Naxal watch

There is thus every reason to toughen the national resolve to crush this violence ruthlessly. Colonel Anil Athale who led a team to study the naxal problem in Chhattisgarh in July 2006 tells that naxalities were having an upper hand in facing the ill-equipped police forces. Thus a large number of innocent tribals joined the naxal ranks, seeing them to be on the wining side. Further the “deterrent” effect of government action against violence should not be diluted by making prior declarations about limitations on use of armed forces but government should rather make the option of deploying armed forces open, if necessary.

The thing to remember about popular uprisings is  the people involved would almost all prefer to be going about their non-uprising business. They're not involved because they want to be. They're involved because they have no other choice than to be. Once you've eliminated whatever is motivating the 'normals' (corruption, government banditry, etc.), they'll all go back home and resume normal operations. If there are any combatants left after that, you can feel free to crush them ruthlessly ...

Also ...

When asked what it was about she referred to Naxalbari and Lalbagh in her explanation. Soon afterwards, the administration communicated to her that rules forbade expressing any political opinions -- which means online activity is monitored. It's another matter that the college had called the Chief Minister of a certain state to address the students. As far as we know, said CM is only a politician, not a filmmaker, journalist or even a saucy cartoonist. But perhaps, it's only ideology if it's somebody else's. One's own views are just... normal.

And ...

We are fighting our battle with a few targets. We need either to force them out from their stronghold, or to make them surrender. My target is to ensure that people of the Naxal-affected areas enjoy the same life as they experienced a decade ago. In Northern Chhattisgarh, we have succeeded in flushing out the Naxals. Many of them moved to Jharkhand.

If the ranks of the Naxals are swelling because of the conditions that existed a decade ago, this may not be a successful strategy ...