How much further can Patnaik bend to the Maoists?

Even as the Odisha government blinked agreeing to a swap deal with the Maoists on Wednesday , its leader Sabyasachi Panda rejected the offer.

Panda has instead gone a step further and given the government 96 hours to fulfill all his demands in addition to freeing Maoists other than those the government has offered to, in exchange for the release of MLA Jhina Hikaka and Italian tour operator Paolo Basusco, the Indian Express has reported .

The Naveen Patnaik government had on Wednesday agreed to release 27 people — including eight comrades and 19 supporters — in various Odisha jails in exchange for Hikaka (37) who was kidnapped by the Maoists on 23 March and Basusco, 55, who has been in Maoist captivity since 14 March.

However in an audio tape released yesterday, Maoist leader Panda accused the government of backstabbing and said there was no way for the Government to secure the release of Basusco, but to “sign an agreement with their mediators in connection with fulfillment of the demands to secure the release of the Italian”, the Daily Pioneer reported .

“We are not in a position to release the Italian national since the Government has not signed any agreement with the mediators despite talks to free the hostage,” he said in the audio tape released on Friday, which he said must be treated as a Press release.

He also accused the Government of failing to meet the Maoists’ demands. “We had placed some democratic demands before the Government for release of the Italian tourist. The demands included release of prisoners held under fabricated charges, legal action against police officials involved in corruption and rape of innocents and fake encounters and lifting of ban on political and mass organisations,” Panda said on tape.

On 4 April, the Odisha government offered to free eight Maoists a few hours after it resumed talks with Maoist-named mediators BD Sharma and Dandapani Mohanty.

“Considering the safety of Jhina Hikaka, the young MLA of Laxmipur, it has been decided by the state government to facilitate the release of 15 members of the Chasi Muliya Adivasi Sangha and eight Left-wing extremists in Koraput and Malkangiri jails,” chief minister Naveen Patnaik said in the assembly, the Times of India reported .

The swap offer, however, has received much criticism from many quarters with security forces, former policemen and even the Centre  speaking out against it.

Swaranjit Sen, former DGP, Andhra Pradesh, told CNN-IBN, “It’s like history repeating itself without any lessons being learnt. Talks have only benefited the Maoists. This new deadline of 96 hours for releasing seven Naxals without any reassurance… This is a mess. Naveen Patnaik has set a very bad precedent. This is no way of dealing with a problem that has been termed as the biggest threat to internal security.”

The New Indian Express has called the swap a “weak-kneed approach” which sends out a wrong signal.

“Such a weak-kneed approach betrays characteristics of a soft state. In addition to nullifying the limited successes of the security forces in Maoist-affected states it allows them to regroup and rebuild their logistics and finances so that they can strike back with more violence. As underlined by the Union home ministry’s annual report, Maoist violence has emerged as the most potent threat to India’s internal security and has accounted for 3,204 lives between 2008 and 2011”, it said in an editorial .

This is the second time the Odisha government has succumbed to Maoist pressure. Experts say that while this is definitely affecting the morale of the security forces, it is also emboldening Maoists, thus setting a bad precedent.