With violence perpetrated by Naxals continuing, the Centre has said that ideologues of the Maoists are more dangerous than the armed cadres who have killed more than 8,100 civilians and policemen since 2001.
Terming the activities of Naxals as serious impediment to the nation-building process, the government has told the Supreme Court that the rebels have destroyed thousands of development and infrastructure facilities and kidnapped proactive, sincere district collectors to prevent development from reaching the poor.
"In the meantime, the ideologues and supporters of the CPI (Maoist) in cities and towns have undertaken a concerted and systematic propaganda against the state to project the state in a poor light and also malign it through disinformation.
"In fact, it is these ideologues who have kept the Maoist movement alive and are in many ways more dangerous than the cadres of the People's Liberation Guerilla Army," the Home Ministry has said in an affidavit in the apex court.
The Centre's submission came following a Supreme Court notice to it and nine Naxal-affected states on a PIL seeking direction to governments to formulate a central policy for handling the menace.
The Home Ministry has informed the apex court that initiating legal proceedings against the ideologues has often resulted in negative publicity for the enforcement agencies due to the effectiveness of the propaganda machinery of the CPI (Maoist).
"However, regardless of this, the Union of India is committed to combating this problem with all resources at its disposal and the efforts are gradually bearing fruit on the ground," the affidavit has said.
The Ministry has submitted that the Naxals have managed to entrench themselves in certain parts of the country because there was a security vacuum and development vacuum in such areas. Once having entrenched themselves, the Maoists have also created a political vacuum by killing mainstream political workers in such areas, it has said, referring to the May 25 killing of more than 20 politicians in Chhattisgarh by the rebels.
Describing CPI (Maoist) as the largest and the most violent Maoist formation in the country, the Centre has said it has adopted strategy to combat this serious internal security threat to the unity and integrity of India but it will take some time to completely wipe out the Naxals.
The Ministry has told the apex court that the Naxals profess a violent ideological line to overthrow the democratically elected parliamentary form of government in India through a combination of armed insurrection, mass mobilisation of certain sections of the society and tactical partnerships with other insurgent groups operating in different parts of the country.
"It is pertinent to mention that since 2001, the Maoists have killed 5969 civilians, often branding them as police informers, class enemies etc. An overwhelming majority of such people killed are poor adivasis whose cause the Maoists and their supporters profess to espouse.....During the same period, the Maoists have also killed 2147 security personnel and looted 3567 firearms from them," according to the affidavit.
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