Cracks in the Government Structure

Cracks in the Government Structure Sumanta Banerjee THE Calcutta Police Commissioner is reported to have circulated among policemen excerpts from a book on defeating Communist insurgency written by Robert Thompson (Statesman, Calcutta, December 13, 1970). Robert Thompson headed the British Advisory Mission in Vietnam from 1961 to 1965. The need to train policemen in counter-insurgency measures suggested by a Vietnam war expert is an indirect compliment to the power of the Naxalites, although we are being told off and on that their influence is fast declining. It would be interesting to recall here that after the publication of "Defeating Communist Insurgency", which was based on his experience In Malaya and Vietnam, Thompson wrote another book entitled "No Exit from Vietnam'', advocating the continuation of American presence and of the wax in Vietnam. The circulation of the views of such a person by the police authorities of Calcutta is perhaps an indication of the shape of things to come in West Bengal.