Indiaâs Maoist strategy needs a reset. But will Modi govt change its muscular approach? Evidence suggests the Maoists have their back against the wall. India can take a leaf from the successful negotiation by the Columbia govt and FARC. Niranjan Sahoo 8 April, 2021 11:19 am IST Text Size: A+ The deaths of 22 jawans in an encounter with the Maoists in Bijapur, Chhattisgarh came as a huge shock for India and its security forces. The usual questions of intelligence failures, forces making tactical mistakes, and not following up standard operating procedures have been raised by experts and analysts. These are very pertinent questions given this was a massive combing operation jointly conducted by the elite CoBRA unit of the Central Reserve Police Force, Special Task Force, District Reserve Guard, and District Force of Chhattisgarh Police to attack and capture Hidma, the commander of the lethal Battalion 1 of the Maoists. How did such a planned counterinsurgency operation based on prior intelligence inputs fail to anticipate an ambush by the Maoists?