Chidambaram lists hurdles in curbing Maoists

Home minister P Chidambaram has claimed that intellectual and material support to Maoists from various quarters is making the government’s task to curb the menace all the more difficult.

Speaking at the Indian Women’s Press Corps in Delhi on Friday, Chidambaram attributed the problem to decades of government neglect. He said the absence of a well-trained and properly equipped police force to take on Maoists was another hurdle in curbing the menace. There are 350 vacancies in IPS and posts of 3,000 constables are yet to be filled, the minister said.

Replying to a question over his cabinet colleague Mamata Banerjee’s bid to coax the Centre into deleting portions of the president’s speech which condemned Maoists, Chidambaram said she had no truck with the left-wing separatists. She had merely accused the CPI(M) of colluding with Maoists in the past, he said.

Chidambaram repeated his talks offer. “If Maoists stop violent activities for 72 hours, I am willing to talk to them.”

He was annoyed at the liberal media for giving these murderers respectability. Maoists seduce the media by making false charges in court to draw sympathies, Chidambaram said. “Maoists believe in violence which has no place in democracy. A strong head, a stronger heart and staying power is required to tackle them,” he said.