JD-U against Army for Naxals
Trying to play vote bank politics, the JD(U) on Friday appeared to be soft on Maoists and blamed the Centre’s new economic policy and exploitation of tribals by corporates for the rise of Naxalites in Bihar. JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav in a press conference strongly opposed the use of the Army against Maoists.
Virtually speaking the CPI(Maoist) language, Mr Yadav said that “tribals have no voice in the country and their leadership must be promoted with empathy.”
It was reported in this newspaper that the JD(U) was going soft on Maoists since the bulk of the insurgents come from Kushvaha community, which form nearly six per cent of the state’s vote bank.
When asked about the criminalisation of the JD(U), Mr Yadav tried to be evasive and said talks were on with “tainted” politician Mohammed Taslimuddin to get him into the party for quite some time.
Reacting to reports on Mr Nitish Kumar attending a marriage ceremony at the residence of the jailed politician, Anand Mohan, the JD(U) chief tried to avoid the topic by claiming that this was “media speculation”. Later, another JD(U) official clarified that “Kumarji went since he was invited.”
Speaking to reporters on the issue of Naxalism, Mr Yadav also stated that the use of the Army is not feasible and traditional force (state police) should be used with humanity. “The Central government is depending too much on force to tackle the Naxals. The situation is getting worse day by day. Use of the Army is not a solution as they are not trained for tackling internal disturbances. Let the police and local administration tackle the problem,” Mr Yadav stated.
Earlier, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar had accused the Centre for not providing adequate support to his state for tackling Naxalism, while warning that the problem can not be solved by the use of force alone.
The JD(U) chief further stated that the tribals are being uprooted from their resources.
“Jal, jungle, zameen (water, forest and land) are the livelihood of the tribals. They are the life force of the tribals. However, due to the new economic policy, these resources are being exploited without compensating the tribals,” said Mr Yadav.
The JD(U) chief also made a strong pitch for nationalisation of the mineral resources in the country. He also demanded a comprehensive mining policy for the country along with the demand that honest bureaucrats be posted in the tribal areas where mining activities take place.
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