Faces questions from own party MPs, even as BJP lends support.
Union Home Minister P Chidambaram today found himself in a peculiar situation when Opposition parties supported, but his own party MPs criticised him on his Naxal policy.
After Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh’s recent outburst in a newspaper, it was the turn of K Keshav Rao, another veteran from the grand old party, to take a dig at Chidambaram’s Naxal Policy. “Hope you (Chidambaram) will not only tell us how many police have been recruited or how many companies of para military forces have been sent to Naxal-affected areas, but also tell us how many schools, hospitals and roads have been built in those areas,” Keshav Rao said, while participating in a Rajya Sabha debate over the Dantewada killings, in which 75 CRPF personnel lost their lives.
He asked the home minister to give top priority to developments in Naxal-affected areas, followed by peace talks.
The Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley, took full advantage of this divide within the Congress and the government, and launched a caustic attack on the UPA government. While supporting Chidambaram on his Naxal policy, the senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader dubbed Congress leaders Digvijay Singh, Mani Shankar Aiyar and railway minister Mamata Banerjee as “consultants on counter-insurgency” and “half-Maoists”. “They are not performing their patriotic duties.”
He said, “We are shoulder to shoulder with the government, but the party and the government itself are divided.” He also questioned how Banerjee, a member of the Union Cabinet, could differ with the Cabinet and said, “She must be summoned to this House and sought explanations.”
CPI(M)’s Sitaram Yechury also pegged his attack on the same line and said, “If you continue with this contradiction within your Cabinet, then it will be seen as the height of opportunism.”
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While BJP said development couldn’t take place without armed resistance against the Naxals, Keshav Rao laid top priority on development and peace talks. “We need to revisit the policy. First you have to provide development and governance, then call out friends (Naxals) for talks,” Keshav Rao said.
Jaitley said, “The Naxals have built iron walls in these areas. Our schools, hospitals, roads can’t reach unless these iron walls are demolished. Just as they have built the walls by militarised approach, the government also has to destroy them by force.”
To strengthen his argument, Keshav Rao said, “Rahulji once told me that in tribal areas the government hasn’t reached to the people.”
Earlier in the day, it was due to BJP’s pressure the government agreed to discuss the Dantewada issue in both Houses of Parliament.
In Lok Sabha, Chidambaram later clarified that his party’s policy was that “the doors of dialogue (with Naxals) are always open”. But he also made it clear that development and police action in Naxal-affected areas would go hand in hand. In his initial statement, Chidambaram said, “To counter the menace of Naxalism, we need a strong head, a stronger heart and enormous staying power. I believe that the government has all three qualities.”
Both houses witnessed repeated adjournments and also, Congress members in Lok Sabha vociferously protested when BJP leader Yashwant Sinha alleged nexus between Congress and Naxals.