SHARK HUNTERS

Three days past the massacre of 72 CRPF personal in the forests of Dantewada, we must sit back as to what went wrong with this strong patrol of the unit which led to total annihilation of a company strong armed body. It appears that nothing was done right from the very beginning. In fact this movement t was never carried out as movement of body of armed men in an operational area. The movement of the company defied all rules of operational gravity.Movement was never planned at any level. Every body in the chain of command treated the move as a normal police beat in a rural surrounding and packed the men in the vehicles for a picnic which it never was.Close scrutiny of the videos reveals the way these bodies are made to move around, rest while on move or gather together for a fresh briefing after a phased operation.It does appear that the gentlemen planning these operations are doing it from the comfort of there air conditioned offices surrounded by ceremonial office staff and plush comfort of the their recliners in the office, with the help of endless tea/coffee/nimbupaani. Every thing was just right for every one in the hierarchy till Maoists reminded them that this is not play time, this is a war and in the forests and jungle.Even the most seasoned players of the jungle game have to sweat it in buckets to save just one drop of blood.
The governments of India since beginning have lived in their make believe world of fantasy highly coloured by Gandhi, their basic interpretation of Buddhist philosophy of non-existent nonviolence and power of political maneuvers not supported by physical might. When one takes birds eye view of India's governance scene one finds it akin to the that of the famous chess players of Avadh when the Britishers were swooping on Lucknow.
If the Indian state has to go to war against an enemy which has been preparing for it from 1967/68 ( Naxalbari )to this day and which has large areas of the state, poorrly administered by the Indian State, under its physical dominance, then it has to revisit and review its thinking. It has to learn to worship the gods of war. It has to train not only its security forces but also its citizenry to stand up and be counted. A sham of a democracy where any violation of law can be put in a freeze mode just by hiring a few lawyers and appeals in courts. where the writ of the government lasts only till the ink of its pen dries on paper and where not a single elected member has any knowledge of matters that are military in nature, we the people India, have decided to rise and take on the elusive, fleet footed and ruthless might of Maoists. If we do then we now require to find our heroes the magnificent men wearing the colors of the state and bearing its flag flying high.We shall need a trained and motivated force conditioned to the hard realities of war fare in jungles, over plains, in the water and in the air.
Home Minister Chidambrem showed decisiveness and perceptiveness of matured statesman when he realised that a confrontation with the Maoists is inevitable and it can not be postponed any longer but he delegated the task to various states and their respective governments who have no knowledge of such operations and have many other pressing political compulsions which take priority for their political survival.The echelons of command rigged up for such a warfare have been done with equal ignorance. The doctrine of the war has not been shaped and the orientation and training of the troops is not visible. Equally flawed is their equipment and the tactical approach. Mr Chidambram you will now have to find the shark hunters to enable survival of the Indian state further in this shark infested sea.