Chidambaram raps Jharkhand for going slow in anti-Naxal ops

New Delhi, Feb 7: In a hard-hitting attack on BJP- ruled Jharkhand for its "ineffective" anti-Naxal operations, Home Minister P Chidambaram has said despite alarming escalation in Maoist violence, no serious effort has been made by the state government to deal with the extremists.

In a letter to Chief Minister Arjun Munda, Chidambaram said Jharkhand became the most affected state in Naxal violence in 2011 and the situation there was a "major cause for concern". He asked Munda to galvanise the state police leadership to take more pro-active steps.

"Anti-Naxal operations in 2011 have been unfortunately ineffective. No serious efforts appear to have been made to launch a counter offensive when security forces personnel were killed by the CPI (Maoist)," he said in the recent letter.

Further, Jharkhand is the only Left-wing extremism- affected state which has reported more snatching of arms in 2011 compared to the previous year. "Two top CPI (Maoist) leaders - Prashanto Bose alias Kishanda and Mihir Besra - are very active in the state, according to intelligence reports," the letter said.

Chidambaram told Munda that the increase in Maoist activities were manifested by the alarming increase in the number of 'Jan Adalats' (so called people's courts) - 53 in 2011 compared to 25 in 2010.

Through these Jan Adalats, the extremists have created a wave of terror amongst the people by publicly punishing those who 'disobey' their 'writ' in the state, he said. BJP leads a coalition government in Jharkhand.

PTI