Thaindian News

New Delhi, April 15 (IANS) The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) in the Rajya Sabha Thursday trained its guns on railway minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamta Banerjee during a debate on the Dantewada massacre, demanding that the government should not speak in contrarian voices.
“How can you have union cabinet ministers who say things which are contrary… The government is doing a disservice to the country if it is only interested in its survival,” said Marxist member Sitaram Yechury.

He was referring to the statement made by Banerjee, whose party is a constituent of the United Progressive Alliance, that there were “no Maoists in West Bengal” and that the security forces’ operations were facilitating the CPI-M to strengthen its base.

He asserted that it was “despicable” that a minister had said that there were no Maoists in her state. “Why are Maoists resurfacing now… Maoists are being used to serve petty political interests,” he said.

Yechury accepted that the issue of Maoism cannot be tackled by “apportioning blame”. “All the states where the current problem is there are led by governments by different political parties. We need a unified approach in tackling this problem,” he said.

He also argued that the centre had a larger role than what home minister, P. Chidambaram said when he noted that the buck stopped with the state chief minister.

“States have primary responsibility. But, when law and order spreads beyond the border of a particular state, then while the concerned state governments have a role, the role of the central government in coordinating becomes important,” he said.

The Left leader also said that the government should tackle the Maoists on three fronts — by re-establishing civil administration, increasing development as well as combating the Maoist political ideology.