Maoists are the biggest problem in West Bengal, says Buddhadeb

Kolkata, Oct.31 (ANI): West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Saturday said the Maoist problem was emerging as a major problem in the State and it was now the biggest challenge before his Government.

Addressing a public convention of the Left Front at the Netaji Indoor Stadium, Kolkata, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said the Maoists were utilizing the jungle and hilly terrain of the area to conduct their activities with impunity while adding that they were also using the border with Jharkhand to move around between the two states without being caught.

"Our biggest problem now is that some districts in south Bengal, especially West Midnapore, Bankura, Purulia are facing the brunt of maoist activities. This is right now our biggest problem. You know this is in India's central area, a tribal belt. This area is poor, it is also surrounded by forests and hills. Extremists chose these kinds of spots to carry out such activities. Hence they have chosen Jharkhand and using that as launching pad, the Maoists are operating here. In our state they are creating problems in Bankura, Purulia, West Midnapore and adjacent areas."

Critising the opposition Trinamool Congress party, Bhattacharjee said that Trinamool party ministers were in cahoots with the Maoists. He said that even the Indian Railways had failed to name the Maoists or the Peoples' Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA) in its First Information Report (FIR) on the Rajdhani hostage drama, which rocked the country recently.

"The Central govt as well as the Prime Minister have said the Maoists are our biggest security threat. If we had understood this in our state, if Trinamool Congress had understood this that Maoists want to end the democratic process.. but Trinamool thinks otherwise. That's unfortunate," the West Bengal CM said.

Bhattacharjee said that this proved that the opposition was hands in glove with the Maoists who were destabilising the State.

He blamed the opposition leaders in the State being prone to lose talk on the issue and behaving irresponsibly in the matter.

"There are other ministers with her. They said they knew about the incident (Rajdhani Drama) from the previous evening. What kind of people are these? But others don't seem to understand the gravity of these statements or even give them due importance. But these things are said to scare people. If they knew why didn't they inform the PM or even the Railway Minister? I think this is all useless talk, not to be taken seriously."

Bhattacharya also pointed out Maoists killing CPI(M) supporters in the state and they wanted to de-stabilise the democratic process in the country.

"What kind of Maoists are they who are creating explosions. Then they are murdering people. In the last two months not one day has passed when someone has not been killed in West Midnapore. Murders happened yesterday too. People are called from home in the middle of the night and shot dead. They shoot and escape to the forests or to Jharkhand. In the last two months, if not more, at least 65 CPI(M) workers have been killed. Our party worker was killed in Purulia after his home was set on fire. Other left leaders are also threatened".

The Left Front Chairman, Biman Bose, and other senior left leaders were also present on the occasion. By Ajitha Menon (ANI)