Surrender by CPI(Maoist) leaders has taken a beating this year, indicating that the security forces have not been able to exert enough pressure on the banned outfit. Against 195 Maoist leaders and cadres surrendering before security forces uptil July last year, this year only 143 surrenders have taken place — the lowest being reported from Bihar.
Further, only 13 Maoist training camps have been busted by the security forces this year against the busting of 26 such camps during the corresponding period last year. The number of arrested Maoists has also dipped with 741 Naxalites arrested so far this year against 919 arrests made by security forces uptil July last year.
Latest data with the Union home ministry shows that only three Naxalites have surrendered in Bihar against at least 25 in Maharashtra, more than a dozen in Chhattisgarh among others.
“The indicators show that the outfit is not on the backfoot and there is much more pressure that needs to be built by the anti-Naxal forces in various affected states,” a senior home ministry official said. The year 2012 had witnessed the maximum number of Naxalite surrenders in five years — the figure peaking to 440.
“This year, the outfit is attempting to hit back,” an official said. The deadly Naxal attack on Chhattisgarh Congress leaders on May 25 is learnt to have given a major boost to the outfit which had been formulating strategies to motivate its cadres for a long time. “There had been growing discontentment within the outfit with several of them choosing to surrender and join the mainstream. But their success in carrying out a major strike seems to have re-energised their cadres,” an official said.