Law Kumar Mishra
Officially, Bastar has been declared Naxal-free after March 31st—but this has come at the cost of the martyrdom of a minister, two SPs (Superintendents of Police), and dozens of Congress leaders.
Thousands of officers and jawans from the Central Security Forces have also laid down their lives.
I had worked in this region since 1995 as a representative for the English daily The Times of India and have been an eyewitness to many incidents.
Naxalite activities once stretched from Pashupatinath to Tirupati (Nepal to Andhra Pradesh). Bastar, which was once a single district, was divided into a dozen districts; former blocks were elevated to district status. Similar to Kashmir, 72,000 security personnel were deployed in Bastar, including the BSF, CRPF, CISF, SSB, and RPF. The Jungle Warfare Training Institute was established in Kanker, and commando training by the Army began here.
I remember that wandering around Bastar after sunset was not safe. General elections were held only for the sake of formality. Officers appointed by the Election Commission would keep ballot boxes or EVMs in local police stations and were ferried to headquarters by Army helicopters before sunset. Voting percentages hovered between five to seven percent, as the Maoists’ call for an election boycott had a widespread impact.
In the 2003 Assembly elections, the government handed over full responsibility to the Punjab Police and the BSF. I recall traveling by road from Jagdalpur to the Dantewada temple. We stopped for tea at Geedam before moving forward. Dantewada was 35 km away. Later, we learned that Maoists had arrived by bus, forced the shops to close, and attacked the Geedam police station—which was fortified like a citadel on the highway. They looted all the weapons, shot the Sub-Inspector, and left calmly.
Just as police stations were highly fortified and surrounded by wire fencing during the peak of terrorism in Kashmir, all stations in Bastar were similarly secured. The entire Bastar region was mined; Maoists had planted explosives everywhere. In one instance, 76 CRPF personnel, including officers, were killed.
Twenty-five years ago, the Border Roads Organization (BRO) was tasked with improving road connectivity in the rural areas of Bastar. Government hospitals and schools across the region were closed. The Naxalites appointed local people as teachers and instructed them to educate the village children.
It might be hard for people to believe today, but it is a fact that Maoists maintained land records, handled mutations, and even collected land revenue. All of this is documented in police records.
Ma Danteshwari, the presiding deity of Bastar, was the only refuge for police officers. Whether it was the IG (Inspector General) or the SP, they never wore their police uniforms. They did not use police jeeps. Patrolling was done in ordinary civilian jeeps, and the vehicle would fly the flag of Ma Danteshwari instead of the police department’s flag.
A young IPS officer posted in Dantewada took this as a challenge and ordered his men to move around in police uniforms, using official vehicles with police flags. On the very first day of following the young officer’s orders, eight jawans were killed. The then-Governor of Chhattisgarh, who himself had served as an IG in Bihar, expressed his regret and termed it an “immature action.”
Now, Bastar has turned a corner. Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai has presented the “Bastar-2” plan to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which focuses on establishing industries in the region.
(The author is a Patna-based senior journalist and served in Chhattisgarh as Times Correspondent)
