Digvijay Singh opposes use of air power against Maoists
May 18th, 2010 - 11:11 pm ICT by IANS
Mirzapur, May 18 (IANS) Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh Tuesday said he was not in favour of using air power in anti-Maoist operations.
“It’s not appropriate in my view as those conducting the air strikes would not be in a position to differentiate between insurgents and the tribals of a particular area,” Singh told reporters here.
A day after Maoists massacred 31 people in Chhattisgarh, Home Minister P. Chidambaram had supported the idea of providing air surveillance to help security forces hunting for the insurgents in forested areas.
Digvijay Singh held the state governments responsible for not thwarting Maoist attacks.
“It’s all due to wrong policies of the state government. The central government sends paramilitary forces in the Naxal-infested regions, but the government doesn’t deploy the force properly, and as a result the Maoist menace continues,” he said.
The senior Congress leader said that the government should first look into the demands being made by Maoists before allowing them to join the mainstream.
“Within the framework of the Indian constitution, strategy needs to be evolved to enable the Maoists join the mainstream of development,” said Singh.
Digvijay Singh had earlier said that while Maoist activities are criminal and totally unacceptable, the Left guerrillas should not be called “terrorists”.
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- No government nod yet to fire back at Maoists: Army chief - Feb 14, 2011
- Chidambaram supports air surveillance to combat Maoists - May 18, 2010
- Special jungle roads needed to combat Maoists, says expert - Oct 24, 2011
- Indian Air Force to fire on Naxals, if attacked - Aug 12, 2010
- Fight against Naxalism cannot be won only through security measures: PM - Dec 20, 2010
- IAF seeks permission from Defence Ministry to fire at Naxals - Oct 01, 2009
- Bonda tribe policeman gets gallantry award - Aug 16, 2009
- No differences between Digvijay, Chidambaram: Congress - Jul 19, 2010
- Digvijay Singh is a confused leader, says Chhattisgarh CM - May 03, 2010
- Deploy army in Maoist hit areas: Sushma Swaraj - Jul 03, 2010
- Using air power against Maoists not a matter of public debate: Yechury - May 18, 2010
- Will be happy if someone can do my job better: Chidambaram - Jul 22, 2010
- I did not criticise Chidambaram: Digvijay Singh - Jul 23, 2010
- Chhattisgarh to invest Rs.2,000 crore on infrastructure - Apr 14, 2010
Tags: air strikes, air surveillance, central government, congress leader, digvijay singh, forested areas, general secretary, government doesn, guerrillas, home minister, indian constitution, insurgents, maoist, maoists, p chidambaram, paramilitary forces, security forces, state government, state governments, tribals