Putting an end to the ongoing debate in the party and the government over the correct approach to deal with Naxalism, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has maintained that unless the “root causes” are dealt with properly, it can not be defeated decisively.
Expressing her views in the party mouthpiece Congress Sandesh, Mrs Gandhi said, “While we must address acts of terror decisively and forcefully, we have to address the root causes of Naxalism.”
Maintaining that the rise of Naxalism is a “reflection of the need for our development initiatives to reach the grassroots,” especially in “our most backward districts”, she said. “This is why our government is putting in place more targeted development schemes for our most backward tribal districts.” Recognising that the country is facing “enormous challenge” from Naxalites, the Congress president recalled the causality of security forces in Chhattisgarh. She said, “The CRPF lost 73 brave jawans in the attack. Our thoughts go out to the grieving families of these men, who have lost their lives.”
The debate over the approach in dealing with the Left-wing extremism was triggered by AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh, who in a newspaper article, had suggested that home minister P. Chidambaram was treating the Naxalite issue as a law and order problem, which was wrong and called for a rethink of counter-Maoist strategy. Mr Singh had, however, sometime back regretted his remarks and had also met the Mr Chidambaram, apparently to clear air on the issue.
Mr Singh had written the article after April 6 Dantewada massacre.