New Delhi, May 20: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh attacked Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh on Wednesday, saying that only the Prime Minister or the Union home minister should speak on the government’s anti- Maoist strategy.
When asked about Digvijay’s statement that Naxalism had taken root because of lack of development in the violence- wracked states, Raman retorted: “ In the 10 years that he was chief minister ( of undivided Madhya Pradesh), what stopped him from doing so? Some people feel they are experts on the subject and issue statements after every Maoist strike.
The issue should be kept away from politics. Also, how effective has the soft line to deal with Maoists been in the past 50 years?” Raman Singh said in a press conference in Delhi.
Sources in the Union government said Raman had complained to the Centre on Digvijay’s repeated assertions of failure of the Chhattisgarh government to deal with the Maoist menace. Digvijay has made a series of statements lately, openly attacking home minister P. Chidambaram’s approach and laying the blame on Raman.
The Chhattisgarh CM conceded to M AIL T ODAY that the combined control and command of the anti- Maoist operations were under him and he was not trying to pass the buck. “ I am in agreement with the Prime Minister and home minister,” Raman said.
He added that Maoists were terrorists, countering Digvijay’s earlier statement that Naxalites were merely misguided ideologues. “ If they are not terrorists, then who are terrorists? They want to capture power at gunpoint,” Raman said.
He pointed out that in the past decade, Maoists had killed more than 1000 civilians and over 650 policemen besides blowing up 132 electric towers, 106 school buildings and three hospitals in Chhattisgarh.
“ Due to Maoists, Bastar is being forced to live in the 18th century. We lost 22 policemen while building a 22- kilometre- long road for 20 months. Our agenda is development first. We are meeting the Planning Commission to finalise a Bastar Development Plan worth Rs 9000 crore,” Raman said.
He also rubbished allegations that area domination operations by security forces were aimed at giving a free run to multinational companies to mine in the Bastar region.
“ Iron ore mining is done only by the state- owned MMTC and SAIL and not by any private company in Bastar.
This is just Maoist propaganda,” Raman said.
—Agencies