Although the campaign against Maoists in West Bengal has met with a few successes, a larger problem is brewing among the combined security forces. There is a lack of trust between the state police and the central paramilitary forces.
The tension has been aggravated by statements made by some Union and state ministers and even by some top police officials. Instead of defusing the tension, these statements have created an unhealthy competition between the two constituents of the combined forces with each trying to downplay the other.
Central paramilitary forces claim that they have better physical agility, expertise in handling sophisticated arms, and identifying and defusing pressure bombs and landmines. On the other hand, the state police claim better knowledge about the jungle terrains and an intelligence network among the local population.
The West Bengal police director general, Bhupinder Singh was the first to ignite this sense of competition between the two constituents of the combined forces. Two days after the Union home minister, P Chidambaram paid a visit to Lalgarh and commented that the state has greater responsibility in tackling the Maoist menace, Singh came out with an explosive statement that the state police have the capability to handle the problem independently.
“Of course, the central forces are more efficient in sophisticated arms handling and physical agility. But there are things beyond that in such kind of operation — like building network among the locals and getting proper information. In all these areas, the state police have performed brilliantly and in a self-sufficient manner,” Singh said.
Such comments have irked the officials of the central forces deputed in the region. Although none of them are willing to comment openly, many of them have rubbished the state police’s intelligence network.
According to the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) assistant commandant deputed in the region, the state police themselves are unsure of their source network’s reliability. “Only two days ago the state police DGP himself admitted that that some of their sources are double-crossing them. Now when the state police, which is closer to the roots here unlike us, are not sure of their own source network, how can they claim that it is of great help for the combined forces?,” he said.
Another CRPF inspector also deputed at Lalgarh pointed out a peculiar example, “Often we receive information about dead bodies in remote jungle areas. But the state police, under whose guidance we operate, don’t allow us to recover the dead bodies immediately. The reason is the state police is not sure whether pressure bombs or landmines are attached to the dead body or not. There have been several instances where the state police have forced the villagers to remove the dead body out of sheer fear. Such lack of coordination is slowing down our movement,” the CRPF inspector said.
However, the state home secretary, Ardhendu Sen has claimed that the lack of coordination between the combined forces of West Bengal, Orissa and Bihar is main hurdle for the success of the combined forces. “The Maoists are striking targets in West Bengal and slipping away to neighbouring states without much resistance. What is required is coordinated action by the forces in these three states by sealing the respective borders,” he said.
