Centre asks Andhra govt to define PWG talks

Consultations with naxalism-hit states begin

The Director-General of Police (DGP) of Andhra Pradesh has been summoned to Delhi to explain to the Union home ministry why the Andhra Pradesh government has begun talks with Naxalite groups like the People's War Group (PWG).

The move reflects reservations of the Union government about the advisability of holding talks with a group that continues to believe in armed revolution as one of its avowed aims and has refused to surrender arms.

Although Union Home Secretary Dhirendra Singh started consultation with the chief secretaries and home secretaries and other senior officials of seven states including Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh is the state most affected by naxalism and the activities of the PWG.

Talks with the PWG was one of the central issues in the election campaign of the Congress during the Assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh and signalled a new political approach to the naxalite problem.

Former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu had, after an attack on his life by the PWG, advanced Assembly elections and vowed to stamp the PWG out.

The Congress had criticised this approach and seized upon talks with naxalites as its election plank. This view found an echo in the common minimum programme (CMP) that commits itself to dealing with rising naxalism as a socio-economic issue rather than a law and order problem.

At a round table meeting in Hyderabad last month, Andhra Pradesh Home Minister Jana Reddy said the government had a three-pronged strategy in dealing with the PWG: create conditions so that they lay down arms, facilitate their joining the political mainstream and a socio-economic development programme in areas where naxalism has put down roots.

That the Andhra Pradesh government is serious about this is clear from the fact that over and above the Plan allocation, it has sought Rs 86 crore as part of a rural area development programme to address backwardness in some pockets of rural Andhra Pradesh.

However, this approach is out of sync with the view of security forces and the Union home ministry, which are asking themselves whether talks with naxalite groups will not lead to a period of reprieve for them and ultimately result only in their regrouping and re-arming themselves.

The PWG is agreeable to holding talks with the government provided they are allowed to move around openly with arms till the talks are over. The state government is finding it hard to accept this condition.

On the other hand, after a massive rally in Warangal last month, the PWG has indicated that it might decide to become a mainstream political party. This has strengthened the case for talks.

The latest review of PWG activities by the home ministry and the meeting with the Andhra Pradesh DGP shows the government's vacillation on how to handle naxalism. The meeting may be followed up by a meeting of chief ministers of states affected by the PWG activity to reach a consensus.