DANTEWADA, May 9:
Making the first prime minesterial visit in three decades to this Maoist hotbed, Narendra Modi today asked the ultras to shed the gun and put an end to mindless deaths in favour of peace.
“Those who feel that whether or not this macabre drama of death will end, I can tell you with full commitment and make you believe that there is no need to get disheartened. This (death) too will stop,” he said addressing a public meeting here.
On a short visit here, Modi initiated welfare schemes worth Rs 24,000 crore for the Maoist hotbed of Bastar region which include setting up Ultra Mega Steel Plant, a railway line, slurry pipeline and pellet plant.
Modi said there is no future for violence in the country. If there is a future that is through peaceful ways, he said.
“In India those people who ask what is the way to get back people who have chosen the path of violence. I understand (Chhattisgarh Chief Minister) Raman Singh has made that way. Only a plough on shoulder can bring solution, not the gun,” he said.
Modi, who is the first Prime Minister to visit this Maoist hotbed in three decades after Rajiv Gandhi in 1985, cited the example of Punjab and naxalbari (in West Bengal) where people are living a peaceful life after suffering from violence in the past.
“The land where naxalism was born, go and visit that place and you will see that they have learnt out of their experience and have shed that way. Today, that naxalbari from where the path of violence had started, from where bomb and guns used to make sound, blood use to shed, today it has ended there,” he said.
Dantewada, which comes under tribal Bastar region, is rich in mineral resources especially iron ore. The area has witnessed a string of naxal attacks in the past, with the worst being the 2010 assault that left 76 security personnel dead.
Modi said there may be ways to resolve problems through dialogue.
“And in the context of Chhattisgarh, if it gets free from this (naxalism) problem it will be number one in economic development in the country. Chhattisgarh has that power which can change country’s future. Development can only bring solution to problems,” the Prime Minister said.
He suggested an experiment to the Maoists to rethink on their “sin” by staying with the families of the victims of their killings.
“Go to the house of those children (who have been victims of naxal violence) and stay five days with them. Talk to them. Do not tell them who you are. I can tell you with confidence that with their talk and experience, they will force you to rethink. You will be shattered to know that what big sin you have done committed through violence.
“Just for once, meet the families of those affected by your violence you will never think of going back on this path. You will think that you have done something wrong. Government, law or allurement may not stop you but those affected by the bullets of your guns will,” Modi said.
He also took a dig at Congress saying those who have been neglected by the people in elections are spreading canards about the government’s work.
“There are some people who enjoyed keeping poor in that state life-long. They enjoyed keeping them sad. And if they see any change in that, they get sad. I can understand their trouble. Those who cannot digest victory for 60 years, they could not digest defeat too. Those who have been rejected by the people have no option but to spread lies or confuse people,” Modi said. (PTI)
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