Ghandy and the art of war

To know your enemy, you must become your enemy.

Ghandy and the art of war

To know your enemy, you must become your enemy. That's Sun Tzu in The Art of War, bible for wannabe cookie cutter corporate types. But The Art of War was originally a Chinese military treatise, written in the sixth century BC, which influences military strategists till today. Kobad Ghandy must have read it, along with the red book. His comrades in the banned CPI (Maoist) must also have read it and internalised it, going by the growing number of Naxal incidents in the country. Sadly, the union government seems to be in dire need of some lessons in strategy. And some good, old common sense.
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Yes, Ghandy is in custody. But it appears the euphoria of finally making a big dent in the Naxal setup was premature. The special cell of the Delhi police and the Andhra police, who hoped to unearth more details about attacks being planned by the naxals following Ghandy's arrest on September 22, have hit a wall.

The laptop seized from Ghandy that the police had hoped would give them crucial information doesn't contain a hard disk. Ghandy, who used to teach comrades how to use technology to hoodwink the police, must have been alert enough to dispose of the hard disk before it landed in the hands of the police. Even if he got caught in the process.

So till such time the 58-year-old cancer patient is not given a third degree in a lockup, it's unlikely the police will be able to achieve much from Kobad's arrest. Coming back to Sun Tzu, the administration has completely failed to understand the naxal problem.

There was to be a multi-pronged approach to tackle the menace, with a special focus on the conditions of dalits, tribals and other marginalised groups that gave rise to the problem. Very little has been done on that front, even as the administration has upped the offensive against naxals, whether in Andhra Pradesh or in West Bengal, often with disastrous consequences. The movement seems to be growing in strength, with more tribals and dalits signing up.

It's time to sit back and take stock. And maybe read up Sun Tzu.