Mamata Banerjee sets 7-day deadline for Maoists to lay down arms

Stressing that violence and peace talks cannot go hand in hand, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday set a seven-day deadline for Maoists to lay down arms and join the negotiation table.

Addressing a meeting in the Maoist-affected Jhargram area of West Mednapore district, Banerjee said her government did not allow any military operation for four months but “that did not stop you (Maoists) from bloodletting and senseless violence”.

“You cannot have both violence and talks… I am ready to keep the offer for talks open for seven more days, if you give up arms and senseless bloodletting,’’ she said, terming Maoists “cowardly hired assassins killing unarmed and innocent people in the night”.

“This implies that you have no ideology, you are just hired assassins,’’ she said, dropping hints that if the deadline fails to produce results, joint forces would begin operation to clear Jangalmahal off Maoists — as the rebels would otherwise oppose her development works in the area.

Significantly, she said the “killers are from outside and are out to spike the socio-economic development’’ her government launched for this backward region.

She also dared the Left Wing extremists to “kill her and her ministers in front of people”.