Dear Mr Home Minister,
I am an ordinary Indian. I have had no training in battle strategy; planning and maneuvering are skills alien to me. And yet, my bloated self image is forcing this open letter upon you.
For sure, I would understand if you claim total ignorance of my existence – after all you are the Home Minister for a billion people; a few lesser now, seeing the rate at which Maoist guns consume the CRPF jawans. If I were to caricature the Maoist guns, it would be a gluttonous overlord ever on prowl for the skinny, underfed CRPF guns. Fortunately, I am no caricaturist, my mental imagery would remain with me till my deathbed.
However, I have been an avid reader and listener of tales, even from my childhood. One of my favourite childhood bedtime stories was the alleged encounter between Shivaji and an old matron in the early days of his campaign to establish a Maratha stronghold (Of course, I have heard the same story with Chandragupta, Timur Lang etc taking the place of Shivaji as the central character). Although I am sure you heard the story, let me briefly recapture it for you (afterall, weighty issues and lengthy strategy sessions could drive away commensense from the head). Shivaji, after a string of defeats, is on the run. One evening, his hunger drives him into the hovel of an elderly matron. The kind lady, seeing the pitiful state of a compatriot, offers him a share in her fare for the night – a bowl of Kichdi. Shivaji, in his haste and extreme hunger, thrusts his fingers to the centre of the mould. Hot Kichdi does its work, the burnt fingers are instinctively withdrawn, spilling a portion of the food on to the ground. The old lady in the worn-down ramshackle then discourses to Shivaji his greatest military lesson - start from the fringes, the heart would be yours eventually.
I have not narrated this story to prove my claim to a good repertoire of tales, rather I believe the old lady’s lesson holds true even today and is the most apt to you. What, in the name of all that is sane, made you think that you could start your campaign against a well entrenched guerilla movement from their home ground. With men having stout hearts but minimal training. And antiquated firearms. With constant media spotlight. And no clear strategy. If only you had encountered the old lady, she would have surely told you to starve the great Maoist of popular support, recapture local villagers' hearts in the fringe areas and over a period of three to five years, tame the Maoist beast. Converting the Red belt into red islands and shrinking the size of each isolated island till the life breath is constricted out of red ideology would have been the slow, sane, safe and workable strategy. Alas, no one listens to old ladies now-a-days.
And the old lady would have rapped your knuckles for the grandiloquous announcements to the media. Wars cannot be fought in public glare. It puts enormous strain on the fighters besides providing an easy source of intelligence to the enemy. I hoped you learned from the mistakes of the Mumbai carnage. My hope is sadly belied. I do not believe the media speculation that there is a leak in the CRPF camp; I believe the Maoists have purchased TV sets and are closely monitoring NDTV, CNN-IBN and the motley host of channels who believe that their reporting does society the greatest good, who believe that each of us in India are eternally indebted to them for the cause they cliam to espouse, the news they bring and the stories they expose.
As I mentioned in the beginning, I am no general; yet I am sure you have a host of them advising you. Please listen to them, the Greyhounds of AP, the RRs from the Army, the CoBRAS, and the BSF.
And keep in mind the advice of the old woman.
Yours Sincerely
