Swap vehicles, change meeting venue — how Bastar’s politicians give Maoists the slip in poll season

While the ferocity of the 2013 attack, which virtually wiped out the then-state leadership of the Congress, left the nation stunned, politicians in Bastar, cutting across parties, have been living on a knife’s edge for decades — forcing them to adopt unconventional ways to operate.

On Saturday, suspected Maoists stabbed to death the vice-president of Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Narayanpur unit Ratan Dubey while he was campaigning for the party. He is the sixth BJP member to have been allegedly killed by the Maoists since February this year.

Those previously killed between February and June this year include Neelkanth Kakem, a divisional head of the BJP in Bijapur;  Sagar Sahu, the party’s deputy president of Narayanpur district; Ramdhar Alami, who was a former sarpanch belonging to the party at Barsoor of Dantewada; Kaka Arjun, secretary of the party’s ST wing in Bijapur and Birjhu Taram in the state’s Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chowki district.

“As political actors, we represent the Indian state, with all its warts, in Bastar. Naturally, the Maoists resent us. The risks always loom large, but over the years, we have adopted ways to survive,” said Roop Singh Mandavi, BJP’s Bastar district president.

Incidentally, both Mandavi and Ali, who are now political rivals, were close associates of the late Congress veteran Mahendra Karma, who had spearheaded the anti-Naxal Salwa Judum (peace march) vigilante movement that was disbanded by the Supreme Court in 2011 over complaints of human rights violations.

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Survival tactics and security cover

Their differences aside, the political class of Bastar has devised some common strategies to evade the Maoist attacks. One of them is to change vehicles midway while traveling to the interior areas, to avoid being tracked by the rebels.

“This holds true for those who get security from the government, and also those who don’t. Many have managed to survive targeted attacks through such methods,” said Ramashray Singh, a BJP block in-charge in Bastar.

Another tactic is to alter the venue of meetings or appointments at the last moment.

“Once I had a meeting in the Muskonta area of the district. At the last moment, I shifted the venue and called those who were to attend it at a nearby place. Later, I came to know that some Maoists had infiltrated the small gathering,” recalled Singh, with Mandavi nodding in approval.

A third rule is to get out of the car and lie flat on the road if ambushed by the Maoists. This way they often miss their target and the security personnel get time to retaliate, explained Mandavi.

“I managed to survive by following this once when I was travelling with Kedar Nath Kashyap [former Chhattisgarh minister and son of late BJP stalwart Baliram Kashyap] near Bhopalpatnam. We got out and lay flat for some time. As a result, the security personnel managed to escort us to the anti-landmine vehicle,” he recalled.

Indeed, armed security personnel standing guard in and around party offices in Bastar is a common sight. Most politicians, who have attained a certain degree of importance, move around with security convoys, complete with hooters and pilot cars.

Last month, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, accorded X category security to as many as 24 BJP leaders of Bastar till 31 December. This entails three personal security officers accompanying the protectee one at a time in three shifts, without residential security.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has been tasked with guarding them in Bastar division, which includes seven districts — Kanker, Narayanpur, Kondagaon, Bijapur, Dantewada, Jagdalpur and Sukma. Nevertheless, these politicians are also aware of the danger that lurks in the shadows.

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A deadly ambush

Ali was one of the handful who survived the 2013 Darbha Valley attack. He recounts the horror of that day when he was travelling with Mahendra Karma and other senior party leaders to Sukma for a party event.

“Road Opening Parties (ROPs) are a pre-requisite when it comes to the movement of top leaders in the region. On 25 May, 2013, when we were heading to Sukma for the party’s event, Mahendra Karma repeatedly pointed out that no ROPs could be seen. He kept saying the convoy was a sitting duck,” Ali said.

Many leaders who were killed in the attack, such as Karma, then Chhattisgarh Congress chief Nand Kumar Patel, and senior party leader Vidya Charan Shukla had their personal security officers (PSOs) travelling with them on that fateful evening.

“First, bombs were set off. The PSOs were made to exhaust their ammunition. When we crawled out of our cars they started firing. Karma ji then stood up, raising his hands, and surrendered himself to the Naxals, asking them to spare the others,” Ali recalled.

“A pin-drop silence followed.”

“They whisked him to a corner and sprayed bullets into him. After that, they did not touch anyone,” recounted Ali, who receives Y-plus grade security from the government — five personnel stationed at the protectee’s residence and six personal security officers deployed in three shifts.

In total, 27 persons died in the 2013 incident, including 12 Congress leaders and workers, and eight policemen. Arms and ammunition, including AK-47 rifles, were looted by the Maoists in the attack.

A legacy of violence

Five-time Konta MLA of the Congress, Kawasi Lakhma, now a minister in the Chhattisgarh government, had also escaped the attack.

Lakhma is once again contesting from the Konta constituency, which is a part of the Sukma district, where the BJP has fielded Soyam Muka. Both were associated with Salwa Judum.

The BJP’s candidate in the neighbouring Dantewada constituency, Chaitram Arami, was a member of the Salwa Judum as well. Arami is pitted against the Chhavindra Karma, Mahendra Karma’s son, who had tried to revive the Salwa Judum, albeit in another avatar, floating an outfit called Vikas Sangharsh Samiti in 2015.

All these leaders receive security from the government. The BJP’s Bastar president, Mandavi, however, claims that after the Congress came to power in Chhattisgarh in 2018, his PSOs were withdrawn, leaving him vulnerable to attacks.

“I have faced many attacks in my career so far. In 2000, the Naxals entered my village and attacked my house. A bullet grazed my shoulder. In 2003, I was forced to leave my village and shift to Jagdalpur when they attacked my village again on the day of Ashtami during Navratri,” said Mandavi.

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A lost innocence

However, Bastar was not always a blood-soaked battleground, despite the presence of Maoists, who have been active in the region since the late 1960s. Umakant Singh, a BJP veteran who has been associated with the party since 1974, remembers a time when the Maoists did not target politicians.

“I vividly remember that during party work in the interior areas, once our car rolled down a slope and got stuck in a stream. We spotted the Maoists at a distance and sought help. They came and pushed the car onto the road. Only revenue, forest and police department officials were targeted then. Not politicians,” said Singh.

What changed between now and then, resulting in a situation where the politicians of Bastar find themselves with a perpetual target on their backs?

Mandavi, who is himself an adivasi belonging to Bastar, claimed in a reflective voice that outsiders to the region were responsible for the situation to a large extent.

“There was a time, even as late as the late 1990s, that traders from Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh used to frequent Bastar. They used to procure the produce of the adivasis, forest produce or crops, in exchange for salt. Only salt. Can you believe it?” he asked.

(Edited by Richa Mishra)

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