Centre is brushing real issues under the carpet.

THE SCANDAL of Madhu Koda's suddenly acquired millions and the Bellary brothers' capacity to blackmail the BJP have remained sideshows intrinsically linked to the political circus being played out in the mine- rich tribal heartland.

Its chief protagonists are the urbane home minister P. Chidambaram and the faceless Maoists who make their presence felt through the occasional kidnapping and beheading of police officers. And the main theme of this drama currently is the offer of talks to the Maoists extended recently by the home minister.

Dialogue is generally perceived as a welcome departure from the militaristic jargon emanating from South Block. But there are serious concerns about the ' Maoists versus the State' narrative dominating the discourse on development of tribal regions.

The questions raised are: What is the offer of dialogue meant to achieve? Are Maoists the only ' menace' in the tribal heartland? And are the Maoists the sole representative of the most marginalised and impoverished people in the country? Dipankar Bhattacharya, general secretary of the CPI( ML) Liberation, followers of Vinod Mishra who pioneered the transformation of some of his comrades in the Naxalbari movement to enthusiastic participants in parliamentary democracy, advocated dialogue as long as it was not portrayed as the only solution.

" The Centre is talking to the Nagas and other insurgent groups. Why not talk to Maoists as well on de- escalating violence? I believe they are interested as well," he said.

" But if you are linking Maoists with the entire question of development and poverty, then it cannot be a cosy twosome of the Centre and the Maoists. There has never been a negotiated revolution in the world.

You have to involve other people if a variety of issues regarding development, SEZs, displacement etc. are to be discussed." Writer Arundhati Roy feels the " tribal question" is not a bilateral issue that can be thrashed out in a dialogue like this.

" The story of Madhu Koda's millions is a comic book illustration of my argument that corporate interests, mining mafias and robbers have infested the tribal region. The government only talks of the Maoists and the armed offensive because none of the other issues are safe enough for a public debate," she said.

" The government has to come clean on its development agenda -- who are these companies that have set up shop in the tribal region, who paid all these millions to Madhu Koda and for what purpose? What does the offer of talks mean, what will they be talking about?" Roy asked.

According to Nirmalangshu Mukherjee, a professor of philosophy at Delhi University, the importance of Maoists has been deliberately exaggerated by the Indian state to brush under the carpet every uncomfortable question that anyone asks about land reforms, people's rights, education, health -- even environment.

" Such reductionist logic reduces every genuine struggle for people's rights, every individual effort to secure basic amenities -- such as Binayak Sen's initiative to ensure health rights for tribals in Chhattisgarh -- to war between the state and the Maoists," Mukherjee said.

" It suits the State to hype up Maoist influence, so that it becomes easy to brand and target everyone talking about issues concerning the poor as Maoists -- be it Sen or the people of Nandigram." Mukherjee also challenges the conventional wisdom that the poor had taken up arms to defend themselves against neoliberal policies such as the creation of SEZs and the encroachment of tribal habitats for mining.

The real issue, according to Narmada Bachao Andolan ( NBA) leader Medha Patkar, is the government's lack of accountability. But it gets lost when people with guns start dominating the discourse.

Patkar, who has led a protracted Gandhian struggle to highlight issues of displacement caused by big dams, is as fervently opposed to a military offensive against the Maoists as their tendency to club problems of displacement, environment and appropriation of tribal land with " class war". " The government does what it wants and so do the Maoists. It is a real tragedy.

The government can fight the Maoists or talk to them. But how does it impact the lives of the people in the tribal region?" she asked.

Centre has to come clean on its development agenda. What does the offer of talks mean; what will they talk about?

-- Arundhati Roy, writer

Govt is talking to Nagas & other insurgents. Why not talk to Maoists as well on reducing violence? I believe they are also interested in talks

-- Dipankar Bhattacharya, CPI (ML) Liberation

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