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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.

Trial by fire for Supriya Sule

Updated: Nov 29, 2024

The NCP (SP) working president may get some flak for her party’s poor results but her position is likely to remain unshaken as Sharad Pawar’s heir

Supriya Sule

Mumbai: Two days after the results, Supriya Sule put out a message on her social media accounts accepting the people’s mandate and promising to continue working for the state. It was an uncharacteristically somber response from someone whose lively, people-friendly persona is evident through the photographs and selfies she keeps posting numerous times in a day. That she is shaken and disappointed is evident. But the bigger question for political watchers is what this mandate means for her future as the party’s leader.


While the Lok Sabha elections were the first polls fought with Sule as the working president and Jayant Patil as the Maharashtra chief, her stamp on the party’s choice of candidates was obvious and clear only during the state polls. While party leaders maintain that she did not directly influence decisions on the candidates, a few party office bearers accept that a few candidates such as Fahad Ahmad were her picks. Does that mean she failed to sense the mood of the voters?


Her party is still divided on the issue of leadership. Anish Gawande, national spokesperson of the NCP (SP) states that Sule continues to be “hugely popular among the party cadre”. For those who’ve worked with her, she’s known to be straight-forward, approachable and hard working. She gracefully accepts party workers’ and visitors’ requests for photographs and even posts them on her social media pages. Not one to stick to orchestrated photos, she records candid moments and even gives her followers a peek into her family trips and celebrations. All this gives her a touch of approachability.


Sule is an urban, fluent-in-English leader of a party that’s built its fortunes in rural Maharashtra.


That’s where the mismatch is, say her detractors. A party worker living in the outskirts of Pune says that she lacks the understanding of local issues and intricacies of rural politics and hence the empathy that should show in a political leader’s interactions. The touch with the masses that Ajit Pawar has is something that Sule lacks.


While the party is yet to go into serious introspection mode, there are two lines of thought within the NCP (SP). Some say that Sule will take full control of the party aided by Jayant Patil and Rohit Pawar as the third-generation member of the Pawar family. Sule is already building her own team with the party, a team of workers that will be loyal to her. Then there are others who believe that a rapprochement between NCP and NCP (SP) is the need of the hour, making way for Ajit Pawar to lead the party in Maharashtra. Though this option doesn’t seem plausible for now.


“We live in an age of personality politics. The NCP will have more value when a ‘Pawar’ leads it so Supriya Sule is the party’s best bet for the president’s position,” says a party member who didn’t want to be named. He concedes that while Jayant Patil may be more efficient and experienced, he lacks the charm and pull of a ‘Pawar.’


For now, Sule is firmly in her seat as the NCP (SP)’s working president. Her task is tougher now –to re-think the party’s strategies, change the target areas and build a new leadership while keeping her flock together.


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