While the Prime Minister’s advice to the Maoists is sensible and aims at a change of heart on Gandhian lines, it appears to be too simplistic and appears to apportion all the blame on them (“Bastar will be free from dance of death”, May 10). Mr. Modi’s appeal has missed the structural roots of the extremist ideology which turns poor tribals into killers. Maoism stems from structural poverty, a lack of development, alienation of tribal lands and forest resources and of exploitation in numerous forms, some of it state-led. We need to appreciate that Maoists are also humans. Ensuring productive employment, imparting skills and education to young people and tackling poverty with adequate schemes, along with an appropriate ‘surrender and rehabilitation’ policy for the Maoists are some steps forward.
Amritpal Singh,New Delhi
The Maoist threat in India needs to be addressed through the twin strategies of “winning hearts and minds” and “affirmative security policies”. More people-centric policies are needed rather than a single, monopolistic idea of industrialisation. As Maoists are on the backfoot now, the time is right to cash in on the situation and address the genuine concerns of tribals.
Jishnu J. Raju,Thiruvananthapuram
The triumphalism over the capture of top Maoist leaders recently shows that the state still thinks that the ‘problem’ is reducible to one of law and order. Maoists have not appeared from another planet or sprung up from vacuum but are ‘rebels with a cause’. It is futile to try to eliminate them without seeking to tackle root causes like destitution, social inequity, economic exploitation and threats to the lives and livelihoods of the poor. The launch of multi-crore schemes cannot cancel out the structural violence against marginalised people like tribals. Also, the government must not go ahead with projects that will prove disastrous to the environment and tribal populations in order to make corporate investors happy. Development projects without a human face cannot be overstressed. Any visitor to tribal hamlets in forests will be horrified when he sees first-hand the conditions in which tribals live.
G. David Milton,Maruthancode, Tamil Nadu
