Bardhan disapproves ban on Naxals in Orissa

Bhubaneswar, Jun 21: CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan today disapproved the Orissa government's decision to ban CPI(Maoist) and its seven frontal organisations, saying such a step will be counterproductive.

Mr Bardhan held the Naveen Patnaik government responsible for the growth of Left wing ultra activities in the state and described him as the ''originator, creator and driving force for Naxalism in the state.'' The CPI leader said when late Biju Patnaik was the Chief Minister, the Naxalite activities were confined to only two to three districts but under the rule of Mr Naveen Patnaik, it had spread to as many as 17 districts.

He said the Chief Minister must know where the problem lies and just a ban would not solve the issue. The banning of Naxal outfits and thinking thereby that it would write of the menace was like living in fools paradise, he added.

Mr Naveen Patnaik himself invited the leaders of various Naxalite outfits for a discussion but some of these leaders were arrested on their return, Mr Bardhan said and asked '' What sort of politics is this. '' Stating the Naxal issue was a socio economic problem, the CPI general secretary said extreme neglect, continuous displacement and atrocities on the tribals were the factors that attributed to Naxalism and these should be dealt effectively.

Mr Bardhan opposed the Salwa Judum in Chhattishgarh saying it was a tactic to make the tribals fight with each other and warned that such a concept would ultimately lead to a civil war.

He said he had written a letter to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, requesting him to stop the Salawa Judum which had already claimed 300 lives in Chhattishgarh alone during the last six months.

''The concept started by the Congress had been now hijacked by the BJP in Chhattishgarh,'' he added.

Mr Bardhan was critical of deploying the Naga and Mizo battalion to fight against the Naxalites in Basta region of Chhattishgarh.

UNI