CPI appeals naxals to contest polls
{image-cpi
naxals_02022008.jpg
news.oneindia.in}
Dantewada(CG),
Feb
2:
Appealing
the
naxalites
to
enter
the
poll
arena
in
Chhattisgarh
on
the
lines
of
Nepal,
the
Communist
Party
of
India
has
urged
the
Raman
Singh-led
BJP
government
to
initiate
dialogue
with
the
ultras
in
order
to
bring
them
back
to
the
mainstream.
A
resolution
in
this
regard
was
adopted
at
the
CPI's
two-day
Dantewada
district
conference
that
concluded
at
Dhurli
village
today.
Briefing
reporters,
CPI's
State
Secretary
C
L
Patel
and
National
Executive
member
Chittaranjan
Bakshi
said
the
conference
appealed
the
naxalites
to
join
the
electoral
battle.
It urged the Chhattisgarh government to suspend the anti-naxal 'Salwa Judum' movement launched since June, 2005 and invite the naxalites for talks through some non-government organisation (NGO) as mediator.''Peace in naxal-hit areas could be restored only after the ultras were brought to negotiating table'', said Mr Bakshi. Declining to play the role of mediator due to ideological differences, the CPI leader said some NGOs were ready to act as mediator.
Stating that backwardness and poverty led to the growth of naxalism in Chhattisgarh, Mr Bakshi said the state government should initiate programmes for all round development of the backward region. ''The government is responsible for the backwardness'', he said, adding the government should also facilitate the return of tribals given shelter in relief camps to their native villages.
The conference also opposed preparation of voters lists at relief camps, where those displaced due to the Salwa Judum movement had been given shelter. It took exception to preventing senior CPI leader Gurudas Das Gupta from addressing a public meeting at Lohandiguda.
Residents of about 600 villages and hamlets in Dantewada had been given shelter in about 23 relief camps close to with police stations. About 300 schools in these villages had been closed down and teachers attached with the relief camps.
Rural economy is in shambles with fields left uncultivated and domestic cattle let loose in forest or sold in panic after the villagers were caught in hostilities between naxals and government-supported Salwa Judum volunteers.
Children housed in relief camps were covered under the mid-day meal scheme meant for school children, while other camp inmates were initially given subsidised foodgrain as ration. Now they eke out a living by working in construction works occasionally.
UNI