Frankenstein

It is already four days since the tragic “train murder” took place near Jhargram, a town 140 kilometers west of Kolkata. The Maoists (the anti-government, supposedly pro-poor) extremist groups damaged a railway line, that led to the derailment of a passenger train, While five of its bogies were lying on the tracks next to it, a goods train rammed into it, and the death toll has gone up to 146 so far! Nothing can justify shedding of innocent blood. “Threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”.

These same groups were promoted over the last two decades by various political parties, in order to threaten their political opponents. Today, the Maoists have grown into a monster! Yes, they cannot be called Maoists, just Monsters. They have killed over 1,000 security personnel in the last three years, and a few thousand civilians through bombings, murder and kidnaps. The home minister of the country has asked the defence ministry to support him with drones to track the movement of the Naxals in the secluded dark jungles of the region, and the defence ministry says, it cannot share its resources because it cannot be seen to be waging war against its own citizens!

My dear Defence Minister, we are talking of citizen’s right to life, and not the right of murderers to live.

Law and governments are meant to protect the people of the country, and not to let loose Frankensteins like this. Today, the jungles of at least five states are under the control of the Maoists, and the State (provincial) governments are finding it difficult to control their power. The anomaly of governance has led to blame games, and no one wants to take responsibility in the States. They are growing into a group like the LTTE that ruled parts of Sri Lanka until a year ago. Interestingly, most states haven’t even declared these groups as unlawful! I am afraid it will take an assassination of one of the top leaders of the country, for the governments to wake up and ban these institutions that work for hatred-building across the country.

We need the rule of law to be enforced strictly, immediately.