Governments and politicians in India seem to be both unable and unwilling to learn from mistakes. Sad as it is, the assassination of Sunil Mahto, member of the Lok Sabha from Jamshedpur, is clearly the result of a colossal blunder. He had been on the Maoists’ hit-list for some years and both his party, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, and the state government knew about it. Yet the administration did nothing to prevent him from walking into what turned out to be a death-trap. The failure suggests that the government in Ranchi has learnt nothing from past mistakes in dealing with the rebels. Ministers and politicians talk about poverty and other socio-economic reasons behind the rise of the Maoist rebellion in Jharkhand or other states. Much of this is idle rhetoric that barely covers up the lack of a well-defined policy to meet the challenge. What needs to be understood clearly is that the Maoists’ violence has to be met with counter-violence. This requires a state of preparedness which, unfortunately, is lacking. The Union home ministry set up a committee during the tenure of the National Democratic Alliance government to help the affected states co-ordinate anti-Naxalite operations. The way the Maoists continue to hit at will suggests that the governments lack a strategy as well as the will to fight the rebels back.

Yet there should be absolutely no question of the state withdrawing from the battle. Governments have a constitutional obligation to uphold the rule of law. The use of force is a necessary condition for the task in this context. In Jharkhand, and most other states where the Maoists are active, the fight against them has another dimension. The rebels exploit the economic backwardness of these areas. The state’s strategy to fight the rebellion must, therefore, include plans to end poverty and other deprivations. Jharkhand’s reserves of iron ore and other mineral resources have started attracting major investments, particularly in steel. These ventures have the potential to change the economic profile of the state. Ironically, this has also given the Maoists a new cause. In their desperation to thwart new industrial plans, they seek to project development as an agent of displacement and destabilization. But debates are only a ploy for political extremists. To them, violence is both the means and the end.