NEW DELHI : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said the Centre and State must work together to eradicate the Maoist menace while describing the attack in Chhattisgarh by the Maoist as an assault “our democracy”.
Opening the Chief Ministers’ conference on internal security here, Dr Singh appealed, “All political parties must work together to the grave threat that our country faces.” Dr Singh said the road infrastructure connected to the Naxal-affected areas would be strengthened. He said the North East still continues to face security threats. “We need to implement assertive measures to ensure the safety of the citizens.”
He said, “I must point out here that the challenge of Naxalism has received our serious attention for quite some time now. We have adopted a two-pronged strategy to deal with the challenge: conducting proactive and sustained operations against Maoist extremists; and, addressing development and governance issues in Left Wing Extremism affected areas.”
“A number of measures have been taken as part of this two-track strategy. These include strengthening the security apparatus, improving road connectivity in 34 most Left Wing Extremist affected districts, relaxation of norms of various development schemes in the affected areas, and the Integrated Action Plan for 82 selected tribal and backward districts,” Dr Singh added.
He went on to say,”We have achieved some successes too. In the last couple of years there has been a substantial reduction in the number of incidents and deaths caused by Left Wing Extremist groups and an increase in the number of Naxalite surrenders. But, major violent attacks by Naxalites like the recent one in Chhattisgarh are setbacks that have occurred periodically. The Centre and States need to work together to eliminate such large-scale attacks.”
Dr Singh informed that “The Central Government on its part has already started taking steps in this regard. The Cabinet Secretary, the Home Secretary and my office have been involved in an exercise that would lead to a further strengthening of our defensive and offensive capabilities against Left Wing Extremists. I hope that the State Governments will cooperate fully with us and add to the effectiveness of these efforts.”
He underscored the need for coordinated effort by Central and State agencies to deal with terrorism and other security challenges, “irrespective of whether they are internal or external in origin, has been emphasized in all earlier conferences of Chief Ministers on internal security. In view of the criticality of this requirement, I would urge you once more to explore how we can achieve even better coordination between the Centre and States.”
He said, “I look forward to receiving your valuable suggestions to further the internal security of the country.”
In the opening address, Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde also said the attack by the Maoists in Chhattisgarh was an assault on democracy and sought to underline that insurgents are getting aid from across the border.
Mr Shinde addressed the gathering chalking out the issues of Maoist attacks, border infiltrations and terrorism in the country.
The crucial meet between the Prime Minister and the Chief Ministers was called by Dr Singh in the wake of the brutal naxal attacks in Chattisgarh ten days ago.
As a result of the brutal Naxal attacks in Chhattisgarh, the Prime Minister convened an internal security meet of Chief Ministers of all states to discuss the security issues at all fronts in the country.
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee and Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa are not attending the internal security meet. In fact, Ms Jayalalithaa wrote to the PM yesterday, saying, “We are equal partners and expect to be able to make a meaningful contribution. But the current exercise seems to get CMs to rubber stamp pre-decided measures. I was forced to cut short my speech at the last National Development Council meet in a humiliating manner.”
Gujarat CM Narendra Modi, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, Madhya Predesh CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan, Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik and Jammu and Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah are the non-Congress CMs who are attending the meet.
The Chief Ministers of seven Naxal-affected states will also meet Mr Shinde in a separate meeting to discuss Naxal strategy.
Some of the non-Congress states have been opposing the formation of the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC).This too will be a priority discussion at the meet. (AGENCIES)
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