Kolkata/New Delhi, Aug. 18: Top Maoist leader Kishenji late on Tuesday night suggested a three-month ceasefire by both sides and talks for a peace process.
The truce offer comes two days after the President, Ms Pratibha Patil, and the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, asked the Maoists to abjure violence and come to the discussion table.
“The President and the Prime Minister, in their Independence Day speeches, have appealed to the Maoists to abjure violence. We are never for violence but the government has instigated us to take up arms,” Kishenji said from an undisclosed destination.
“When our comrade Azad was preparing ground for talks, he was treacherously killed... So, it is very clear from the activities of the government that they don’t want any peace,” Kishenji said.
The Maoist leader claimed there were “some reports from the Prime Minister’s office that (railway minister and Trinamul chief) Mamata Banerjee has been asked to work as a mediator. If she agrees, then we have no problem”.
The Central government, meanwhile, took with a pinch of salt the latest offer from Maoist for talks and said it seems that the Centre’s suggestion to abjure violence and come for a dialogue was falling on deaf ears.