New Delhi, April 16: Opposition supports home minister in Maoist fight but accuses his UPA colleagues of running down his efforts
PILLORIED by some senior members of his own party, home minister P. Chidambaram on Thursday found support from unlikely quarters for his Maoist strategy — members of the Opposition.
The minister, at the receiving end of late from Congress leaders like Digvijay Singh and Mani Shankar Aiyar for being “ rigid” and “ aggressive” against the Left extremists, discovered a groundswell of support from top Opposition leaders L. K. Advani, Arun Jaitley, Yashwant Sinha and Sitaram Yechury.
In fact, these leaders — those in the BJP are known to advocate a hard line on the Maoists — appeared to upbraid those who stood against Chidambaram.
Consider this from Jaitley, leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha. “ When the present home minister took over, we had some hope that he, at least, understood the problem. But the developments of the last few days have saddened us. Saddened not because our security forces suffered a temporary setback, but because in the middle of a battle, a battle which this nation cannot afford to lose, we find that the home minister is crippled by his own party and colleagues,” the BJP leader said.
In the Lok Sabha, senior BJP member Yashwant Sinha sought to embarrass the Congress by referring to party general secretary Digvijay Singh’s remark that Chidambaram considered the Maoist issue as a law and order problem.
“ While the Opposition is with the government in this fight against the Naxals, are the Congress and the UPA with the government in this fight?” Sinha asked. “ He ( Singh) is talking about collective responsibility and when a senior leader, an officebearer of the AICC, makes such a challenge, he not only challenges the home minister but the entire government,” said the former finance minister.
The Opposition went ahead to promise the support that the home minister appeared to be missing from within the UPA. Jaitley assured him that he stood “ shoulder to shoulder” with Chidambaram in this battle as the latter was being “ crippled by his own party and colleagues”. friends
As the Rajya Sabha discussed a statement made by Chidambaram on the Dantewada massacre of 76 security personnel on April 6, Jaitley said a divided government, a divided UPA, and a divided Congress had become a liability in the fight against the Maoists.
If the BJP had more than a few good words for Chidambaram’s Naxal line, the CPM — which favours efforts at a political solution running simultaneously with the law and order issue — asked how the government expected to fight the Maoists if there were discordant voices within it.
“ How can you have members in the cabinet, the same Union cabinet, who not only say things to the contrary but actually act to the opposite?” asked Yechury, the CPM’s leader in the Rajya Sabha.
This was a swipe at railway minister Mamata Banerjee’s claim that there were no Maoists in West Bengal and that the anti- Maoist operations by security forces helped the CPM to strengthen its base. He said the government would do a disservice to the nation if it was merely interested in its own survival.
Apparently bolstered by this support, Chidambaram made a strong case for launching a fullscale onslaught on the Maoists who, he said, were working to seize political power.
“ Let us have no illusion about the menace of Naxalism. Seizure of political power is their objective and the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army ( PLGA) is their instrument,” Chidambaram said in the Lok Sabha.
Mindful of the alternative view inside the Congress, the home minister, in an evident mixing of the two lines, said the government was not unaware of the socio- economic problems in the areas of Maoist dominance — which had been highlighted by Congressmen Ajit Jogi and Subodh Kant Sahay earlier in the week.
“ This tragedy ( of Dantewada) must only make us more determined, more resolute and more fierce. It should also make us more compassionate, more concerned about the poor,” the home minister said.
Confident that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi were on the same page with him on plans to counter the Maoist problem, Chidambaram, who turned emotional, said he would continue to provide leadership to the home ministry and the paramilitary forces.
Senior BJP leader Advani extended his support to the government in countering the problem of Maoist insurgency. “ We are in agreement with the home minister’s overall approach in dealing with the issue.
However, he must ensure that the government provides all possible relief to the security personnel killed in Dantewada,” said the former deputy prime minister.
There had been an exhortation from Jaitley, with reference to the minister’s offer to quit following the Dantewada incident, that, “ Generals don’t walk out of a battle. They don’t give an enemy the reason to rejoice.” On Thursday, in the light of the wholehearted backing that Chidambaram received from the Opposition benches, the remark seemed to be a slight to Congressmen who had railed against the minister.
—Agencies