Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who is also known as the unifier of India, once famously said that “The first requirement in the country is external and internal security. You cannot have any plan unless there is security.” These words, in fact, not only highlight the importance of internal security but also guide the governments to put primacy on ridding the country of what threatens internal security so as to achieve the desired developmental goal. Undeniably, the internal security problems continued to be a gigantic challenge for every single government, with many dispensations falling short of expectations in dealing with the elements and factors leading to internal disturbances in the country. As a result, Naxalism, terrorism, extremism, separatism, and insurgency continued to assume alarming proportions in various parts of India causing human life loss and material damage to the resources of the country.
However, in what comes as a welcome development, the present dispensation at the Centre led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems to have risen to the occasion and tackled the internal security issues effectively on various fronts, resulting in the elimination of the problems in many parts of the country. The residual problems in some parts of India have been controlled so far and will be wiped out totally in future. The impression gaining ground is that the Modi government seems to have set the target of doing away with all the internal security issues by 2024. The government aims to put India on a higher growth trajectory, for which massive investment would be needed. And, the investment of such a huge proportion is possible only in an environment free from terror and violence.
Going by the indications and statements, the government is effectively managing all the components that will go into the elimination of the menace of internal security problems. The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on 2 May came out with an annual report (2020-21), saying that “the country’s internal security remained under control in the year 2020-21.” This revelation by MHA, which is responsible for maintaining internal security across the country, is a confirmation of the fact that the central government is going in the right direction on this front. While claiming the internal security situation to be under control, the MHA report referred to the challenges like terrorism in the hinterland of the country, Left Wing Extremism (LWE) or Naxal or Maoism in certain areas, insurgency in North-Eastern (NE) states and cross-border terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.
What does it suggest? It suggests that the Modi government accorded due priority to enhancing internal security by countering terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, improving the security scenario in the NE states, fighting LWE, suppressing secessionist movements, etc.
That the lowest insurgency incidents in the NE states were registered in two decades is a really big achievement of the government on the internal security front. The MHA data says that there has been an 80 per cent reduction in insurgency-related incidents in the NE states in 2020 as compared with 2014 when the PM Modi-led goverment had just come to power. Insurgency is nowhere to be seen in Tripura. Similarly, there is hardly any substantial existence of separatist elements in Nagaland and Manipur. Reports are encouraging while they say that Mizoram, Sikkim and Tripura are peaceful, while there was a marked security-related improvement in Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and Meghalaya. There has been a substantial decline in violence in Arunachal Pradesh. According to a report, around 2000 insurgents including all factions of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland gave up militancy and surrendered their arms after signing a peace deal with the central government. Almost all factions of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland declared a ceasefire, with no reports of violence in this NE state for a long time now. A couple of groups in Meghalaya and Manipur are said to be still active but they will be wiped out, given the determination of the government. At the same time, the resumption of the stalled negotiations augurs well for the Naga peace process. The government has shown the guts to walk an extra mile to conclude the dialogue and sign the peace accord anyhow before 2024. One can imagine how big the NE insurgency problem used t be, and how it has been tackled now.
The government’s bold moves to tackle terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir were underlined by its decision to scrap Article 370 in the state. Since the scrapping of the special status of J&K, terror-related incidents in the union territory dropped. This was confirmed by Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai who told Lok Sabha some time back that the security in Jammu and Kashmir improved since August 2019, with terrorist incidents declining significantly. MHA’s data said that there were 417 terror incidents in J&K well before the abrogation of Article 370, while the number fell by almost 50 per cent in 2021. Now, the process has been initiated paving the way for elections in Jammu and Kashmir. A sense of confidence swept across the people in Jammu and Kashmir when PM Modi visited the UT for the first time since the abrogation of the special status in August 2019. The message was loud and clear that everything is normal there in the changed environment. His statement that “Democracy has reached the grass-root level of Jammu and Kashmir” carried a message that the days are over for the elements who have been disturbing internal security. Remarkably, the government tactfully and effectively involved the global community as well while dealing with cross-border terrorism having a bearing on the internal security of India. MHA actively participated in Joint Working Group Meetings on Counter-Terrorism with foreign countries like BRICS (group comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and the US. This has been the strategy of the government to involve the foreign countries, and for that matter the global community, to create pressure on Pakistan to eliminate the terror groups inimical to India’s internal security. Home Ministry’s recent move to list seven Pakistan supported terrorists under UAPA reflects the government’s strategy to go the whole hog against terrorism.
The big role that the law enforcement agencies played also helped the government in a big way in overcoming internal security challenges. The agencies kept a watch on and took action against the fundamentalist organisations, having a bearing on security. What can be observed is that the internal security apparatus consisting of various agencies like NIA, CRPF, and intelligence wings, was facilitated by the government to work more efficiently.
The problem of Naxalism, which is supposed to be the biggest challenge for the country, has also been solved by the central government to a great extent. I find an interesting similarity in the action of the present Union government strategy and my father Prof. G.V. Sudhaker Rao a stalwart Minister during the 70s and 80s of the then undivided Andhra Pradesh, who was also Chairman of a Comintern to tackle Naxalism. He suggested various measures like Liam that are being implemented today to counter Naxalism. He had done extensive consultations with police civil society students to find a solution and presented voluminous reports to the then Chief Minister M. Chenna Reddy. Today the Security agencies have gained the upper hand vis-à-vis terror groups as well as Naxalites. Telangana is free from Naxalite problems. Some are left in Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli. And, these elements will also be finished soon, given the level of involvement of the government on a day-to-day basis. Recently Union Home Minister Amit Shah at a function in Bhopal said that the Modi government has almost settled the Kashmir issue and found a permanent solution to the Naxal problem. What he suggested was that the government is ready with final fire to finish the problem of Naxalism for good soon. Just a few months ago, over 50 Naxals surrendered before CRPF at Sukma in Chhattisgarh in what is understood to be an outcome of the Centre’s strategy. The number will be higher in future and similar reports are expected to come from states like Odisha and Jharkhand. We are aware that the improved internal security situation will stand India in good stead on the world stage, the government seems to be moving in that direction as fast as possible.
Anshuman Rao is a political analyst and former Chairman, Andhra Pradesh Electronics Development Corporation.
The big role that the law enforcement agencies played also helped the government in a big way in overcoming internal security challenges. The agencies kept a watch on and took action against the fundamentalist organisations, having a bearing on security. What can be observed is that the internal security apparatus consisting of various agencies like NIA, CRPF, and intelligence wings, was facilitated by the government to work more efficiently.