Most important component of the naxal movement lies in the urban areas; Former R&AW chief

New Delhi, Sep 5: Have the maoists not admitted themselves that when activities are carried out in the jungles, there is also a need to create urban centres because that is where public opinion is made.

There has been plenty of talking about the concept called urban naxals, with the Pune police carrying out a series of arrests in recent days. There appears to be a pattern to their functioning and the police say that the idea of these persons was to destabilise and create chaos.

Former chief of the Research and Analysis Wing, C D Sahay in this conversation with OneIndia says that while Mao had said power flows through the barrels of the guns, it is also important to note that their political movement is not drive by the barrel of the gun alone.

Intellectual component:

Sahay says that there has been an intellectual component to the naxal movement and it does not happen in the jungles. It happens in the urban areas. This involves the mental, intellectual and psychological conditioning in favour of the movement and this takes place in the urban areas.

The people in the cities are brainwashed in social circles, urban clubs, think-tanks, media and these days WhatsApp debates. This in fact is the most important component of the naxal movement, Sahay adds.

There are Intelligence Bureau reports to the government, interrogation reports of the people arrested in connection with such cases in which they have admitted being part of this exercise, Sahay says.

The issue here is that these persons are running a socio-political movement in support of a banned organisation. Is this legal? Is it anyone's case that Left Wing Extremism is a great movement, which is beneficial to the country? Taking guns in their hands and blasting installations- are these not acts of terror.

Can any responsible political party support such acts. You can't score political points on such subjects. Society seems to be sliding backwards when such discourses take place and this would have far reaching consequences. If this continues then we will have a society that is ungovernable. The intolerance that we speak of here is actually political intolerance, Sahay adds.

The naxal movement is under immense pressure. It is shrinking and the area of the claimed dominance has gone down. This is one of the primary reasons why the debates around the issue are so fierce.

Sahay says that even if the movement is on the decline, there should be no complacency. In the past too the movement has gone down, but due to complacency they have bounced back.