New Delhi not supporting anti-Maoist operations: Nitish Kumar

NEW DELHI - Stressing that Maoists were “part of our society” and could not be defeated with “enforced action alone”, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Wednesday slammed the central government for what he said was the lack of support for the state’s anti-Maoist operations.

“Naxal elements are a part of our society even though they have been misled into following the path of violence,” Nitish Kumar said in his address at the meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with the chief ministers of Maoist-affected states.

“Enforcement action alone leads to wider alienation, making heroes out of the leaders of the extremist organisations and leads to only symptomatic treatment, leaving the underlined disease to reappear in a more virulent form,” he said.

The chief minister said left wing extremism should be tackled through “sustained development but this needs the centre’s supportive approach to states like Bihar”.

He advocated an “integrated approach” between states to deal with the problem and slammed the central government for allegedly not cooperating with his government over the demands for more paramilitary troopers.

“Bihar has not received the requisite support from the central government… There has been no change in the number of paramilitary companies deployed in Bihar over the last several years,” he said.

The number of paramilitary forces was increased in other states but Bihar did not get a single additional company, the Bihar chief minister said.

He also criticised the Planning Commission’s action plan for carrying out developmental work in 35 Maoist-affected districts saying there were “83 left wing extremism affected districts all over India”.

“It is not clear as to why only 35 districts have been selected for the integrated development plan,” he said.

“As the remaining 48 districts will continue to remain backward, the problem cannot be solved by leaving the majority of the districts uncovered,” the chief minister said.

He said the state government was successful in keeping the Maoists under check despite this.

“We have raised special auxiliary police by employing ex-servicemen. Unfortunately, we have not been able to get the sanctioned number even after relaxing the employment conditions and raising the allowances,” he said.