Chhattisgarh to emerge as No.1 state once Maoist menace resolves: PM

Modi called upon Maoists to shun guns just for five days and spend time with the children affected by violence without revealing their identity

Prime Minister Narendra Modi observed that Chhattisgarh would become country’s number one state in terms of economic growth once the Maoist menace was eradicated.

“In this part (Bastar) also, transformation will come and humanity will prevail to find solution to the Maoist problem,” Modi said while addressing a gathering in restive Dantewada district Saturday afternoon. He could say with confidence that Chhattisgarh would become India’s number one state in terms of economic growth if it got rid of Maoist violence, he added.

Asserting that violence was not the solution to any issue, the Prime Minister said solution could be worked out even by sitting together. “Had one imagined violence would come to an end in Punjab or thought of Maoism eradicating from Naxalbari from where it started,” he said.

Modi called upon the Maoists to shun guns just for five days and spend time with the children affected by violence without revealing their identity. “You (Maoists) would shatter and realize that you had committed a sin,” he said, adding that a child who had lost his parent could transform the heart of a Maoist.

The Prime Minister added that plough on the shoulder and not the gun would help the society. He said there was no future of violence and peace had to prevail.

He appreciated the Chhattisgarh government’s education city in Jawanga that houses children affected by Maoist violence besides specially-abled. “It had been a great effort that the state government had made them to hold pen and work on computer when Maoists had been trying to handover guns,” Modi said.