MHA asks central agencies to keep close watch on Maoists activities in NE

"Apart from directing all central intelligence agencies to keep a close watch on Maoist-related activities, we are always in constant touch with all the State governments in the northeastern states," said a senior official in MHA dealing with the LWE division to ETV Bharat on Monday.

New Delhi: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has asked all its central agencies to keep a close watch on the Maoist movements in the Northeast following intelligence reports that the Left Wing Extremists (LWE) are trying to focus and create new bases in this landlocked region. What has further worried the Home Ministry is the fact that there is every possibility that the Maoists and insurgent outfits in the northeast might come to a "tactical understanding".

"Apart from directing all central intelligence agencies to keep a close watch on Maoist-related activities, we are always in constant touch with all the State governments in the northeastern states," said a senior official in MHA dealing with the LWE division to ETV Bharat on Monday. The home ministry, according to the official, has also decided to hand over all LWE related cases to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

"Whenever there is an arrest or breakthroughs in Maoists-related cases in the region, the NIA has been asked to take over the cases," the official said. On Sunday, during an extensive search operation in 17 different locations across Assam, the NIA has arrested an absconding Maoists member Reema Orang alias Saraswati from Upper Assam's Dibrugarh district. The NIA team also arrested Raju Oran and his wife Pinki Oran for their alleged Maoist connection from the Cachar district.

Incriminating documents related to CPI (Maoists), digital devices, mobile sets, and other materials have been seized from the arrested persons. The security agencies claimed to have achieved major breakthrough following the arrest. "The arrest was made less than a month after the arrest of CPI-Maoists central committee member Arun Kumar Bhattacharjee alias Kanchan Da along with his associate Akash Orang alias Kajal," the official said.

"We keep reviewing the situation related to Maoists activities in the Northeastern States with all the stakeholders in the security apparatus in Northeast," the official said. A senior official in the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has also expressed serious concern following the fact that the Maoists are trying to make their bases in the Northeastern States.

"Following interrogation of arrested Maoist leader Arun Kumar Bhattacharjee, we have come to know that Maoists are targeting the tea belt areas in Assam and other parts of the region," the NIA official said. The officer further said that taking the advantage of poverty and illiteracy, the Maoists find the people living in tea belt areas as soft targets.

"We are working in close coordination with the local police and local units of NIA," the official said. At a time, when the government claimed of having unprecedented improvement in the LWE situation in the country over the past few years, the development that is taking place in the Northeast could definitely push the officials in the Home Ministry into a tizzy.

As per government statistics, there has been an overall 77 percent reduction in violent incidents (from 2258 in 2009 to 509 in 2021) and an 85 percent reduction in LWE related deaths (from 1005 in 2010 to 147 in 2021) across India. At present, more than 100 battalions of CAPF and a good number of CoBRA teams are deployed in LWE areas.

"As the central government aims to make the country free from the effect of LWE violence, the level of deployment will progressively increase in the coming years. In addition, the states have also deployed their forces in the LWE theatre. The strategy of the government is aimed at addressing security vacuum in LWE affected areas," the official from MHA said.

It is worth mentioning that the geographical spread of LWE has also reduced from 464 police stations in 96 districts affected by LWE reporting violence in 2010 to 191 police stations in 46 districts in 2021.