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Vigil against a continuing threat

Friday’s landmine blast on the Nellore-Tirupati road in Andhra Pradesh, in which former Chief Minister N. Janardhana Reddy and his wife had a miraculous escape, comes as a grim reminder of the huge threat the Maoists continue to pose in the State. Despite the campaign against the naxalites and the continuing hunt for the extremists, Andhra Pradesh has not succeeded in this war against violence and terrorism. Mr. Janardhana Reddy, a Lok Sabha member from Visakhapatnam , has been on the hit list of the Maoists since his days as Chief Minister, when he went after them. His wife Rajyalakshmi is a senior minister in the Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy government, and both of them were on their way to Tirupati, where Mr. Reddy was to receive a doctorate from the Sri Venkateswara University. Though the former Chief Minister has been provided top security, the naxalites had apparently decided to target him during the early morning drive. A landmine, planted beneath a culvert, was triggered by a flashgun, but apparently hit the wrong car in the convoy, killing three persons who accompanied Mr. Janardhana Reddy. A similar attempt was made some four years ago on Telugu Desam leader and former Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, while he was on his way to Tirumala; then, it was with a claymore mine. Not much headway has been made in that case, though some of those involved were said to have been eliminated in an encounter by the police.

The terror threat Andhra Pradesh faces comes from two sources — one from the Islamist groups, suspected to have links with or manipulated by forces operating from bases outside the country, and the other, from the Maoists. Countering both forms of terrorism remains a major challenge for the State government. Nellore is not counted among the strongholds of the naxalites, but they have a base in neighbouring Prakasam district. Before the State’s ‘Greyhounds,’ the special commando force, could reach Nellore, the Maoists fled the scene and escaped into their forest domain. The response of the State government and its police has to go well beyond launching another counter-offensive and readying for more encounters. Security measures are no doubt critical in the immediate context. The State and Central governments must realise that the real solution lies in effectively tackling the basic social and economic problems that have provided a fertile ground for the naxalite movement to strike roots and flourish. As long as the causative factors remain unaddressed, the Maoists will continue to thrive on the unrest and frustrations of the people who feel neglected and left out of the development process.

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