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``The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable.''

- Sun Tzu in ``The Art of War''.

WAR IT is between the Indian state and the naxalites who have suddenly struck with renewed vigour and reach. The Centre has used the controversial Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO) to ban the CPI(ML)-People's War (the PWG) and the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC), the two outfits which are the most active.

Earlier, when Andhra Pradesh took the lead in combating naxalism by proscribing the PWG, neighbouring Orissa, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh did not show the same enthusiasm. Perhaps, the limited operations of the PWG in the forest areas abutting Andhra Pradesh lulled them into a false sense of security. Either way, the decision-makers always believed that left-wing extremism was more a problem to be tackled by Andhra Pradesh alone.

Now all that has changed. Though Andhra Pradesh bore the brunt of the recent upsurge in naxalite violence, Chhatisgarh and Orissa were also affected. There are also indications that the ultras may be working closer with the Maoists in Nepal.

A difference between the MCC in Bihar and the PWG in Andhra Pradesh is that the latter managed to spread its activities to new areas despite severe repression. The PWG has spread its activity to Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Chhatisgarh - partly because of the contiguous forest area, Dandakaranya, that runs through these States. In these areas, the PWG had been taking up the issues of tribals and uniting them to fight the Government.

But Andhra Pradesh is where its growth has been most spectacular. In the semi-forest areas and the plains, the PWG has succeeded in building up its movement despite the loss of several of its important cadres and gradually taken the naxalite movement from the organisation phase to the guerilla warfare stage.

The PWG, which strictly adheres to tactics and strategies employed by Mao Zedong during the Great March, now enjoys considerable sway in as many as 15 districts in Andhra Pradesh. It has already formed two primary-level guerrilla zones - one consisting of five districts of North Telangana and the second comprising the north coastal districts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, the agency areas of Visakhapatnam and East Godavari districts of Andhra Pradesh and Malkangiri, Ganjam, Gajapathi, Koraput and Raigarh districts of Orissa.

Intelligence sources also believe that the PWG leadership is toying with the idea of forming `base areas' in the large tracts of forest in Andhra Pradesh. A guerilla zone, according to PWG strategy, is an area where the revolutionary and the `reactionary state' are equally placed fighting for control of the area. The base area formation would technically be the later stage of the guerilla zone where the `revolutionaries' win the battle with the state and establish their control and governance in an area.

Is the PWG really in such a strong position? The police believe that the group's total strength in Andhra Pradesh does not exceed 1,000 underground cadres and that they do not have more than 800 guns which range from the Chinese-made Kalashnikovs to crude single-shot weapons, popularly known as tapanchas.

How could such a small force (when compared to the massive strength of the police) become a constant source of annoyance for the State Governments? The answer to this question lies in the `three S' advantage of the PWG - secrecy, speed and surprise. In addition is its well-knit secret organisational structure.

Indeed, in the late 1990s, the police managed to get an upperhand through sustained anti-extremist programmes such as increased combing operations, the development of a vast informant network and, of course, by seriously addressing the people's problems. Be it primary health care or education, laying roads or providing some employment opportunities for the rural populace. Over a period of about five years, the Andhra Pradesh Government managed to really involve the people in development works seriously and the police did get an upperhand.

Scores of top cadres of the PWG including three Central Committee members and many underground squads were `liquidated'. Essentially, the police used the ultras' strategy against them. The highly-trained Grey Hounds police unit was deployed which effectively used the `3S' formula.

So, obviously the naxalites had to bring about some changes in their mode of functioning. Thus was born the People's Guerilla Army (PGA). All squads and other party organisations functioning in the plains were summoned to the forest areas. The PWG created platoons consisting of 30 to 40 armed extremists to move in the forest areas. According to intelligence sources, there are seven platoons in operation in Andhra Pradesh and along its borders at present.

The formation of the PGA appears to have helped the naxalites regroup. For one, it has increased the sense of security among the underground cadre and stemmed the spate of surrenders. For another, the military nomenclature and structure and the carefully-planned attacks on police stations (in Orissa as well as Andhra Pradesh) has boosted morale.

The PGA formation also came at a crucial time for another reason. The PWG had extended its network to Bihar after another splinter group, Party Unity, merged with it. Though talks with the MCC for achieving a broad understanding for working towards a common goal could not be reached, there was a cessation of armed conflict between the two.

Internationally also, the PWG has been getting good exposure. Its representatives had attended an international seminar organised by the Workers Party of Belgium (WPB) in Brussels and the PWG managed to get other Marxist-Leninist-Maoist parties from Brazil, Chad, Mexico, Nepal, Philippines, Senegal and the United States to endorse ``the people's war being led by the working class in India''.

The Maoist uprising in Nepal has also come as a shot in the arm for the naxalites in India. The success stories of the CPN have obviously enthused the PWG cadres. The PWG had already brought into operation a plan to open a ``revolutionary'' corridor between Nepal and North Telangana (Nepal to Dandakaranya) traversing through Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh.

It was against this backdrop that the naxalites recently stepped up violent activities, in Andhra Pradesh and its neighbouring States, to mark the first anniversary of the PGA's formation. In a clever change of strategies, the PGA has been targeting multinational companies (MNCs) and also properties owned by politicians.

In Andhra Pradesh alone, it blasted a granite unit owned by the Union Minister of State for Defence, Mr. U.V. Krishnam Raju, in Medak district and the Heritage Milk chilling unit in Chittoor district owned by the family of the Chief Minister, Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu. The Coca Cola manufacturing unit in Guntur and the Tata instant coffee making unit in Medak were also destroyed by the PGA during last fortnight.

In Orissa, a Minister's house was blasted while in Maharashtra two police stations came under attack. One more police station was targeted in Chhatisgarh. Though the PWG does not generally resort to acts which endanger the life of the common man, its targeting of elected representatives and MNCs must have pushed the Centre to ban it under POTO.

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