Word: chidambaram
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Privately, many senior leaders in the ruling Congress party had complained to their party president, Sonia Gandhi, that Chidambaram used unnecessarily provocative language when talking about the Maoists. But Singh refused to accept Chidambaram's offer to resign after the massacre. With the central government still debating how to deal with the Maoists, there is confusion on the ground about how to tackle the insurgency. Gill says it's time to rethink the entire strategy and criticizes Chidambaram for giving the go-ahead to a "flawed operation." (See pictures of India's turning points...
...just weeks ago, New Delhi decided to challenge the rebels who carry Mao Zedong's name and who are waging the bloodiest insurgency India has ever seen. The government announced that 50,000 paramilitary troops would be part of Operation Greenhunt, with tough-talking Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram promising to "wipe off the Maoist movement in the next two [to] three years." As part of this campaign, police and paramilitary forces last week engaged in a four-day "area domination" exercise near the village of Dantewada in the Dandakaranya Forest. But the Maoists were not about to let this incursion...
India is groping for answers on how to respond to the Maoist attack. Chidambaram's strategy had appeared to be working. Many top Maoist leaders, including Politburo members, were arrested, and the Maoists offered to negotiate. Their chief military officer, Kishanji - the nom de guerre of Mallojula Koteswara Rao - even gave out his cell-phone number to Chidambaram to facilitate talks. "But actually they were retreating so that they can regroup. This is how the Maoists always operate. But still we have not learned anything," says K.P.S. Gill, formerly one of India's top police officers, who advised the Chhattisgarh...
Those in India who perceive Chidambaram to be a warmonger say the growing social disparities caused by India's economic growth have been a major factor behind the rebels' expansion. They say the government needs to provide a more equitable distribution of its growing wealth. "Let's not forget the killing of more than a hundred tribal villagers by the security forces since June 2009 ... It's time the nation starts to work towards cease-fire and cessation of hostilities so as to help initiate dialogue with the Maoists, and to address the real issues affecting the people like forced...
...ranks or improving the meager force's fighting abilities. But without strength in numbers or combat skills, the police have been unable to curb the spread of Maoist violence and defend the state's isolated police outposts. At the Indian Economic Summit in New Delhi on Nov. 10, Chidambaram said all heavily affected states would completely reassert control over their Naxal-dominated areas within two or three years. Director general of police Ranjan thinks four years is a more realistic time frame. "We're not taking any more shortcuts," Ranjan says. "This is going to be a long, drawn...