A day after Jharkhand Special Branch Inspector Francis Induwar was beheaded by Naxalites,Union Home Minister P Chidambaram made it clear that security forces would continue to engage them till they laid down arms but said states could open a dialogue with Naxals on issues of development,neglect,deprivation and composition of governance structures if they gave up the path of violence. We are a civilized country and these are our people we are confronting. Naxalites must take the path of democracy and dialogue,and abjure violence, Chidambaram said in Mumbai. And in Thiruvananthapuram,Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi said the inability of state governments and their developmental initiatives to reach the people was the main reason behind the growth of Naxal movements in certain states. He called for strengthening youth organisations to keep the young away from the influence of Naxalism. Chidambaram continued to stick to a tough line against Naxalism. Asked whether the IAF had been given permission to engage Naxals if attacked,he said: An IAF helicopter was fired at by Naxals in Chhattisgarh a few weeks ago. The air force will take adequate measures to protect its helicopters and pilots if attacked. If violence stalks the country,no development is possible. This is unacceptable,and no democracy or republic can accept the theory of an armed liberation struggle. Unless they abjure violence,we have no option but to ask our security forces to engage them,and we will continue to do so. Naxalites believe in an armed liberation struggle and use the word war. We do not regard the confrontation as a war. We are a civilized country and these are our people we are confronting. Naxalites must take the path of democracy and dialogue,and abjure violence. Chidambaram said a constructive dialogue between Naxalites and state governments could be held on developmental issues if the former laid down arms. If tomorrow they say we abjure violence,then we can open a dialogue with them. They claim to represent tribals and poor people,and the government also does that. Therefore,we can work together. It will help state governments discuss issues of development,neglect,deprivation and composition of governance structures with the CPI (Maoists), he said. He said the Naxal problem had grown over the past decade. We have begun confronting them now,and are not allowing them to expand. That is why so many incidents occur these days. Chidambarams remarks echoed what he had said on Naxalism while delivering the Nani A Palkhivala memorial lecture on The emerging challenges to civil society. If the CPI (Maoist) has,as it claims,the support of the people,why does it not contest elections and win the right to form the government? In neighbouring Nepal,for instance,the CPN (Maoist) contested the elections and its leader,Prachanda,held the office of Prime Minister for some months, he said. If the Naxalites accuse elected governments of capitalism,land grabbing,exploiting and displacing the tribal people,denying rights of forest-dwellers etc.,what prevents them from winning power through elections and reversing current policies and putting in place policies that they think will benefit the people? We have not heard a logical answer to these questions not from the Naxalites,not from Left-leaning intellectuals,and certainly not from the human rights groups that plead the Naxalite cause,ignoring the violence unleashed by the Naxalites on innocent men,women and children. Why are the human rights groups silent? Chidambaram said the government has made it clear that it does not view the confrontation with Naxalites as a war against the Naxalites. The Naxalite leaders and cadres are Indian citizens. The poor tribals and non-tribals they mislead are also Indian citizens. No government of a civilized country will wage war against its own people. What we ask is that the Naxalites should abjure violence. If they represent the poor or the tribal people of a state,certainly the government of that state would be willing to talk to them on their demands,listen to their genuine grievances,include them in the process of redressing the grievances,implement development schemes in the backward and neglected areas,and bring the poor and the tribal people into the process of inclusive growth. I hope this statement will be read by the leaders of the Naxalite movement and by their supporters. I also hope that leaders of civil society will prevail upon the Naxalites to abjure violence and take the road of democracy and dialogue, he said. Meanwhile,Union Minister Subodhkant Sahay today condemned the killing of Francis Induwar and said Naxalism was now more about extortion and loot than ideological issues. For whom are they causing this mayhem? If the son of a tribal has a job,they are killing him. Which philosophy does their fight represent? They have given up the socio-economic fight,their base is lost. They are now terrorising people for extortion. They do not represent any ideology, Sahay told The Indian Express. He said corruption and lack of development in Jharkhand had frustrated people to the extent that they were getting into the clutches of Naxalites. When I was Home Minister,what we did in Punjab was to convert this fight into a people-versus-militancy fight rather than a police-versus-militancy fight. The same model should be adopted here, said Sahay. With ENS from Thiruvananthapuram,New Delhi
