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| Centre, Left engage in war of words on countering Naxals |
| BS Reporter / New Delhi Feb 18, 2010, 00:26 IST |
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The fatal Maoist attack in West Bengal’s Silda on Monday has spurred a new war of words between the Congress-led Centre and the Left ruled state government. The Central government, notwithstanding the pressure of its key ally Trinamool Congress, has been supportive of the anti-Naxal operations in Bengal.
But now, the top brass of the government is extremely upset over the “unpreparedness” and “callous” attitude of the state force while Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, once again, got an opportunity to raise questions about the effectiveness of the Centre-state joint operations.
The CPI(M), the ruling coalition leader in Bengal, is not in a mood to accept the criticisms easily. It has also raised questions about the Centre’s responsibility on bringing various states on board in fighting the Maoist menace.
“Home Minister announced just a couple of weeks ago that all states have agreed to fight the Naxalites. If that is so, why did Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and Jharkhand CM skip the meeting in Kolkata to discuss strategies of anti-Maoist operations?” A Central Committee member of the CPI(M) told Business Standard today.
A top minister of the UPA felt “shocked” after getting the reports of the unpreparedness of the Eastern Frontier Rifles camp in Silda where 24 security personnel were killed.
“There was no guard at the gates of the camp. Some personnel were playing cards, some were busy eating and most of them didn’t take the situation seriously despite the fact that they were in hotbed of Maoist territory. This incident and the previous one where a senior police officer was abducted shows that the state government has not prepared its forces properly to combat this menace.”
Top Home Ministry sources claimed, West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had opposed any large-scale armed conflict against the Maoists till even 2008 and the Left government’s policy of tackling these ultra-Left through political process has taken a toll on the effectiveness of the police forces against the Maoists.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram also spoke about “indications of failure” in a police camp despite the “adequate strength” of the security forces in his initial statement on Tuesday.
According to top sources, Chidambaram delivered a strong message to West Bengal CM on Tuesday when he called the later after the incident.
Even the Central leadership of the CPI(M) expressed its shock and surprise on how the police camp can be attacked in this manner.
Even as it accepts the failure of the police forces privately, the CPI(M) leadership is seeking strengthened operations against the Maoists from other states as well.
“Jharkhand government has almost stopped action against Maoists. Chidambaram must ensure the newly elected Shibu Soren government in Jhrakhand resumes the full-fledged operations. Otherwise, Bengal will bear the burn,” said a CPI(M) leader in Delhi.
“The violence of the Maoists will never succeed. We will never surrender to them,” said Nilotpal Basu, a prominent member of the CPI(M)’s Central Committee—the highest decision making body of the red party.
“It is a dastardly attack and I can only say it has strengthened our resolve to fight this menace,” Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said today.
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