Centre bans Maoist outfits, CPI-M strikes a different note

Centre bans Maoist outfits, CPI-M strikes a different note

The Centre on Monday banned the CPI-Maoists as a terrorist outfit but the CPI-M, whose government is battling a Naxal siege in Lalgarh, said proscription does not work and they have to be fought politically.

After a high level meeting in New Delhi on Monday against the backdrop of security forces' operations in West Midnapore district in West Bengal, the Union Home Ministry brought the group in the list of terrorist outfits banned under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.

Home Minister P Chidambaram said the Government decided on the fresh ban under the UAPA to avoid any ambiguity following the merger of CPI-ML (People's War Group) with the Marxist Coordination Committee.

"It was always a terror organisation and today an ambiguity has been removed that it is a terror organisation," he said.

On the CPI-M and the Left Front stand that the Maoists need to be fought politically and administratively and a ban does not work, the minister said he still felt there is a distinction between party and government and hoped the West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattarcharjee would consider his suggestion to ban the outfit and his Cabinet would take an approriate decision.

 

While his party colleague Sitaram Yechury met Chidambaram after the ban order was issued, CPI-M general secretary Prakash Karat doubted its efficacy saying a banned organisation could function under a different name.

 

Congress and BJP welcome Centre's ban on CPI.

 

Congress asked Naxal- affected states to come out with a white paper on the status of the menace and the measures taken to contain it.

The party also welcomed the decision of the central government to declare CPI-Maoist as a terrorist organisation.

"We welcome the decision of the central government to declare CPI-Maoist a terrorist organisation. We are of the view that Naxal-hit states should issue a white paper on the status of Naxal problem and what steps they are taking to control the menace," party spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed told reporters in New Delhi.

 

The BJP hailed the decision and demanded that other terror groups having links with Maoists should also be dealt in a similar way.

 

BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said it was a good step and in a democratic society there is no place for violence, and the party welcomes the government's move.

 

West Bengal Chief Secretary Asok Mohan Chakraborty said in Kolkata that the government would go into the legal implications of ban and present a report to the Chief Minister.

The Left stand comes two days after Chief Minister stated that his government will give a serious thought to proscribing the Naxals.

"We have decided that such outfits, which follow misguided politics, cannot be countered by banning them. It is important to counter the activities of these outfits politically," Left Front chairman Biman Bose said.

The Left Wing extremist group CPI-Maoist, formed after the merger of two banned naxal outfits MCC and CPI-ML, has been bracketed with 34 other organisations including LeT and SIMI who are in the list of banned outfits.

The move to tag CPI-Maoist is aimed at drying the sources of funds and curbing the support for its activities from a section of people.

The Maoists have called a 48-hour bandh starting from Monday to oppose the offensive launched by the security forces in the Lalagarh area.

Bhattacharjee met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram on Saturday to discuss the standoff with the Maoists.

 

Bose said in a statement that the fight of the Leftists against the "misguided politics" of the Maoists was on. "We are opposing the terrorist activities of the Maoists and that is why we are attacked."

Bose said it was a continuous political process to "alienate" people from the "dangerous politics" pursued by the Maoists. "This work has to be carried on," he said.

He, however, said that it was necessary to take administrative steps to restore normal life of the people.

The CPI and Forward Bloc, two major LF constituents, also said that the problem would not be solved by banning the Maoists.

"We do not think a ban on them will solve the problem; it has to be solved politically. There may be a dialogue with the ultras, but before that they have to eschew the politics of murder and anarchy."CPI state council secretary Manju Kumar Majumdar said.

Echoing his views, Forward Bloc secretary Ashok Ghose said, "We have fundamental differences with the Maoists, but they are not our class enemies. We are against imposing ban on them. We want them to follow the democratic path and we are totally against their politics of terrorism."

 

The bandh saw a mixed response in Chhatisgarh. Business establishments and shops remained open in all the five districts of Bastar region, especially in urban areas, Vishwaranjan said.

However, transport and bus services in interior and remote areas of Bastar, Kanker and Naryanpur districts was thin in view of reports of naxalites obstructing roads by felling trees to disrupt traffic, police said.

Also, passenger train services between Vishakapatnam and Kirandul in Dantewada district were curtailed on account of the bandh, they said.

Normalcy was reported from other areas and districts of the tribal state, police said.

The Centre had sounded an alert to five naxal-hit states on Sunday following intelligence inputs that Maoists may indulge in demonstrative acts of violence by targeting security forces and economic infrastructure such as trains, buses, railway and bus stations and other places where people are likely to gather in significant numbers.

--
By :  News Team