The Dantewada killings may leave the Centre with no option but to hit back at the Maoists to try and regain the advantage in a battle that is as much political and about morale as it is about waging hard combat in hostile jungles ruled by the red ultras, reports The Times of India.
Though the government had been gaining a steady upper hand by way of strikes deep in ultra-ruled areas, the devastating nature of Tuesday's attack makes it evident that the Maoists are far from a spent force. There is little scope of drawing them to the negotiating table when they believe security forces can be forced to beat a retreat from areas under their control.
The discussions in government on Tuesday centred on regrouping and, after carefully analysing what had gone wrong in the encounter in the vastness of Dantewada's forests, to press ahead with the offensive to clear Maoist-infested areas in Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Bihar and West Bengal.
There were reports that the national security council that met on Tuesday dwelled on the Maoist attack, but it is understood that its meeting had been called to discuss border infrastructure. The meeting was intended to bring about swifter coordination between the Army, defence ministry, Border Roads Organization, environment ministry and related ministries and agencies.
The challenge before the Centre is as much political as the government has argued that Maoists are aiming at nothing less than overthrow of the democratic government and the very least requirement for any engagement was a ceasefire. Home minister P Chidambaram has said that Maoists should end violence for talks, but he now has his answer. He appraised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the situation.
The government has been making some headway in the political battle as it has set about countering the Maoists' pitch that the ultras were addressing a gap in governance which was in any case exploitative and inadequate. The government has made the case that the Maoists were far from an ideologically committed lot fighting for the poor and had no compunction in killing adversaries -- often the same poor tribals -- in cold blood.
Tuesday's killings could help the government argue its point, but it will also need to demonstrate that it can back its words with a steely resolve to take on the ultras in their backyard and last the course. Articulating government's course of action, home secretary G K Pillai said the Centre's resolve was "further strengthened". Obviously, retreating is not an option.
"All I can say at this moment is that our resolve is firm and in the coming days and months, we will give a much firmer and fitting reply to the murderers (Maoists)," Pillai said.
Expressing shock over the "very high" casualty of CRPF personnel, Chidambaram said something must have gone "drastically wrong" in the joint operation with the state police. "The casualty is very high and I am deeply shocked at the loss of lives... This shows the savage nature of CPI (Maoist) and their brutality and the savagery they are capable of," he said.
Sources in the ministry said Chidambaram instructed paramilitary forces to pull up their socks and display best possible coordination with states to step up operations against the ultras.
At the same time, the government ruled out use of air power in the fight against Maoists. Pillai said, "I don't think we need to use air power at the moment (in the anti-naxal operation). We can manage with what we have. Our strategy is unfolding and we should be able to manage without air power." He, however, made it clear that air power would be used only for evacuation and for mobility of troops.
