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By:

Abhijit Mulye

21 August 2024 at 11:29:11 am

Gadchiroli SP declares Maoist menace ‘almost over’

Mumbai: In a resounding statement signalling a historic shift, Gadchiroli Superintendent of Police (SP) Neelotpal has declared the district, once the dark heart of the ‘Red Corridor,’ is on the verge of becoming completely free of the Naxal menace. The SP expressed absolute confidence in the complete eradication of the banned CPI (Maoist) presence, noting that the remaining cadres have dwindled to a mere handful. “There has been a sea change in the situation,” SP Neelotpal stated,...

Gadchiroli SP declares Maoist menace ‘almost over’

Mumbai: In a resounding statement signalling a historic shift, Gadchiroli Superintendent of Police (SP) Neelotpal has declared the district, once the dark heart of the ‘Red Corridor,’ is on the verge of becoming completely free of the Naxal menace. The SP expressed absolute confidence in the complete eradication of the banned CPI (Maoist) presence, noting that the remaining cadres have dwindled to a mere handful. “There has been a sea change in the situation,” SP Neelotpal stated, highlighting the dramatic turnaround. He revealed that from approximately 100 Maoist cadres on record in January 2024, the number has plummeted to barely 10 individuals whose movements are now confined to a very small pocket of the Bhamragad sub-division in South Gadchiroli, near the Chhattisgarh border. “North Gadchiroli is now free of Maoism. The Maoists have to surrender and join the mainstream or face police action... there is no other option.” The SP attributes this success to a meticulously executed multi-pronged strategy encompassing intensified anti-Maoist operations, a robust Civic Action Programme, and the effective utilisation of Maharashtra’s attractive surrender-cum-rehabilitation policy. The Gadchiroli Police, especially the elite C-60 commandos, have achieved significant operational milestones. In the last three years alone, they have neutralised 43 hardcore Maoists and achieved a 100 per cent success rate in operations without police casualties for nearly five years. SP Neelotpal highlighted that the security forces have aggressively moved to close the “security vacuum,” which was once an estimated 3,000 square kilometres of unpoliced territory used by Maoists for training and transit. The establishment of eight new police camps/Forward Operating Bases (FoBs) since January 2023, including in the remote Abujhmad foothills, has been crucial in securing these areas permanently. Winning Hearts, Minds The Civic Action Programme has been deemed a “game changer” by the SP. Through schemes like ‘Police Dadalora Khidaki’ and ‘Project Udaan’, the police have transformed remote outposts into service delivery centres, providing essential government services and employment opportunities. This sustained outreach has successfully countered Maoist propaganda and, most critically, resulted in zero Maoist recruitment from Gadchiroli for the last few years. Surrender Wave The state’s progressive rehabilitation policy has seen a massive influx of surrenders. “One sentiment is common among all the surrendered cadres: that the movement has ended, it has lost public support, and without public support, no movement can sustain,” the SP noted. The surrender of key figures, notably that of Mallojula Venugopal Rao alias ‘Bhupathi,’ a CPI (Maoist) Politburo member, and his wife Sangeeta, was a “landmark development” that triggered a surrender wave. Since June 2024, over 126 Maoists have surrendered. The rehabilitation program offers land, housing under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, and employment. Surrendered cadres are receiving skill training and are successfully transitioning into normal life, with around 70 already employed in the local Lloyds plant. A District Reborn The transformation of Gadchiroli is now moving beyond security concerns. With the decline of extremism, the district is rapidly moving towards development and normalcy. The implementation of development schemes, round-the-clock electricity, water supply, mobile towers, and new infrastructure like roads and bridges is being given top priority. He concludes that the police’s focus is now shifting from an anti-Maoist offensive to routine law-and-order policing, addressing new challenges like industrialisation, theft, and traffic management. With the Maoist movement in “complete disarray” and major strongholds like the Maharashtra-Madhya Pradesh-Chhattisgarh (MMC) Special Zone collapsing, the SP is highly optimistic. Gadchiroli is not just getting rid of the Naxal menace; it is embracing its future as a developing, peaceful district, well on track to meet the central government’s goal of eradicating Naxalism by March 31, 2026.

The Cousins of Beed

Updated: Oct 22, 2024

Beed

When Pankaja Munde and Dhananjay Munde shared the stage on Dussehra this year, the reunion resulted in great surprise. For years, they had traded veiled barbs against each other. Until last year, Dhananjay, who is minister for agriculture in Maharashtra, was on the opposite side of the political spectrum as an NCP man while Pankaja is a member of the legislative council from the BJP. Now, on the cusp of the Maharashtra legislative assembly elections, the warring cousins, both, claiming a right to Gopinath Munde’s political legacy, had come together despite being in different political parties, albeit in the same Mahayuti.


Gopinath Munde cut his teeth in politics as a member of the ABVP during his student days. He is believed to have met Pramod Mahajan then who was also a budding youth leader of the saffron party. The two became friends and then family as Munde married Mahajan’s younger sister. Those who have watched the duo’s rise say that Munde truly stepped out of his more charismatic brother-in-law’s shadow when he undertook the ‘Sangharsh Yatra’ in 1994-95 against Sharad Pawar’s government, making the former chief minister his target. He managed to mobilise the masses and emerged as a formidable leader of the OBC. Munde went on to become the deputy chief minister in the first Shiv Sena-BJP government in the state from 1995-1999 and won a reputation for being an effective home minister. He was appreciated for supporting the Mumbai police in launching an aggressive counter-attack against the underworld that was running riot in the city back then. In contrast, Mahajan busied himself with the top echelons of the BJP, holding fort in New Delhi as a high-profile union minister and the party’s treasurer who was also the brain behind the ‘rath yatra’. Together, they stitched and preserved the BJP’s alliance with the Sena, maintaining a warm rapport with Bal Thackeray.


 The Gen-next of the families have made their mark in politics. Mahajan’s daughter Poonam won the elections to the Lok Sabha in 2014 and 2019. Munde’s older daughter Pankaja was a former minister in Maharashtra but lost the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. His younger daughter Pritam won the Parliamentary elections from Beed by a record margin after Munde passed away in 2014. She was a MP for two terms but was denied a ticket this year. Munde’s nephew, Dhananjay worked at the grassroots level for the BJP in Beed for over a decade but quit the party in 2013 to join the NCP.


He was peeved by his uncle’s decision to overlook his claim to the Parli Lok Sabha constituency seat in the elections and instead, promote his daughter Pankaja. In 2023, he supported Ajit Pawar when the NCP was split and went on to become the agriculture minister in the current Mahayuti government. The two cousins have been warring for over a decade, each trying to reclaim the legacy left behind by Munde.

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