Antony rejects Mamata’s demand for use of army in Naxal areas

His comments on Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee’s demand in this regard came at a media interaction on the sidelines of a Coast Guard Commanders’ conference here.

The Trinamool Congress chief had yesterday demanded that the Centre should use army to recover arms allegedly taken away by “CPI(M) goons” from the state armoury in West Bengal. Antony said law and order issues should be handled by respective state governments and ruled out talks with Maoists before they abjure violence. The government would “not tolerate” attacks by the Left extremists,he said.

“What we are asking them is to abjure violence,” Antony said replying to queries if talks with the Naxals should be unconditional.

Agreeing that Naxal violence was a serious threat to internal security,Antony said the Centre would render all help to the affected states. He said the government was of the view that tribal and Maoist-affected states needed more development.

“But that is not an excuse for violence and bloodshed. The government will not tolerate anyone taking law into their hands,” he said.

Antony said the government had already chalked out a plan to counter Maoists violence in affected states and was monitoring its implementation.

Following the recent spurt in Maoists violence and abductions,including that of a police officer in West Bengal,both Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Banerjee have met Home Minister P Chidambaram in the last fortnight to demand action against the Left extremists.

During her meeting with the Home Minister yesterday after two drivers of New Delhi-Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express were kidnapped allegedly by Maoists in West Midnapur district in West Bengal,Banerjee had demanded that the Centre should use the army.

“By 2010-11,the face of Coast Guard will be different and it will be one of the best in the world,” Antony said. He said the government had asked the Navy,which had overall responsibility for coastal security,and the Coast

Guard “to do every thing on a war-footing” to protect the sea-lanes in the Indian ocean.

The Defence Minister said the government would give all support to Navy and the Coast Guard in this regard,as coastal and maritime security was very important for India.