It is not often that policemen publicly seek the support of the media. The recent plea of Ranchi’s police superintendent was, thus, unusual. Stung by media criticism that his men were picking up innocent tribals and accusing them of sheltering extremists, the SP pleaded for better understanding. Four of his men had been killed in an ambush, barely 25 kilometres from the state capital, but even after a week-and-a-half of relentless combing, he could only lay his hands on some emaciated, unarmed and innocent-looking villagers. The armed squad of militants, that had sprayed the jeep his men were travelling in with bullets from machine guns, had melted away in the surrounding forests. And the police clearly had no clue about their whereabouts or movement.

The mainstream media in “shining” India have chosen to ignore the crisis brewing in Jharkhand. In Hazaribagh, Palamau, Lohardaga, Chatra, Bokaro, Giridih, Singbhum and now Ranchi, land-mines have been blowing up at regular intervals; policemen are being ambushed, police stations attacked and their firearms snatched. While the Jharkhand police have tried their best to gloss over the incidents, Central agencies have more accurately assessed the scale of the threat and the number of strikes on the ground. Their reports are perhaps more alarmist as a result, but also far closer to the reality on the ground.

The police too have claimed several successes, in terms of the number of “commanders” killed, the recovery of a huge amount of cash hidden in the forest, the rescue of some of those abducted and inroads made into some extremist strongholds. But on balance, it has been an unequal battle, with the militants’ hit-and-run strategy catching the police by surprise more often than not. Anti-social elements have predictably taken advantage of the prevailing anarchy, often invoking the name of extremist groups to strike terror or gain respectability.

What’s new, one might ask. For the past 20 years, the police in several states have struggled to put down the idealist and the downtrodden’s romance with revolution. With increasing dollops of CHARM (communication, hospitality, arms, roads and money), the police have sought to eliminate the rebels and neutralize the converts. But it has not had much effect. The radical or the idealist left have increased their spheres of influence and intelligence agencies have begun speaking of a “red corridor” extending from Nepal in the north to Kerala, down south. Security agencies have so far waged a losing battle, and there is, of late, a grudging admission that an unfair, partisan and ruthless administration can never hope to fight dreams successfully. The failure of Jharkhand to ensure a fair administration had to culminate in a resistance that is now bleeding both sides.

The Ranchi SP pointed out that Naxalite groups were not just using children to carry messages and report on the movement of policemen, but they were also recruiting the services of retired defence and police personnel. In several districts, the extremists had issued a fiat that one able-bodied youth from each family should join their squads. Sandwiched thus between the young and old, one can sympathize with the policemen who are never sure from where the bullets will come next. The inevitable has happened — the police have begun to give vent to their frustration by detaining villagers on suspicion, interrogating them or subjecting them to a worse treatment, and accusing them of providing logistical support to the extremists.

Like the policemen, the villagers too , appear sandwiched between the extremists and men in khaki. The extremists, possibly, are the more frequent visitors, and the villagers can hardly afford to refuse them food or shelter. Infrequent visits by the police, one suspects, is one of many reasons why villagers deny even information to the men in khaki. There is little love lost between the villagers and police, even at the best of times. In times of crises, mutual suspicion cripples any working relationship and trust between the two. The result is invariably tragic. The arrests are generally indiscriminate and the poor villagers, mostly tribals, are left to fend for themselves with little or no legal assistance. Many families are ruined and the social fabric damaged beyond repair.

Policemen obviously do not have the patience to appreciate the process of alienation and change in society. As the SP would point out, their job involves apprehending people who are waging a war on the state, and people who support or sustain the guerillas are equally guilty and cannot escape retribution. But just as Naxalite violence is counter-productive and invites even more ruthless retaliation, police repression too leads to tragic consequences.

The police recently arrested a man who, they alleged, had presided over two people’s courts which had sentenced two villagers. The poor tribal did not deny the fact but pleaded that he had been asked by the extremists to preside over the session and could scarcely refuse. But now that he has been arrested and charged with being a collaborator, he may well have to close down his little tea shop and face a long bout of litigation that will reduce him to a pauper and send him to jail for a long time, if not the rest of his life. His family members then would have little option but to fall back on the extremist groups for sustenance.

While the rulers are known to follow the practice of “divide and rule”, in Jharkhand one can see the extremists also doing the same. Playing one group against another or some mainstream politicians and parties against their rivals, and drafting some of the lumpen elements to counter others, they have succeeded in confusing the rulers. In the process, they have also gained valuable breathing time and a support base for themselves. The administration keeps repeating the mistake of treating extremists as a rag-tag group of misguided men. It certainly required far greater organizational skills, motivation, money and mobilization, than the government is prepared to accept, to hold the administration to ransom in 16 or more districts of the state.

A section of the police have put up street plays to highlight the futility of extremism; they have tried to educate the villagers about the law, and to reach out to them with medicine, toys, food and textbooks. They have sought to reply to the ultras’ propaganda war by telling their own version of the truth. They have also tried the somewhat dangerous strategy of arming villagers to take on the extremists. Communication equipment and firearms have been given to villagers to report on the movement and eliminate, if possible, the banned armed squads. A couple of “lynchings” of Naxalites in east and west Singbhum, however, has failed to stop or stem the increasing number of Naxalite strikes. On the other hand, several vigilante groups set up by the police have spun out of control and found robbery to be a relatively easier means of earning more money.

The unholy mess in Jharkhand shows no sign of being resolved soon, at least not until the government realizes that it cannot fight a “just war” against its own people. The devolution of power through panchayats could have been one way out. But with the clock ticking for the general elections, the state is once again likely to get away by putting off the panchayat polls which have not been held in the last two decades.