A Thinking Cop

While jehadi terrorism, with its stamp of Pakistani sponsorship, receives carpet coverage in our media, a far more potent threat to our national security attracts niggardly attention. At last count, some 40 leftwing extremist groups or parties, fired by the Maoist adage that power flows from the barrel of a gun, have ensured that their writ prevails over a fifth of Indian territory.They operate in jungle tracts in Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
Theories abound about the extent of coordination between these groups. According to the most plausible one, they are attempting to establish a Compact Revolutionary Zone (CRZ) stretching from Nepal to the south of Andhra Pradesh and the Tamil Nadu coast of the Bay of Bengal. The PWG in Telangana, Orissa and Jharkhand, and the MCC in north Bihar, are believed to have established close operational links with the Maoists of the Himalayan kingdom. The latter control 32 of the country''s 75 districts and are in a position to defy the authorities in 54 districts, including in 14 adjoining the border with India.
Success in establishing the CRZ would enable the leftwing extremist groups to cut off the north-eastern region from the rest of the country. They will also be in a position to lord it over huge deposits of minerals and oil. All this would go a long way to fulfill the agenda of the Naxalite movement which had turned West Bengal into a killing field four decades ago.
One of the key men responsible for snuffing out the movement was Ranjit Kumar Gupta, a police officer who was both admired and reviled for his strong-arm tactics. Now 84, and battling a serious illness, Gupta has just published a book analysing the Naxal menace and proposing steps to counter it. On both counts, he draws on his own experience enriched by his prolific reading of Communist theory and practice.
In a recent conversation, Gupta was scathing in his criticism of current efforts to engage the Naxals. He believes that today''s leftwing extremist groups have learnt from the failures of the original Naxalite movement. For instance, they have studied the police far more thoroughly than the police have studied them. Their grassroots intelligence network foxes officialdom no end.
According to Gupta, the Naxals are also able to exploit the social and economic woes of the poor and the marginalised with a measure of success that was nowhere in evidence in West Bengal in the late ''60s and early ''70s. Their Jan Adalats, reminiscent of the kangaroo trials during Stalin''s rule, dispense justice instantly. No matter what the authorities claim, the impact on the countryside is immense.
This is why Gupta is convinced that the only way to ensure that the Naxals go out of business is to empower local panchayats to enable them to strive for equality, reduce hunger and speed up development. But he is no bleeding heart liberal. He also wants sustained pressure to be applied on the extremists to force them to lay down arms. Politicians would therefore be required to refrain from interfering in matters that fall within the ambit of police responsibilities.
In his book Gupta seeks to set the record straight about the methods he had used to smash the Naxalite movement. His critics are unlikely to be convinced. All the same, few will doubt that he functioned as a ''thinking cop''. This might appear to be an oxymoron. It is not. Ranjit Kumar Gupta deployed guile, if required, or armed strength, if needed, but only in order to discharge his duties as a sentinel of the Republic and its citizens. He brought honour to the nation''s police force.