After nearly 30 minutes of flying from the state capital Ranchi, a Jharkhand Police helicopter lands at a makeshift helipad in the premises of a government school, amid loud cheers from children. Local women throng the venue, petitioning top government officials to address their grievances, while the youths come up with their demand for employment. This, however, was not the case around three years ago, when a police party or a government vehicle would be attacked with bullets, hand grenades and even rocket launchers by Maoists, who had their “all-season headquarters” in this village called Saryu.
For the thousand-odd people living in this remote village located in the middle of the dense forests of Jharkhand’s Latehar district, life has been redefined in the last three years. From being a “liberated zone” from where Maoists ruled the roost in the entire Jharkhand and even in the adjoining areas of Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Odisha, the village has undergone a transformation since 2015.
The Maoists have been wiped out from the village, thanks to the continuous offensive launched by the security forces against the armed militia. The Maoist hideouts have been destroyed and police and CRPF outposts in the region have instilled a sense of security among the villagers. The women and the youths, who stayed tongue-tied out of fear of the Maoists all these years, have mustered the courage to come out in the open and laud the government initiatives to bring back Saryu to the mainstream.
“We have seen our younger generations getting destroyed by Maoist groups. Young children were forced to join them. Any resistance would lead to the murder of our children. The Maoists would often cast their evil eyes on our daughters. Life here in Saryu was miserable,” said Abdul Sadiq, an octogenarian villager who spares no words to thank the Raghubar Das government in Jharkhand for bringing about the change.
The Maoists would not let the locals go from Saryu to the district headquarters. “To stop the villagers from going to Latehar town from Garu block via Saryu, the Maoists used to blow up the bridges on the rivers. However, the construction of two new bridges in the region has instilled hope among the villagers. To ensure employment and encourage the villagers, we have stopped awarding contracts to outsiders; only local villagers are roped in for construction of roads, bridges, schools and community centres,” said Rajeev Kumar, Deputy Commissioner of Latehar district.
It is not that cleansing the forests of the Maoists is end of the process of mainstreaming these villagers. Villagers admitted that several Central government funded schemes like Ujjwala, Jan Dhan and rural electrification had benefited them, but that they continued to wait for employment.
Development is a continuous process. “Government has fulfilled out basic needs like cooking gas, schools and electricity connection. This has primarily resulted into the villagers supporting the government. However, a lot needs to be done. We are still deprived of proper irrigation facilities, while our youths need good jobs,” said Taramani Devi, the woman head of Saryu village panchayat.
“Life is still challenging for the villagers but they have understood that a dignified life is only possible by way of development. There were times that the Maoists kept this area blocked from basic developments but now people have realised what development means. It will certainly require more time to bring Saryu at par with other places,” said Saket Kumar Singh, DIG of the Special Task Force, which spearheaded the operations against the Maoists in Jharkhand.
The Sunday Guardian interacted with two top Maoist commanders who surrendered in 2016 and are now free of their charges. “Saryu and the adjoining villages were liberated zones. No policeman or security personnel were allowed to enter the village. This used to be the safest hideout of the Maoist groups. From making hand grenades and other weapons to training of new recruits and holding key meetings of the outfits, Saryu village was a failsafe place. Whenever there was offensive against these groups in Chhattisgarh, they would take shelter here,” said one of the surrendered Maoist commanders, who requested anonymity, citing security concerns. Ever since he surrendered, his family has been receiving threats from his previous gang members.
“I was constantly in talks with the government and police officials. But I believed that I would be killed if I surrendered. However, I was fed up. I took a risk with my life and without informing anyone in the group, I came to Ranchi and surrendered,” he said. His name was on the list of the most wanted Maoist leaders in the state, which had announced a reward of Rs 25 lakh for capturing him. “The Jharkhand government has provided me with a job, and is paying me Rs 6,000 per month now,” he added.
“Our government has announced a very lucrative surrender and rehabilitation policy, which has received a very good response, resulting in many top militants surrendering before the Jharkhand police to join the mainstream the past two years. In Jharkhand, a total of 70 militants surrendered between 2001-2014. But since 2015 a total of 107 militants have surrendered Many of these militants carried a reward of more than 25 lakh on their heads,” said R.K. Mallick, Additional Director General of Police (Operations), Jharkhand.
According to Jharkhand police data, in 2017, 47 Maoists had surrendered, 12 Maoists were neutralised in police encounters, while more than 600 Maoists were arrested. “In the present scenario, the sphere of influence of the Maoists has been severely restricted and has been mainly confined to a few pockets in the bordering areas of the adjoining states and in some inaccessible interiors of the state,” the ADGP added.
After the bifurcation of Bihar, Maoist violence, especially by the MCC, had shifted to Jharkhand, which is rich in mineral and forest wealth, and provides higher chances of raising funds for Maoist activities.
In Jharkhand, 21 out of its 24 districts are Maoist affected. Presently, out of the 30 worst left-wing extremism (LWE) affected districts in the country, 13 are in Jharkhand: These include Hazaribagh, Lohardaga, Palamau, Chatra, Garhwa, Ranchi, Gumla, Simdega, Latehar, Giridih, Bokaro, West Singhbhum, Khunti, Saraikela, Kharsawa, East Singhbhum, Dhanbad, Koderma and Ramgarh.
The multipronged approach of the state government and the police included planned and strategic initiatives like intelligence-based operations, an attractive surrender and reward policy, Integrated Developmental Action Plan (Focus Area and Border Area Plans), psy-ops, qualitative improvement in intelligence collection, apart from the seamless co-ordination between Jharkhand Police and the Central armed forces.
“The elimination of the Maoists from Saryu forced them to pitch their tents in the Budha Pahar axis (border areas of district Latehar/Garhwa with Chhatishgarh) where a large squad of Maoists has been camping. There are two major concentrations of Maoists in the bordering areas of Jharkhand-Bihar. One group of Maoists is camping in the bordering areas of district Palamau, Chatra in Jharkhand and district Gaya and Aurangabad of Bihar. Another group of Maoists is camping in the bordering areas of district Giridih (Jharkhand), and district Jamui (Bihar),” said Prashant Anand, Superintendent of Police, Latehar district which is the worst Maoist affected district in the state.
As a result of the sustained and effective intelligence-based operations in Jharkhand, incidents of Maoist violence have significantly decreased. The annual average of Maoist incidents reported between the year 2001 and 2014 was around 400, while in the years 2015, 2016 and 2017 the average was lower than 200. Similarly, between the years 2001 and 2014, in the Maoist attacks/encounters the number of martyred policemen was at an average of more than 35 annually. But in the past two years, the numbers slipped to five policemen. An average of 115 civilians was killed by Maoists between 2001 and 2014, while in the past three years the average has been 51. Similarly, 39 police weapons were looted by the Maoists between 2001 and 2014, while in past three years the number has dropped to zero.
For the purpose of increasing access to the inaccessible areas, 49 new police stations were created and 56 sub-police stations were upgraded. Jharkhand now has over 600 police stations and outposts. In addition to these, over 250 camps of state police and Central security forces have been established in the deepest interiors. The establishment of new police stations and forward area camps had a very beneficial effect on remote areas where Maoists had considerable control. “These police outposts have now become the development centres in these villages,” said the SP.
Anand, however, said the bigger challenge was to change the mindset of the people: “We have managed to neutralise the Maoists, leaders but the ideological fight is on. Defeating that will take quite a long time.”
“Some Maoists have left their original organisation and formed breakaway groups. At present, many activist groups in Jharkhand are engaged in violent action and levy collection. Apart from CPI (Maoist), there are few LWE splinter groups, namely TPC (Tritiya Prastuti Committee), JPC (Jharkhand Prastuti Committee), PLFI (People’s Liberation Federation of India) and JJMP (Jharkhand Jan Mukti Parishad) who are involved in incidents of civilian killing, extortion and arson,” STF officials said.
As a result of the ongoing operation by the police, some of the Maoists are separated from the original groups of Maoists, and have joined criminal activities such as robbery and extortion of money.
Another top police official said that cooperation with other neighbouring states was critical to fight the Maoist menace. “Several districts in Jharkhand like Palamu, Giridih, Chaibasa, Simdega and Latehar share borders with places in Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Odisha. From Latehar and Garhwa districts in Jharkhand, the Balrampur district in Chhattisgarh is very nearby. And hence a concerted effort is necessary to eliminate the Maoists completely,” officials said.