Have Naxalites shifted base or is it just silence before storm?

Udupi, May 17: During every election, the police have an added headache of keeping tab on the movement of the Maoists, their call to boycott elections and the handbills, pamphlets and posters distributed and pasted up on same lines. However, during the Assembly polls this time, the Maoists remained away from the scenes completely, without even showing up once in the region trying to tell people to stay away from the polling booths. While the people of Malenad are wondering if the Maoists have bid adieu to the thick dense forest of their region, the Coastal police are worried because if at all the Maoists have shifted base then their second home will be the coastal districts for sure.

But, the recent face to face of the Moaists and the ANF personel has shown that the Maoists have not shifted base and it was just a silence before the storm. Couple of months ago there was movement of the naxalites in DK district, which slowly spread to Kodagu too, while the conventional naxalite threatened districts of Udupi, Chikmagalur and Shimoga has rather zero traces of their movement.

After 2004, during most of the elections, the naxals did give a boycott call but the villagers refused to bow down to their demand. During the 2008 Assembly polls, the naxalites tried to bring the villagers under control by gunning down police informer Bhoja Shetty and his relative Suresh Shetty at Nadpalu in Karkala. Despite this attempt, the courageous villagers of naxal infested villages refused to succumb to the naxal hegemony by turning out in large numbers at the booths. This had grossly disappointed the parallel armed fighters who broke out of their reverie that the forest dwellers who seem to be with them are in reality not with them. On the other hand, the law enforcement agencies too have pulled up their socks and have gunned down several naxalites. With this their numbers too must have dwindled drastically. Hence the Maoists have remained mum during the 2013 Assembly polls.

However, Maoist leader Mundagaru Latha with her team has visited Kerekatte region, this week and happened to come face to face with the cops. Though an ANF personnel was injured the naxalites had managed to escape the scene. With this episode many say that the Maoists are silent because they are knitting a new strategy for a strike back.