Chidambaram said more people had been killed in Maoist violence this year than in incidents of terrorism.
Left-wing extremism was the most "formidable challenge" to governance, Home Minister P Chidambaram said Tuesday while stressing that the real hurdle was not restoring peace or development but winning the minds and hearts of villagers.
Speaking at the inaugural session of the 'National workshop on appropriate development strategies for effective implementation of rural development schemes in IAP (integrated action plan) districts', Chidambaram said more people had been killed in Maoist violence this year than in incidents of terrorism.
According to the minister, 26 civilians had been killed in the first eight months this year in incidents of terrorism, 46 in insurgency-related incidents in the northeast and 27 in violence in Jammu and Kashmir - the corresponding figure for civilians killed in left wing extremism violence was 297.
He said 109 security personnel had had been killed in Maoist violence this year while 50 had been killed in insurgency related incidents in the northeast and violence in Jammu and Kashmir.
"The numbers tell their own story. The most formidable challenge to governance is left wing extremism," Chidambaram said.
He said left wing extremism was driven by brutal ideology and its goal was to overthrow established parliamentary democracy and replace it with dictatorship of proletariat.
Chidambaram said the government could talk to Maoists but they should come to the table.
"I can understand your anxiety. Burden of governance cannot shift from the state to central government. Centre can only help provide funds, forces and broad guidelines," he told the district collectors.
The minister said he had been told by the Planning Commission that none of the projects under IAP had been targeted by Maoists.
The battle was not for restoring peace or complementing development, but winning "minds and hearts of villagers", he said.
"Only if villagers think that the real adversary is Naxal who keeps them under threat will the battle be won," he said.
The minister said state governments can do a lot to bridge the "trust deficit" in Maoist hit areas and suggested that chief ministers and ministers should spend more time in these areas and allocate more resources.
Stressing that the government did not have unlimited number of security forces, Chidambaram disclosed that the number of battalions provided to Maoist-hit states had gone up from 31 in 2008 to 71 in 2011.
Chidambaram said specialised battalions were being created by incorporating an engineering wing so that the force can also carry out some development activity in Maoist affected areas.
Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said there was unanimous view amongst collectors and state governments that blocks and not districts should be the unit under IAP in the 12th Five Year Plan.
He said that while selection of gram panchayats for development schemes should be done under the existing structure of district-level committee of officials and actual works should involve gram panchayats.
District collectors from 60 IAP districts are taking part in the workshop.
IAP for 60 selected tribal and backward districts in nine states was approved by the government in November last year with a grant of Rs25 crore for 2010-11 and Rs30 crore for 2011-12.
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