NAXALITES IN AP: WHAT NEXT?
By T.S.Rao
In the southern state of Andhra Pradesh last month (September) a far-reaching development took place. The state went for municipal and corporation elections on September 24 and the results were declared on September 26.
These elections received considerable amount of hype for two reasons. For the first time Naxalites in Andhra Pradesh came in to open to demonstrate their clout in Andhra Pradesh. They issued an ultimatum two weeks before the elections urging the electorate to boycott the Congress and Telugu Desam Party candidates. Their message was quite loud and clear; only vote for Telengana Rashtra Samiti candidates. The Naxalite watchers in Delhi and Hyderabad looked upon this development as a test to determine the influence of Naxalites. The formulation in corridors of power in North Block is if TRS proved to be victorious, the Naxalites enjoy far more influence than the agencies have assessed. In such a situation a new strategy may have to be worked out in dealing with them.
At another level, the central government in Delhi considers Rajasekhar Reddys government policies a replica of United Progressive Alliance policies of Dr. Manmohan Singh government. Though Congress circles refuse to acknowledge these elections as a mini referendum on their policies, 10 Janpath and Racecourse Road were keenly watching it.
In all fairness one must admit the election campaign by Congress and Telugu Desam Party were conducted in a fairly civilised fashion. The jarring note in the campaign strategy was from TRS, with its personal attacks on the Chief Minister and Pradesh Congress Committee President. The well-informed Andhra urban voter, even in Telengana region, where TRS claimed a monopoly of the peoples voice, apparently got disgusted with the TRS leaderships attitude.
The election results on September 26 came as a pleasant surprise to Congress. It won more than two thirds of municipalities and corporations. The Telugu Desam managed to get only ten municipalities while TRS got only two. Even in the number of votes polled, TRS came poor third and in some cases their candidates polled less than left parties.
The immediate fallout of these election results is the Naxals-TRS combine proved that they have nothing but a nuisance value; and do not enjoy any wide spread support; as was being projected by a section of the media, among the masses. In fact, in the post election political scene that is emerging, many Naxalite cadres are surrendering themselves voluntarily to the authorities claiming that they have been misguided. The question that is being asked now in places like Hyderabad is whether the Naxalite cadres are disillusioned with their leadership and the movement itself?
Here one cannot ignore two relevant facts. The Rajasekhar Reddy government since it came in to power, in 2004 gave a deliberate slant to its policies towards aam Admi. Simultaneously the State government readily agreed to many of the Naxalite demands on the economic front in the failed Naxalite government talks in the beginning of this year.
This took away a major chunk of the Naxalite propaganda against the Congress Party and State Government.
Equally important is the way Naxalite leadership conducted themselves in their talks with the government. Many observers in Hyderabad told me that the way Naxalite leaders conducted themselves during the negotiations, they accepting luxurious hospitality of the hosts and their confrontationist attitude with the officials, did not gel with the general public. At the same time, the hollowness in their arguments about some of the economic policies questioned their credentials among intelligentsia in the state and outside.
In addition, the TRS leaderships attitude both in the centre and state has not created any support to Naxalite cause either. Their threats to Congressmen sounded more like in frustration and their strategy to create Telengana Jagarana Sena (Telengana Awakening Soldiers) was looked upon as steps to create a parallel law enforcement agency to police. In fact people in Telengana started comparing it with Shiva Sena tactics in neighbouring Maharashtra state. The cosmopolitan culture of Andhra Pradesh found the entire TRS exercise repulsive. They have not even an economic programme worth mentioning. They squandered the resources of Telengana Development Council given by the centre and State government. How can they enjoy any credibility? said one observer.
At another level with State government keeping an intense vigil on Naxalites, the latters activities like Bank robberies, extortions from business men and other money spinning activities came to an end. With the Naxalites money spinning activities coming under surveillance, automatically their capacity to finance political activities also came down.
TRS leadership, lacking public support, was forced to operate on a tight budget, found it too difficult to manoeuvre themselves in the politically conscious Andhra Pradesh.
In this new environment where do Naxalites stand? In the context of Andhra Pradesh, in the immediate future their prospects seem to be bleak. Some of the Naxalites who made the Naxalism an industry, may move to other states or even to neighbouring Nepal.
Naxalites, to remain in business may have to reorganize themselves, provide substance in their arguments against government policies. For this they need an enlightened leadership. In an era of communication revolution, they cannot sustain their movement on bland ideological slogans.
The script made by the Congress government at the state level indicates that TRS has been totally neutralized and made irrelevant to state politics. The demand for Telengana state, many observers feel, now is as good as dead. Naxalites honeymoon with TRS leadership is also over, said one observer. Will the Naxalites patronise a new leader as a front man or allow some time to lapse to erase the results of municipal elections, is to be seen.
If the Andhra Pradesh government fulfils all its promises to poor in the next four years, Naxalites will find it hard to regain their lost ground. The 2009 elections will show it. -CNF