Centre asks West Bengal government to ban CPI(Maoist)

The Centre has asked the Left Front government in West Bengal to declare the CPI (Maoist) as an "unlawful association" under a 1908 Act as its scope is much wider than the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) enacted last year.
    
Home ministry officials said West Bengal government has been advised to declare CPI (Maoist) as outlawed because of the fact that the UAPA, under which it declared the outfit as banned on June 22, is essentially directed against unlawful associations that support secession. "The Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1908 (CLAA) has a very different objective. It is directed against associations which encourage or aid person to commit acts of violence or intimidation. The power is vested in the state government to declare an association as unlawful," a home ministry official said.
    
Union home minister P Chidambaram had said last week that the state government should ban the Maoists. "We think they (Maoists) should be banned in West Bengal as in other states," he had said. West Bengal is yet to take a decision on it.

After some dithering, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said the state government would enforce the Central ban, which reluctant Left Front partners also accepted after some persuasion by Bhattacharjee.