When Greyhounds Struck In A Fading Red Zone

Context: In June, six Maoists, including top leaders of the CPI(Maoist), were killed by the Greyhounds in the Andhra-Odisha Border region; this is a setback to the movement, which is already at its lowest ebb in the region.

Reasons for decline of Naxal movement

• Infighting between leaders of the Naxalite group.
• Lost direction: Fight against landlords and social evils transformed into fight against state.
• Power imbalance: Can’t match modern weapon and agency of state.
• Sensitive state interventions: Like land grants, Panchayati raj institutions, developmental approach etc. resulting in withdrawal of mass support.

Greyhounds – Hard power combat against Naxalism

• The Greyhounds is an elite anti-Maoist force within Andhra Pradesh Police, raised in 1989 by IPS officer K.S. Vyas.
• Strategy: Better paid and equipped force with state of art weapons and technology, better trained in jungle warfare, and moves in nimbler, highly capable units to target, track, and destroy insurgent networks by modelling guerrilla tactics.
• Young force: Members of the force cannot be over 35 years, once they cross 35, they are drafted into civil police until retirement.

Brief into the Naxal movement in Andhra Pradesh

• Birth of the movement: From the Telangana Rebellion of 1946, the peasant movement against feudal lords of the Telangana region in the princely State of Hyderabad.
  • Armed struggle ended in 1951 when the last of guerilla squads was subdued by the police force.
• Resurgence: Srikakulam movement, which began in 1967, was squashed, which inspired leaders towards Maoism.
• Factors responsible for growth: The movement grew due to oppression by feudal landlords and attempts by zamindars to take over lands from tribals.
  • Exploiting weaknesses of population: It was easy for Maoist leaders, who were educated, well-informed and steeped in ideology, to mould them.
  • Taking up popular issues: Such as getting a good price for forest produce such as honey, rajma, bamboo pulp, neem and adda leaves, and later Coffee and pepper.
  • Fuelled by state insensitivity: Oppression by police, forest and revenue department officials paved the way for gaining popular and mass support.
• Decline phase: In the Vishakhapatnam division, from a strength of around 500 cadres in mid-2000, the group has shrunk to a mere 30 now.

Developmental approach to Naxalism

• Widened ambit of Police programmes: Such as providing clean drinking water by sinking borewells, connected villages with roads, launched schemes to train tribals in various skills and coached them to join the police force and Central Armed Police Force.
• The tribals now want roads and cell phone towers, which Maoists have been objecting to.
• This has distanced the tribals from left-wing extremism.