"The joint operation is not being handled properly. It is only helping the CPI(M)" said the Trinamool Congress chief.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee today appealed to Maoists to abjure violence and sit for a dialogue while demanding cessation of the joint forces' operation in Lalgarh which, she alleged, was "helping the CPI-M".
"The joint operation is not being handled properly. It is only helping the CPI(M). Though the Centre was providing funds and forces, it is not in control of the operation. It is being controlled by the state government and the CPI(M)," she alleged.
She told a private TV channel tonight that CPI(M) West Midnapore district secretary Dipak Sarkar was masterminding the operation.
Saying that she had taken up the issue several times with the Prime Minister, Union Finance Minister and home minister,
Banerjee regretted, "They are not listening to us. I have not
been consulted before the joint operation was launched."
Asked why her party was still in the government, Banerjee said, "We are in the government since people have voted for us. We have the commitment. We said that we will support the Centre, but we will ventilate our views in a democratic way. If we leave the government, then people will blame us."
Condemning violence by Maoists, she said, "Let there be a competition on development. Let there be talk. They should
stop terror and give up arms. What is the use in killing and
kidnapping people?
She said her party was opposed to the terror campaign unleashed by the Maoists in Lalgarh and adjoining belts. "I am ready for talk provided they stop violence and killing, and give up arms and take to the democratic path."
Without directly blaming the Maoists, she said, "In the name of agitation for the tribals' rights, jungle mafia business should be stopped".
"All development activities have come to a halt. The panchayat is not functioning," she said when asked why the Maoist-backed PCPA in Lalgarh was not helping so that development work in the area was carried on.
She claimed that "A section of the Maoists are hand-in-glove with the CPI(M) in Lalgarh who are indulging in violence. The CPI(M) is killing our party workers in the name of dealing with the Maoists.
"Even journalists are not being allowed to enter", she claimed.
She said forest rights should be left with the forest dwellers only. "This job has not been done by the state government, nor the Centre."
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