Central government ban on Maoists applicable to West Bengal: Buddhadeb

Kolkata, June 24 (ANI): West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has said that there was no need for his government to announce a separate ban on Maoists after the Central government's recent order.

"The Central law is appropriate and can be enforced in all parts of the country. We have accepted it," Bhattacharjee told reporters here on Tuesday.

"It was upon the State Government to decide how and when to implement it," he added.

The Central government on Monday banned and formally labeled Maoist insurgents a terrorist group, hoping it would give security forces more powers after the rebels briefly created a "liberated zone" in West Bengal.

The banning of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) comes a month after the Congress-led government UPA won a resounding re-election without the need of support from communist parties, which have opposed any ban.

The move will allow authorities to arrest members of the Maoist party even if they have not been involved in act of violence.

The two main groups of the Maoist guerilla, the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) and the CPI (ML- People's War) merged in September 2004 to form the CPI (Maoist) under the leadership of M Lakshman Rao alias Ganapati.

The Naxals have made their presence felt in strategic locations like Dandakaranya, parts of Vindhyas and Western Ghats from West Bengal to Karnataka calling it as a "Red Corridor." According to sources, there are nearly 20,000-armed guerillas present in this 92,000 sq kilometre stretch.

The ultra left outfit, which is the largest Naxal group has been listed along with thirty four other organisations including Lashker-e -Toiba, (LeT) and the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) as a terrorist organisation. (ANI)