'Slow and steady operation against Maoists'
India Blooms News Service
Kolkata, Feb 9 (IBNS) Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday said careful, calibrated and controlled operation would continue against the Maoists to re-establish civil administration, ruling out any collateral damage.
He also urged the Maoists to halt violence as a precondition for talks.
“It would be a slow and steady operation. We are operating with great restraint and the result would not be like the scoreboard of a cricket match,” Chidambaram said here after holding a meeting at West Bengal state secretariat Writers' Buildings with two chief ministers and representatives of four eastern states on a joint campaign against the Maoists.
Maoist menace has been termed as the biggest internal threat to the country by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
Chidambaram said the talks on Tuesday centred around inter and intra state operations against Maoists and he was happy with the progress in each state.
He said contrary to media and NGO predictions there was no carnage by the centre to combat the Maoists.
“The purpose of the operations is not to kill anyone but to re-establish civil administration,” said Chidambaram.
He said considerable progress has been made in Orissa, Bengal, Jharkhand and south Bihar to contain the Maoists effectively and some key politburo members were apprehended from these states.
“I am quite satisfied with what is happening all over the country despite some weaknesses,” he said.
He said his message to the Maoists is “If you halt violence we are prepared to talk”.
“As long as the Naxals indulge in violence the operation will continue,” he said.
He also said that developmental work would be done in the affected areas as well as he agreed to the viewpoint that force alone is not a way out.
He said there is no difference with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on the ways of combating Maoists though the latter did not turn up at the meeting.
Kumar, who was not present in the meeting, in Patna said he was not consulted about the date and that he does not think force is a solution against Maoists.
“It is necessary to use force to restore civil order,” Chidambaram said adding that the troopers do not kill people unnecessarily.
To a question on West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s allegations time and again that Trinamool Congress led by Mamata Banerjee had colluded with the Maoists, he said: “No body is colluding with Maoists. Nobody can collude with the Maoists. The Maoists call parliament a pig sty. No party in India which believes in parliamentary democracy can collude with Maoists.”
He said he took note of Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee’s viewpoint on operations in West Midnapore district in West Bengal around Lalgarh.
"She said it is not yielding results. She has a point of view. I have a point of view. I took note of what she said.”
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik accompanied Chidambaram in the press briefing.
|
| To Post Your Comment On This Article Click Here |
| Comments Posted on this news: |
| |
| There are no comments on this News.
|
|
|
|
|
|
