of the guerrilla army. Some pictures of the meeting were conveyed to the Intelligence Bureau by informers. The Intelligence Bureau believes that a major attack may take place along the Chhattisgarh-Madhya Pradesh border, after which the cadres will flee back to their respective territories to hide and avoid arrest.
Senior Maoist leaders reportedly frequenting Bastar region include central committee member Kadri Satyanarayana alias Kosa, Dandakaranya special zonal committee secretary Ramanna and several middle-order leaders. Cadres are being mobilised from Naxal-affected zones of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. All local police stations have been alerted to watch all movement in the area, especially cross-border movement, and check the supply of liquor.
The Maoists are determined to create a major incident during the elections and are recruiting large numbers of boys and girls and training them to make landmine bombs and implant the bombs at various places. The security forces are regularly stumbling upon these bombs almost daily. The new recruits are also being trained in guerrilla war techniques and handling a variety of weapons. Most bombs are being made using utensils, wires, nuts and bolts, ammonium nitrate and other explosive; the bombs have an intensity of 5 to 20 kg each.
Intelligence officers feel that the two Maoists killed in an encounter with the Central Reserve Police Force at Basaguda on November 3; two in Maraigudi forest in Sukma on the border with Andhra Pradesh on November 1, and another two in Etapalli sub-division of Gadchiroli on the border with Maharashtra on October 29, were part of the teams being sent to ferment trouble during the elections. There are 18 Maoist-affected constituencies in the districts of Bastar, Bijapur, Kondagaon, Sukma, Narayanpur, Dantewada, Kanker and Rajnandgaon that go to the polls on November 11. For security reasons, the authorities have relocated 167 polling stations in Bastar and brought them closer to populated places like weekly markets, police stations, schools, and so on. The flip side of this precaution is that voters from remote villages will have to walk up to 40 km.
Campaigning has been restricted to just 50 per cent of Bastar territory as a result of the heightened threat from the rebels, and political parties have urged the Election Commission not to use indelible ink on the fingers of voters as Maoists have threatened to chop off the fingers of those who vote. So far, the Election Commission has not acceded to the request. The Maoists have also threatened government employees like school teachers and told them not to take up poll duties.
Bastar, where Narendra Modi is going to campaign, is critical as historically the party that wins Bastar forms the Government in the State. In 1998, Congress won all 12 seats, but in 2003, the BJP won nine, and in 2008 it won 11 seats.
Given the seriousness of the Maoist threat, the Centre has sent an additional 40,000 paramilitary personnel, besides the 65,000 police personnel and 27,000 paramilitary troopers already engaged in anti-Naxal operations in the state. Chhattisgarh votes on November 11 and November 19. Other leaders expected to campaign in Bastar include Congress president Sonia Gandhi, BJP president Rajnath Singh and senior leaders Venkaiah Naidu and Nitin Gadkari.
Niticentral.com, 7 November 2013
http://www.niticentral.com/2013/11/07/maoists-cant-be-allowed-to-disrupt-polls-in-bastar-155074.html