But CM Baghel has said that the Maoist problem cannot be solved with guns.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel is under massive pressure to act tough against Maoists as a majority of leaders from the state’s Congress unit want P. Chidambaram’s “strategy”, enunciated back in 2010 when he was the Union Home Minister, implemented in the state, sources said.
In 2010, Chidambaram had pitched for tough military action against Maoists across the country, particularly in Chhattisgarh. “Operation Green Hunt” and “Salwa Judum”—the two combat operations against Maoists in the country’s red zone—were initiated during Chidambaram’s tenure. Both the combat operations had attracted massive criticism from human rights groups. However, the proposal to bring in the military did not take off and remained a proposal.
In the recently concluded Assembly polls, the Congress defeated the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after 15 years and dethroned the Raman Singh government in the state.
According to sources, angry over the Jhiram Ghati Maoist attack that had wiped out the state Congress leadership in 2013, as many as 19 Congress leaders from the state unit have submitted a memorandum of demands to Chief Minister Baghel, seeking military action to weed out Maoists from the state.
“We have submitted our demands to the Chief Minister. We want a permanent solution to the Maoist problem in the state. Over the years, thousands of people, including our top state and Central unit leaders, had been killed by Maoists and these killings should not be forgotten. The first line of the Congress leadership was wiped out in 2013 when 29 people, including prominent Congress leaders like Nand Kumar Patel, Dinesh Patel, Mahendra Karma, were killed. We have been given assurance by the Chief Minister that the government will take decisive action against the Maoists in the state,” a leader who was part of the delegation that met the Chief Minister, told The Sunday Guardian.
“In our memorandum, we have clearly mentioned our demand for re-instituting a Special Investigation Team (SIT) with a fixed tenure to investigate the horrendous killings of Congress leaders in 2013 in the Jiram Ghati attack. Also, we have demanded implementation of former Home Minister P. Chidambaram’s policy in which the former Home Minister had vowed to bring in the military to tackle Maoists across the country, especially in Chhattisgarh,” the source cited above said.
However, after swearing in as Chhattisgarh’s Chief Minister, Baghel made it clear that the Maoist problem could not be solved with guns and to counter the Maoists, a holistic approach was needed. Reportedly, he had said that the government would need to take the development approach and initiate talks with various groups, including journalists, tribals and social rights activists.
The Chief Minister also blamed the previous Raman Singh government for not ensuring a fair investigation in the Jiram Ghati Maoist attack. In its election manifesto, the Congress had promised that if it came to power, it would form an SIT to unearth the hidden facts of the Jiram Ghati attack.
Alok Shukla, convener of Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan, told The Sunday Guardian: “It’s too soon to jump to any conclusions and when the Chief Minister himself has said that he will take the development model forward to deal with the Maoist problem, he must be given some time before any judgment.”
“Currently, the Chhattisgarh government has announced loan waiver for farmers and is taking development measures for tribals in the state,” Shukla added.