Union home minister P. Chidambaram on Thursday said the Centre had taken serious note of Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee’s accusation that the Marxist government of West Bengal was “misusing” Central forces deployed for anti-Naxalite operations, and that the CRPF director-general had been directed “to look into the matter.” Ms Banerjee is planning to launch a popular movement in West Bengal from Saturday to press for the withdrawal of Central forces from Maoist-infested parts of the state.
In an exclusive interview to this newspaper, Mr Chidambaram said: “She is a valuable ally. She has a point of view, which must be acknowledged.” He made it clear that the Centre “provides paramilitary forces at the request of state governments. It is the state government which deploys them for operations. We expect the state government to observe the rules of the game, the rule of law, while deploying these forces.”
The home minister added: “If they (state government) are violating the rules or committing any excesses, that must certainly be looked into.”
It might be recalled that the Trinamul chief had gone on record saying that she had recently “informed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that the CPI(M) was using the joint forces to set up camps to shelter party hooligans.” She went on to allege that CPI(M) party cadres “in the garb of policemen, including CRPF personnel, were looting villages and rendering hundreds of people homeless.”
Referring to such accusations, the Union home minister said that “to the best of my knowledge Ms Banerjee’s complaint is about the armed cadres that have established camps in the Junglemahal area.” Mr Chidambaram added that he had taken up the matter “quite seriously with the chief minister of West Bengal.”
However, when asked about the Trinamul Congress’ demand for the withdrawal of Central forces from West Bengal since they were being “misused” by the state government, Mr Chidambaram said: “I have no report to confirm that. But I have asked the new CRPF director-general to look into the allegation and ensure that the forces perform only those duties for which they were deployed.”
The Trinamul Congress intends to hold rallies in the three districts of Junglemahal on Saturday to press its demand for the withdrawal of the security forces. “We will not rest till the security forces are withdrawn,” said Trinamul MP Subhendu Adhikari.