Chhattisgarh polls: Bastar is a battle of wills between the state and Maoists

by Parivesh Mishra Raipur: Bastar, the Maoist heartland, is in the midst of an intense battle of wills. The lead players in the battle are not the traditional political rivals, the Congress and the BJP, but the election authorities and the Maoists. The state hardly existed here; conducting a successful election in the region would announce its presence, if not absolute authority. The Maoists have a vested interest in keeping their safe haven beyond democratic processes and ‘polluting’ influences from outside. Ironically, it’s the election authority, and not the local government, that has to ensure that the state wins. Over a fortnight, scores of uniformed passengers have been arriving at the railway station at Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh, to become part of the burgeoning police and paramilitary presence in Bastar. Raipur is the rail head for the biggest Maoist battle zone of the country starting roughly 100 kilometers away and stretching out to an area larger than Kerala. Twelve of the constituencies in Bastar are among the 18 going to polls in the first phase on 11 November. [caption id=“attachment_1211699” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Maoists are a significant threat to C’garh elections. Reuters. [/caption] Conducting elections in the region has always been a challenge. This time too, the state has announced the date and the Maoists a boycott. The state has moved in 536 paramilitary companies - around 65,000 personnel - in addition to the existing 200 central paramilitary force companies, 60 Chhattisgarh Armed Force companies and 100 District Force companies, mine and bullet protected vehicles, bomb disposal squads and mobile telecom towers on trucks. Of the total 2,629 booths in Bastar region, almost all are declared ‘hyper-sensitive’. The Maoists have followed the call for boycott with the threat “to chop off fingers found with indelible ink.” Aware that the latter rarely make empty threats, the state has decided to move 167 polling stations to “safer locations” closer to the highways or block/district headquarters. This means voters in remote villages would need to walk up to 40 km in some cases. The political parties have requested waiving of the mandatory ink condition. The election commission hasn’t yet given the nod. The political parties are scared out of their wits. They have always been so in Bastar, where winning does not mean control over the constituency. Almost all the BJP MLAs from the area had migrated from the area after winning the last election. Some become ministers and others simply took up residences in Raipur. They are having tough time explaining their absence from their constituencies which saw many killings, encounters, ambushes and kidnapping in the recent years. The most sensational among them was the ambush that killed 30 of the top Congress leaders and their security men. BJP candidate from Kondagaon and a minister in the state government, Lata Usendi, faced the wrath of the Maoists last year. Her house in Kondagaon town was attacked in broad day light and the security guard killed. Keshkal town, in the constituency by the same name, had witnessed a Maoist attack two months ago during a local body election. A police station Vishrampuri in the same constituency was attacked a few years ago. Jagdalpur, considered amongst the safest till the last election, is the constituency where BJP workers have been insured for life for Rs 5 lakh each to campaign. The fear is palpable in the entire region and is proving contagious. Mahendra Karma was among the Congress leaders who died in the deadly May attack. A local BJP leader, Shiv Dayal Singh Tomar, was killed some time later. This led to the arrest of the accused Maoist cadre Podiyam Linga by a joint team of CRPF and district police in Dantewada. Linga at a press conference in the office of Dantewada SP in presence of the CRPF officials claimed that he and other Naxals had campaigned for the BJP in the 2008 Assembly elections. This reinforced the Congress allegation that the BJP and the Maoists are party to a policy of peaceful coexistence. The BJP has repeated its MLA Bheema Mandavi. The campaigning here is confined to the small urban areas. Mahendra’s widow Dehuti Karma is the Congress nominee from Dantewada. The former had led the controversial Salwa Judum movement against the Maoists. Observers believe the movement won votes for its leader in towns and lost in the villages. His widow has a tough job at hand of outnumbering the lost votes with sympathy votes. The element of fear in the air promises to make big ticket election rallies in the region by Narendra Modi and Rahul Gandhi a subdued affair. Modi is scheduled to address his first election meeting at Kanker, the gateway to Bastar, on the 7 November while Rahul would address a meeting at the same place the next day. They are part of the galaxy of leaders that is descending on Bastar within a span of three days. The list includes Sonia Gandhi, Rajnath Singh, Venkaiah Naidu and Nitin Gadkari. They would be addressing meetings at more or less the same venues – the district headquarters. The fact that election campaigning is being carried out in only half the geography of Bastar tells the true story.