Click to play videoNew Delhi: In the face of mounting criticism West Bengal government is considering banning the Maoists. But before that decision is taken, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee blamed the Trinamool Congress of having links with the Maoists.
The Communist Party of India (Maoists) has been entrenched in Lalgarh for the past six months, digging up trenches, hiding behind human shields even as the state government looked on.
Now in the face of mounting criticism for doing little the Buddhadeb government is waking up with a little nudge from the Centre and the Maoists could now be banned.
"Chidambaram (Union Home Minister P Chidambaram) also advised me to ban this organisation. I told him we have to give this matter a serious thought," said Buddhadeb.
Chidambaram on Friday had admitted that states should act against the most important internal security threat to the country.
"It's for the Government of West Bengal to respond. We think the CPI-Maoists should be banned in West Bengal as it has been banned in other states," Chidambaram had said.
But it is the alleged links between political parties and the Maoists that has triggered off a debate.
Buddhadeb said the current Lalgarh siege of the Maoists could be traced to the Trinamool Congress.
"Trinamool Congress has strong links. People Committee against police terrorism and the leader of that group Chhatradhar Mahato is very much a member of the Trinamool Congress," claimed Buddhadeb.
The allegation has raised the hackles of both the Congress and the Trinamool.
"This Chief Minister has to be sacked immediately. He is wholly responsible for all the atrocities," demanded Mamata.
But in fact only four of 28 states in the country have banned the CPI-Maoists. The states are Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Tamil Nadu.
Even the worst affected states of Jharkhand and Maharashtra have at best been indifferent to the idea of banning the Maoist terror.
Are Naxal groups being used as politically handy tools by successive state governments to get even with their opponents is a question that the Centre and Mamata Banerjee need to answer?
But while the West Bengal government is yet to learn its lessons from Lalgarh, the fact is that nurturing terror groups like the Naxals could in the days to come cost state governments the people’s mandate.
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