Bengal will not halt anti-Naxalites drive

A day after Maoists killed 24 jawans in West Midnapore in a biggest-ever attack, the West Bengal government on Tuesday ruled out any possibility of talks with the ultras, expressing its resolve to continue the joint operation to flush them out.

"There is now no question of any talks with them (Maoists)," State Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen told reporters in Kolkata. Admitting a kind of failure on part of intelligence and security forces, Sen said, "may be there was lapse on their part.” The State government, he said, would send a report to the Centre on the incident at Silda camp of Eastern Fronter Rifles (EFR) in a day or two.

The Home Secretary said security had been stepped up at Midnapore Central jail where some Maoists were lodged. He said the Maoists’ attack might have a kind of "demoralising effect" on the jawans. State chief secretary Asok Mohan Chakraborty ruled out any suspension of the joint operation and said that Monday’s armed attack on the jawans once again proved that the Maoists were desperate to disrupt normal life.

At least 24 Eastern Frontier Rifle jawans were killed when the ultras overran their camp at Silda after setting it on fire. Chakraborty said three people have been arrested in connection with the attack. State Finance minister Asim Dasgupta on Tuesday led a team of five ministers to Salua at Kharagpur to accord a guard of honours to the slain EFR jawans.. Dasgupta was accompanied by Relief Minister Murtaza Hussain, Fisheries Minister Kironmoy Nanda, Civil Defence Minister Srikumar Mukherjee and Sports Minister Kanti Ganguly.

State's Micro and Small-scale Enterprise minister Manab Mukherjee said the government decided to distribute at subsidised rate saris to women living under Below Poverty Line (BPL) in five Maoist-hit districts, including West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia. Initially, 1.50 lakh women under BPL would be benefitted by the scheme which would cost the state government Rs 94 lakh,. Mukherjee added. It is seen as a move to win over the BPL women in the five Maoist-hit districts.

Terming the Maoists attack on a police camp in West Bengal as outrageous, Home Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday accepted there were indications of “failure” in some aspects which only a detailed review would reveal. “While there are indications of failure in some aspects, only a thorough review will reveal how the police camp with adequate strength was overrun, when there was day light, by the CPI (Maoist),” he said.

“Every attack of this kind exposes the true nature and character of the CPI(Maoist). Their goal is to seize power. Their weapon is violence. No organisation or group in a democratic republic has the right to take to violence to overpower the established legal authority,” he said, criticising a number of “well meaning organisation” that find “legitimacy” in the armed struggle by CPI (Maoists).

The Home Minister said, “It is only if the whole country rejects the preposterous theses of the CPI (Maoist) and condemns the so-called ‘armed liberation struggle’ that we can put an end to the menace of naxalism and bring development and progress to the people in the conflict zones.” He pointed out that during the 3-day bandh called by the CPI (Maoist) from February 7, their main target was railway property. There were a total of 11 incidents — three in Bihar, six in Jharkhand and two in Orissa, he said.

Pointing out that Maoists attack on Eastern Fronter Rifles (EFR) camp here was a setback for the security forces, West Bengal DGP said the operation against the ultras would continue. “It is a setback because so many lives have been lost. But it will not change our resolve. Operation against Maoists will continue,” DGP Bhupinder Singh told reporters after visiting the camp.

When asked whether the state administration had talks with the neighbouring states regarding the Maoists attacks, the DGP told PTI, “I have spoken with the DGPs of Jharkhand and Bihar. We are working in close co-ordination.”

Meanwhile, drawing flak for its policy on Maoists, the Centre on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that despite its sincere efforts to solve the problems confronting tribals, the rebels are not shunning violence and carrying on attacks as they did on Monday in West Bengal. "The home minister (P Chidambaram) has made a public statement that government is ready to talk to them (Maoists) provided they eschew violence. And the answer we have got on Monday from West Bengal," Attorney General G E Vahanvati told a bench comprising justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar.

Vahanvati made the statement after advocate Prashant Bhushan spoke about the alleged human rights violation by state agencies in their fight against Naxals in Chhattisgarh. IVahanvati said he was sharing the view of Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium that nobody want to go (to fight Naxals) with a death band on forehead.

"We do not want to perpetuate a situation like a civil war," he said before a bench which was hearing the petitions relating to the Chhattisgarh tribals, who had allegedly gone missing after the filing of petition seeking CBI probe into killing of about 10 people during the anti-Naxal operations.

- Asian Tribune -