Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram has asked the CPI (Maoists) to “halt” armed operations and to come to talks. Specifically, Chidambaram does not require that the “Maoists lay down arms”; he just wants cessation of hostilities for now for talks to take place. Laying down of arms may be postponed for later. Once this minimal condition is satisfied, Chidambaram is prepared to talk on all issues concerning tribal welfare and rights, industrial policy, models of development, and the like.

Assume that the offer includes a halt to the armed operations of the state as well in the concerned areas. Then Chidambaram’s conditions essentially match those of the Citizens Initiative for Peace and other civil society groups who have volunteered to negotiate between the government and the Maoists to bring both sides to the table — provided hostilities cease. Should we view this apparently friendly offer as Chidambaram’s attempt to walk that extra disarming mile to bring peace with dignity to the tribals?

The problem is that, in the same address, Chidambaram also regretted that previous attempts by various state governments to talk to the Maoists, after temporary halt to violence from both sides, had been unfailingly “futile”. Why then is the home minister offering to enter into another futile exercise? Further, given that the government has declared the CPI (Maoist) as a banned organisation, what does it mean, from the state’s point of view, to negotiate with an adversary with arms in its hands? Also, knowing that the Maoists will settle for nothing less than the seizure of state power after a protracted war, as their supreme commander has recently affirmed, what does the state want to talk about? Or, is this just a ploy to buy some time to organise whatever it is that Chidambaram and his colleagues in the intelligence wings have in mind? The option sounds plausible, for it is unlikely that the Maoists will ever agree to spend some time at the table without their arms safely in place. So, why does the home minister need some time?

... contd.