Naxals plan new tactics to cash in on note ban

New Delhi: In a major tactical shift from its traditional strategy of resorting to only arms struggle, the Naxals may now infiltrate the labour work force by pushing in their sympathisers and cadres into trade unions in different states.

Sensing that the demonetisation drive could adversely impact the country’s economic growth, the Maoists now plan to further slow down the economy by organising strikes and “go slow” moves using this modus operandi.

Intelligence agencies have cautioned the government about the Naxals’ new strategy in a recent classified report, details of which have been accessed by this newspaper.  

According to the report, the Naxal outfits may try to target some key sectors, including major infrastructure projects, highways, power, railways and transport, mining, and airports.

“The Naxals have started mobilising their cadre and sympathisers, even in urban areas so they can infiltrate key economic sectors at the earliest. Once they have sufficient support among the work force, they would resort to strikes and go slow with the sole objective of hampering economic growth,” the note further states.

Top government sources said the government is closely monitoring the situation to ensure that Naxal sympathisers do not manage to infiltrate economic sectors “outside their area of influence”.

In states, especially in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha, where Naxals have a sizeable presence, they are already using force to cripple construction of highways, telecom towers and industrial projects.

“The Naxals are aware that they can’t resort to force outside their area of operation so they want to push their sympathisers into the labour force and trade unions,’’ a senior intelligence official confirmed. It may be recalled that one biggest “failures” of the Maoists movement was its failure to infiltrate the country’s working class. This even led to Charu Majumdar, founder of CPI (ML), one of the biggest Naxal outfits, into admitting that its annihilation policy was a mistake as it primarily focused on students and the rural population, while due importance was not given to the trade unions.

Senior officials involved in anti-Naxal operations feel that the tactical shift could be due to the fact that Naxals operations have been severely hampered due to the demonetisation as they are facing a huge cash crunch. Most Naxal groups are now left with huge stocks of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 already scrapped notes, which they are finding difficult to convert.

On its part, the home ministry has alerted the Naxal-infested states to ensure the Maoists do not succeed in converting the old currency notes by pressurising banks or big businessmen.