In 1947 when India was given freedom by the British it was thought a new dawn of development and prosperity would be launched. However Nehru with his zeal to copy the British carried on the age old British policies as far as the tribal lands were concerned.
The British who were the paramount power and wished to further their rule had no interest in integrating the tribal areas with the rest of India.Thus they formulated policies where the tribals were left to themselves with only a loose form of government control. So much so that to visit the tribal areas of Assam and Nagaland an inner line permit was required.They effectively insulated the tribal areas from the rest of the country.
The Indian Government under Nehru continued with these British policies even after 1947 when independence was granted. Thus the inner line permits remained and very little effort was made to integrate these areas with the mother country. It did not help as racially these tribals were not from the main Arayan or Dravidian stock.
The country did wake up later and some development projects were started in the tribal areas. But the effort was half-hearted as the central Government and the states never realised that these areas could forment trouble for the central authority. Smug attitudes prevailed and it was not realised that there were committed cadres of the Communists egged on by China who were galvanizing the tribals to resist and set up their own state.
This state of affairs continued for more than three decades. Matters came to an head only when a armed struggle was launched. But even then the union home ministry treated it as a simple law and order problem-which it was not. No effort was made to nip the insurgency in the bud and a laid back attitude so reminescent of the early Hindu civilizations dominated the ethos of the present Hindu government.The gravity of the problem was not realised and some small companies of para military troops were sent in with poor results.
Thw Maoists who draw their inspiration from China and Mao Tse Tung however consolidated themselves. Lack of development and absense of any form of infrastructure like roads and rail only helped their cause.The result is what we see now. A full scale insurrection against the Indian state. It does not help matters that the area covered is almost 35% of the Indian republic and houses a population of over 400 million.
However all is not lost and even now in case the Central Government treats this as a problem on a war footing the Naxals/Maoists can still be defeated. Firstly a military action with no holds barred is the need of the hour and development projects that bring the tribals into the main stream is the call of the day. There is evidence to show that a lot many of the local tribals are not too enamoured with the Maoists and the Centre can cash in on this reserve. But a weak approach may well entail a state of affairs that will not be to the liking of any one. Maybe a leader may still emerge among the Hindus who can catch the bull by the horns.
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