Home minister P Chidambaram today said there can be no talks with Naxal groups till violence persists.
"I have offered talks with Naxal groups provided they abjure violence," he said replying to questions in Rajya Sabha.
"We can talk about any subject -- development, infrastructure, governance -- we can talk any subject provided the Naxals abjure violence. ...but, as long as violence persists, I see no scope for talks," he said.
Chidambaram said some civil society organisations had indicated that they could facilitate talks with Naxal groups but no concrete proposal has come so far.
"We are willing to hold talks with Naxal groups, facilitate their talks with state governments. But the condition is they should formally abjure violence," he said. "I have said that if they abjure violence, I will respond within 72 hours."
"There is no dialogue at the moment with Naxal groups," he said.
Incidents of Naxal violence have increased following the merger of Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) and Maoist Communist Centre in 2004 to form the Communist Party of India (Maoist).
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