The well-planned  ambush and deliberate killing of  more than 70 security personnel by Maoist cadres on April 6 in the Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh has caused enormous anger and anguish all over India.

The phrase 6/4 is being added to the blood-splattered internal security lexicon of India that is still coping with 26/11 – the equally pre-meditated and cold-blooded Mumbai attacks of November 2008.

Are India’s complex internal security challenges becoming more intractable?

The answer, alas, is yes. And the reasons have to do as much with the virulence of the Maoist cadres as with the inadequate response of the state over the last decade plus.

Notwithstanding the fact that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as far back as November 2005, had identified the Maoist-left wing extremist (LWE) constituency as the gravest danger to the country, the national security apex of the country and the trouble prone states have not been able to create adequate capacity to contain this challenge and provide the right redress and related measures.

When incidents like 6/4 and 26/11 happen, the brief and intense REACTIVE response is predictable.

The dominant collective consciousness that is more focused on cricket, cinema and inane celebrity antics is jolted – but for a short and transient period.