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Hon’ble Shekhar Dutt, former Governor of Chhattisgarh, gave a talk on ‘Naxalite Movement in Chhattisgarh & the Challenges of Governance’ under the Vimarsha lecture series, held on 21 January 2015 at the VIF. Ahead of his talk, Shri Dutt also released a book ‘The India Pakistan War of 1971 - A History', edited by Shri S N Prasad & Shri U P Thapliyal. A project of the Ministry of Defence (GoI), the book provides a detailed account of the 1971 war and is based on official records, personal interviews and reminiscences of the veterans etc. Initiating a discussion on the subject, General NC Vij, former Chief of the Indian Army and VIF’s present Director, described the 1971 War as a total war, fought brilliantly across two front by all three wings of India’s military, which not only led to the abject surrender of 93,000 Pakistani troops before the Indian Army, but also halved Pakistan, a feat unmatched in world history. The Director also paid accolades to Mrs Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister, for her great strategic thinking in dividing Pakistan and called her a ‘Woman of Steel’.

Drawing on his hands-on experience in dealing with Naxalism, first as Deputy NSA, and subsequently, as Governor of Chhattisgarh, one of India’s worst naxal-infested states, Sh Shekhar Dutt gave a detailed account of the problem which has plagued India for over four decades. The Maoists are fighting a protracted people’s war with the ultimate objective of seizing political power. The movement is felt in 145 districts out of 600 including all major cities in the country. Chhattisgarh, by far, remains the nerve centre of the movement with large swaths of the state operating almost in security vacuum. The former Governor however, said development of the state is badly affected due to Naxalism, while people in interior areas are forced to live in constant fear of collateral damages. The erudite speaker also apprised the audience as to what has been done so far and what more needs to be done to tackle the problem of left wing extremism in the state. He further stressed there is need to block funding of the insurgents and upgrade security apparatus of the state.

In his introductory remarks earlier, Director VIF had said that while poverty provides a fertile ground to the Maoists, sheer inefficiency of parts of the administration and rampant corruption are among factors responsible for the growth of Naxalism in India. The talk was followed by a Q&A session.