• History is replete with examples of people who were convicted for having had a questioning spirit and nurturing even peaceful non-conformist thoughts.
• The spree of arrests by the Indian government few months back is a stark reminded that such prosecutions are still very prevalent.

 What is wrong with the government’s approach?

• Anybody raising strong questions against the government is being perceived as an urban naxal, which is a very serious malice.
• This kind of approach might help the government curtail some dissenting voices, but will further the cause of the real naxals.
• Notably, violent dissent and insurgents also thrive on the psycological front, which will be greatly aided by governemnt’s stringent actions.
• In this context, many Left-leaning activists have been wrongly linked with Naxals, while most of them are an anathema to the insurgents.
• Even our PM Modi equated Arvind Kejriwal with Naxals in 2015, which even though just a rhetoric, was a jarring error in political terms.
• Naxals also opposed CPI leaders in Bastar — which eventually helped the BJP candidates win in the region.

How could insurgents gain from the government’s approach?

• First - It perpetuates a myth about their spread and might, something that is essential for an underground warrior.
• Notably, an insurgency is as much a reality as it is the product of myths that society weaves around the insurgent.
• Second - If students, politicians and writers across the spectrum are hounded as Urban Naxals, one need not be a psychoanalyst to gauge its consequences.
• The definitions a state invents for its political harvest come to ring true in unintended ways, and even drive people into the rebel ranks.

What is the way ahead?

• To paint overt and peaceful political rebellions as Naxalism is bad tactic, a political and moral blunder, which the government should avoid.
• Rather, the government should focus on curtailing the propaganda of the real Maoists in rural pockets of central Indian.
• Take up genuine counter campaigns and outreach programs are the best way to ideologically defeat the leftist insurgency.
• Currently, there is a lacklustre attitude to act against programs organised by banned outfits in remote areas, which is self defeating.