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Naxalism cannot be tackled with guns: Binayak Sen

Binayak Sen says signature drive launched for repeal of law on sedition.

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Human rights activist, Binayak Sen, on Saturday claimed Naxalism cannot be tackled with guns. He was speaking to media persons at a function organised by the Pune Union of Working Journalists (PUWJ).

Slamming the government’s Salwa Judum initiative of arming tribal youth to police the forest areas, Sen claimed it amounted to tribals fighting tribals. Naxalism had to be solved in a non-violent manner. He accused the government of conducting fake encounters in which tribal youth were killed and labelled as Naxals.

Sen alleged that the Salwa Judum movement was being revived in Chhattisgarh. He said, “The Supreme Court had ordered scrapping of the Salwa Judum campaign in Bastar. However, the Chhattisgarh government has now proposed setting up of new camps in Narayanpur area by clearing the forest. The motive is to provide education and health care to people in these camps. However, the government is planning to displace a large number of tribals. This could see another Salwa Judum taking birth.”

Earlier in the morning, Sen spoke to media persons at the Azam campus after delivering a talk on ‘People’s struggle for social justice and democratic rights’. He slammed the law on sedition.
Sen, who had been jailed for two years on the grounds of sedition, said a campaign to collect one million signatures was being undertaken by the People Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) to repeal the law on sedition.

Sen said, “The sedition law has become a tool in the hands of the government to silence any voice of dissent. This is a serious threat to our democracy. We are demanding its scrapping through our signature campaign. We hope to present a memorandum signed by one million people before the start of the Parliament’s winter session.”

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