Mamata sticks to comments on slain Maoist leader

KOLKATA - Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee Wednesday stuck to her comments suggesting Maoist leader Azad was killed in a staged shootout and said she was happy the rebels had responded to calls from the president and the prime minister to come for talks.

Speaking to reporters at her residence here, a day after the Maoists proposed a three-month ceasefire and sought her as one of the mediators in the proposed peace talks, Banerjee said the problem should be solved peacefully and democratically through negotiations.

Banerjee refused to make any firm commitment on Maoist leader Koteshwar Rao alias Kishanji suggesting her name as a mediator, but said: “If anyone wants to discuss the matter with me, I can give my opinion.

“I have seen media reports. But during these 10 days, I was not able to talk to anybody. Let me crosscheck. It is a government decision. I did not talk to the government regarding this,” she said.

To queries about the furore in parliament over her comments about Azad’s death at a rally Aug 9, Banerjee said: “Whatever I said in Lalgarh as Trinamool Congress chief, I stick to it.”

At the rally, Banerjee condemned the “manner” in which Azad, nee Cherukuri Rajkumar, was killed at Adilabad in Andhra Pradesh July 2.

“I feel the way Azad was killed is not right. … what happened is not right. Azad had reposed faith in the democratic process,” Banerjee said at the rally organised under the banner of the Anti-Atrocities Forum.

Banerjee, who left for Delhi Wednesday afternoon, took on the opposition for raising a hue and cry in parliament over her comments.

“In a democracy, I cannot impose my opinion on everybody. They also cannot impose their opinion on me,” she said.

“This is my view. It is my freedom of expression. Anybody can criticize me. I welcome it if it is positive. But I have a right to express my view,” the minister said.

“What Lalgarh? I went there. I am proud to say. I will again go. I want peace,” Banerjee shot back when reporters pressed for her comments about the criticism for holding the Lalgarh rally.

The government has said that Azad was killed in an exchange of fire with the security forces.

Banerjee said in a democratic set-up, it was always preferable to have an amicable and peaceful solution.

“We want all our people to come to the mainstream. Let there be negotiations,” she said.

“We have seen the bloodbath in Lalgarh. We have seen how the thing is going on throughout the country,” Banerjee said.

Banerjee said she has seen President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s Independence Day speeches where they appealed to the Maoist guerillas to abjure violence and sit for talks.

“If anybody wants negotiations that is goof. They (Maoists) have honoured the president and the prime minister’s speeches. That is also good for the country,” she said.