Working toward a meaningful ‘victims’ register’ in Bastar

‘The government’s declared approach to deal with left-wing extremism has been to address the challenge in a holistic manner, but the parameters of success and performance on the ground have continued to be contextualised by the security bias of the approach’ File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

On September 20, 2024, the Union Home Minister met 55 people affected by Naxalite violence from the left-wing extremism-hit areas of Chhattisgarh, as highlighted in a report in this daily, “Surrender arms and join mainstream, or face action, Amit Shah tells Naxals”. The ground zero of the current phase of left-wing extremism activities, where most of the recent and successful tactical operations by security forces have been conducted, is the Bastar division of Chhattisgarh. It comprises the districts of Bastar, Narayanpur, Bijapur, Kondagaon, Sukma, Dantewada and Kanker.

An indication of the government’s approach

The Home Minister’s meeting with the victims is encouraging indeed when seen through the prism of successes of the security forces in counter-Maoist operations over the last six months or so. The initiative indicates the seriousness of the government to address the challenges in a manner that is beyond the realm of law and order. The government’s declared approach to deal with left-wing extremism has been to address the challenge in a holistic manner, in the areas of security, development, ensuring the rights of local communities, and with improvements in governance and public perception management. However, the parameters of success and performance on the ground have continued to be contextualised by the security bias of the approach.

In the context of addressing the conditions of victims, it may be relevant to invoke recent public statements by the Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister of Chhattisgarh, Vijay Sharma. In May this year, Mr. Sharma had said that the State was making efforts to bring in new features and have better implementation in maintaining the victims’ register for people victimised due to violence in Bastar. An alignment in the thought processes of policymakers at the Centre and in the State bodes well for the resolution of the left-wing extremism challenge in the long run, wherein we move beyond our delusionary race to kill the last Maoist.

Categories of those affected

However one needs to tread ahead with the policies and their implementation, with a caveat that victim identity is not a monolith in conflict zones — and Bastar is no different. Two main categories of victims among several, are, first the ones who have suffered at the hands of Maoists (and presumably these were the people who met the Home Minister). The second category of victims who cannot be ignored comprise those who have suffered at the hands of the state to include security forces and the criminal justice system; intentionally or otherwise.

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Another agency that victimised the tribal community was the vigilante army called the Salwa Judum during the middle years of the first decade of this century. In this period, in addition to people who fled their villages to live in Salwa Judum camps (where they continue to live even after two decades), about 55,000 tribals fled Chhattisgarh to take shelter in then unified Andhra Pradesh. These internally displaced conflict victims yearn to return to Chhattisgarh but are yet to get redress from the respective State governments. In addition, there are numerous victims of structural violence churned up by the conflict since the 1980s, when Maoist cadres entered the forests of Dandakaranya, seeking safe haven. Dandakaranya covers an area of about 92,000 square kilometres and includes parts of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

In fact the victimisation as a result of structural violence vis-à-vis tribal communities has been an ongoing process since colonial times and through the post-independence era. The Maoists, after entering Dandakaranya, sought to champion the tribal cause that was a manifestation of centuries of victimisation. Absent governance resulting from the policy of exclusion of tribal belts, gave tremendous elbow room to the Maoists to fill in the gap left by the state.

Making it work

The initiative to identify victims and register the details in the victims’ register — talked about by Mr. Sharma — has tremendous potential to alleviate the plight of tribal communities who find themselves sandwiched between the Maoists and the state. The victims’ register, as an experiment, has been tried in more than a dozen countries as a conflict resolution or peacebuilding effort. Such an effort played a major role in resolving the deep-rooted left-wing extremism insurgency in Colombia.

However, the exercise of identifying victims shall have to be in the spirit of truth and reconciliation and agnostic to the nature of the perpetrators who carried out victimisation. If otherwise, such a well-intentioned exercise may end up creating divides in the society, as another version of the haves versus the have-nots conflict. As far as the rules of the victims’ register experiment are concerned, victims and their families need to be given a benefit of doubt when they tell their stories, as many versions cannot be cross-checked in a tangible manner. The ground rules of the exercise shall have to be based on trust. The said measure shall be an impactful confidence-building measure and is bound to expand the support base of the state against the Maoists. The time is ripe to embark on a journey to address tribal aspirations. And pitfalls in the journey may well be afforded in times of the Maoists being at their lowest.

Shashank Ranjan is a retired infantry officer (colonel) with rich experience of serving in conflict zones. He teaches at the O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonepat, Haryana