Congress shift in policy towards Naxals

U-turn seems to have come after May 25 attack where almost entire brass of Chhattisgarh Congress was wiped out

Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi some time back had questioned party MPs “Tribals (who) are naturally aligned to Congress, Why are they being allowed to drift away ?”.

While directing MPs to intensify work among the tribals, he asked why Left Wing Extremists are being allowed to make political inroads. Gandhi’s views it appears is being echoed in the present Congress party’s line, post the recent Chattisgarh Naxal attack.

After the May 25 attack where almost the entire top brass of the Congress was wiped out, the Congress  seems to have taken a U turn in its approach to the Naxals.

Accepting minister Jairam Ramesh’s view that “Naxals are terrorists;” the official Congress spokesperson Bhakt Charan Das today said, “Congress cannot ignore Jairam Ramesh’s view. There is some substance to it.”

This in hindsight appears to be a far cry from the earlier approach of the party to Naxals wherein Congress President Sonia Gandhi had in 2009, referred to them as “misguided youth” who needed to be brought back to the main stream.

Hinting that a hard line approach would be adopted with “such criminals” who are not fit to be engaged in dialogue, Congress leaders said that the party at the same time would not be departing from its development agenda in these backward tribal dominated regions.

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi is slated to be interacting with tribal leaders, in the coming weeks in Delhi. Party insiders say that Gandhi has been actively in touch with tribal representatives ever since the Niyamgiri incident where he supported the tribals in their fight against Vedanta.
 
Significantly, several party insiders are surprised at the partyy’s new found hard line approach as informed sources say that Congress President Sonia Gandhi herself was angry at the massacre of innocent women and children in Sarkeguda last year and the party went all out to condemn the encounter and demand action against the CRPF personnel who labelled the victims as Naxals.

Distancing itself from the Salwa Judum, Congress also attempted to disassociate slain leader Mahendra Karma from the Salwa Judum, saying that the BJP has misled him into the movement. He later regretted his stance and joined the Congress ranks.   

Tribal Affairs minister Krishan Chandra Deo speaking to Business Standard urged that his ministry be taken on board before any “knee jerk reaction” is taken on the Chattisgarh killings.

“If the Home ministry intends to intensify operations, the Tribal affairs ministry nneds to be taken on board; if intensifying means that innocent tribals are not going to be spared and they are going to be wiped out, that cannot be allowed.”

He added, "Otherwise what is the relevance of the Tribal Affairs ministry ? Before any long term policies are decided we need to be on board."