Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday, 5 April said that the anti-Maoist operation in Chhattisgarh was “poorly designed’’ and “incompetently executed”. His statement came a day after a senior official denied allegations of intelligence failure after Maoist rebels ambushed security forces in state’s Bijapur district’s Tekulagudam.
Gandhi, while tagging a news clipping of CRPF DG Kuldiep Singh’s “no operational and intelligence failure” remark tweeted that if there was no intelligence failure, a 1:1 death ratio meant it was a poorly designed and incompetently executed operation.
"Our Jawans are not cannon fodder to be martyred at will," the Congress leader added.
What Had Happened?
A search-and-destroy operation along the border of Bijapur and Sukma was launched on Saturday, 3 April, by a contingent of 1,500 troops, including members of the Special Task Force (STF), District Reserve Guard (DRG), District Force of the Chhattisgarh Police, the CRPF and its elite COBRA unit.
The operation was based on inputs of Naxal presence in the area. There were also intelligence inputs about the presence of a wanted Naxal leader Madvi Hidma.
The contingent was ambushed by a group of around 400 Maoists, possibly led by Hidma of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA). At least 22 security personnel were martyred and around 31 were injured.
No Intelligence Failure: CRPF Chief
CRPF Chief Kuldiep Singh, who paid a visit to Chhattisgarh after the Maoist attack, had said that there was no operational failure.
Singh told ANI, “There is no point in saying that there was some kind of intelligence or operational failure. Had it been some intelligence failure, forces would have not gone for the operation. And if there was some operational failure, so many Naxals would have not been killed.”
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