UPA’s Kiss of Death to the Aam Aadmi

The Sunday Indian Express carried a riveting piece of statistic on casualities between 2002 and 2007 on account of Terrorism in India.

The below graphic sums it all

Between 2002 and 2004 when the Vajpayee lead BJP-NDA Government was in power with Mr. Advani at the helm of internal security not only did one see a steady decline in J&K, a trend which continues through the UPA years, but there were almost no Naxalite related casualities or casualities in the North East.

Notice the sharp spike in casualities across all three major sources of terror – North East, Naxalite and Islamic Terrorism with trend that only gets worse as we move from 2005 to 2007.

So what went horribly wrong in the internal security front that we are witnessing a trend of increasing casualities on account of Terrorism ?

Three factors?have lead to this sharp spike factors since Sonia Gandhi abdicated her responsibility and foisted a dysfunctional Prime Minister in Manmohan Singh and a gutless wonder Home Minister in Shivraj Patil on an unsuspecting nation.

The first factor has been extensively analyzed in light of the spike in Islamic Terrorism to the politics of Muslim of appeasement. Offstumped has extensively documented the correlation between attacks of mass terror and muslim appeasement while chronicling the overall anti-terrorism record of the Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi lead Congress.

The second factor too can be traced back to how the Congress indulged the ULFA in the run up to the elections in Assam.

But the near exponential spike in Naxal violence coupled with the audacity with which the Maoists have been striking at will on Jails, Police Stations, Armoury and other Insititutions of the State have not been explained adequately.

To better understand this let us examine the below.

Gutless wonder Shivraj Patil over the weekend was interviewed by Karan Thapar on the CNN-IBN’s Devil’s Advocate.

This interview apart from providing an illuminating window into the “Alice in Wonderland” alternate reality that Patil lives in, also highlighted all that is symptomatic of the Congress’ delinquency when it comes to providing the aam aadmi with security.

A few instances:

Symptom of Dysfunctional Governance – Home Minister does not agree with the Prime Minister that the Maoists pose the gravest internal security threat to the country

Window into Shivraj Patil’s Alternate Reality - No, what I am saying is that if you consider whether the situation has deteriorated or improved, then you have to depend on the statistic that is available to you, and the statistic which is available to you goes to show that except for Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Orissa, the situation in other states has improved.

?Symptom of Dysfunctional Governance - You know, what is it that we are trying to understand? Are we trying to understand how serious is this problem, what steps are going to be taken, in what manner are we going to control it?or are we going to create a situation in which everybody?s statement is being commented upon? What is it that we are trying to do?

Thapar then goes on to quiz Patil on statistics – between 2003 and 2006, the increase in the number of policemen killed by Naxals was 50 per cent. But the increase in the number of Naxals killed was only 25 per cent. And last year in 2007, the police death rate went up by 60 per cent but the Naxal death rate fell by 46 per cent.

Window into Shivraj Patil’s Alternate Reality -?These statistics, I don?t know where you are quoting from, whom you are quoting, I don?t think these are correct.

Further Symptoms of Dysfunctional Governance - the situation with respect to Naxals has not deteriorated or has not improved. In some states, it has improved like anything, in some states, it has deteriorated. But the sum total is not different.

Patil and Thapar go on to further spar on root causes and on constitutional instruments available to the Federal Government. Patil makes the case for unfettered acces to the Federal Government to send in forces to take action in certain areas rather than taking action in the entire state as such but puts the blame on the BJP for not supporting constitutional ammendments in favor of this. This drew sharp criticism from the BJP’s Rajiv Pratap Rudy.

The BJP also criticized Patil for reducing the fight against Maoists and Terrorism to a Law and Order problem. This goes to the heart of that which has not been analyzed extensively.

The fundamental flaw in the UPA’s understanding of Naxalism becomes apparent with Patil’s response to this question from Thapar.

What are the steps you are taking to ensure that within, say, five years, Naxalism ceases to be a threat?

Patil draws out a laundry list that pretty much appears to be the UPA’s remedy for just about any Law and Order problem in any corner of the nation – more police, more funds, more arms, more intelligence (pun intended).

Thapar then goes on to ask Patil

All of this is on the law and order side. What steps are you taking to ensure that the causes that give rise to Naxalism?landlessness, poverty, hunger ? those are being tackled?

The question while showing symptoms of classical left of center thinking in the media also opens an opportunity to understand how little if any root cause analysis has gone into understanding the nature of Naxalism that confronts us today.

Patil’s response would be considered hilarious but for the seriousness of the problem:

Yes, we have already taken steps. The tribals will be given land ? a new law has been passed. Second, we will try to give funds to all the states to bring about economic development in the areas which are affected by terrorist activities.We are also giving them funds to be provided to the people who can be give housing, education and medical facilities in that area. Employment guarantee scheme is one of the schemes

Neither Thapar nor Patil bothered to address any of the 5 critical questions that one would have expected in any substantial debate on Naxalism.

1. What is the terror structure that sustains Maoist violence across states in the nation ?

2. What are the sources of funding ?

3. Who are the key leaders and how is the movement organized ?

4. What are their strategic objectives and what near term tactical goals does the movement have ?

5. Which are the recruiting grounds and what plans does the Government to infiltrate the movement ?

So there you have it folks, we always knew the Home Minister was jobless, now we know how utterly clue-less he is.

Offstumped Bottomline: Shivraj Patil’s approach to dealing with the Naxalite threat is symptomatic of the UPA’s dysfunctional governance and the alternate reality in which its leaders live in.?The utter cluelessness with which Patil intends to deal with Naxalism becomes clear with his treatment of Naxalism as a Law and Order problem and?a laundry list of police reforms as the solution.

With a sharp spike in mass casualities on account of terrorism between 2005 and 2007 the UPA sarkaar’s kiss of death to the aam aadmi portends ominously for the nation’s future.?

Filed under: War on Terror