The CRPF is caught in a crossfire between the Centre and the Chhattisgarh government as a blame game erupts following state DGP Vishwaranjan’s remark that he cannot teach “CRPF to walk”. Terming the Chattisgarh DGP’s remarks “shameful” and “unacceptable”, CRPF officials said that the Union home ministry should register its protest with the state government. Officially, the CRPF refused to comment on the issue.
A sense of despair and gloom hung over the CRPF headquarters, as late on night Wednesday night, two bodies of jawans, killed in the Maoist attack in Narayanpur were brought to the IGI airport in a special aircraft to be flown to Andhra Pradesh. The coffins were flown only six hours later to their destination.
Alleging that the state government is not utilising the force properly, the sources said that if the CRPF does not get adequate support in a state during anti-Naxal operations, the force personnel will become “sitting ducks” for the Maoists. Home secretary G.K. Pillai will be visiting Chhattisgarh on Monday where a review meeting is expected to be held with chief minister Raman Singh, governor Shekhar Dutt among other officials.
“In the absence of proper intelligence sharing and dismal living conditions where camps are not secured properly, the CRPF is bound to become vulnerable,” the sources said. An official argued that if the state police had shared specific intelligence with the CRPF, the paramilitary force would definitely have heeded to it, and probably averted the Narayanpur attack which left 27 personnel dead.
“The remarks made by the Chhattisgarh DGP has exposed the lack of coordination between the state police and the CRPF,” the official said.
The Union home ministry chose to downplay Mr Ranjan’s remarks maintaining that there is no problem between the state police and the CRPF. “The CRPF has never blamed the state police for the debacle,” a ministry official said. Ministry sources felt that the gunning down of top Maoist leader Azad in Andhra Pradesh is a “far bigger blow” to the Maoists than the CRPF casualties. Meanwhile, CRPF director General Vikram Srivastava, who was to return to the capital, stayed back in Chhattisgarh on Friday.