Govt at war with Naxals to aid MNCs: Arundhati

WAR-ZONE: Arundhati Roy says the Government wants a war to clear out the forest areas for corporates.

      

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New Delhi: It was an evening of an explosive confession on CNN-IBN. Naxal leader Kishenji has for the first time claimed responsibility for the beheading of Jharkhand police officer Francis Induvar two weeks ago. Even more chilling are his threats that they will kill again on a day when Naxals attacked another police station in West Midnapore on Tuesday. The question that was being asked on CNN-IBN's India At 9 was: Is it possible for the Government and Naxals to come to the dialogue table? To try and answer the question on the panel of experts were writer and activist Arundhati Roy and Jharkhand-based activist Gladson Dungdung.

CNN-IBN Naxal leader Kishenji has said clearly that there will be more violence. In this violent climate, how can you expect the Government of India to reach out and call for a dialogue which is what you, Arundhati Roy and other civil rights activists are asking for. What about asking the Naxals to abjure violence.

Arundhati Roy: I saw the letter which Mr Chidambaram has written asking whether civil society groups can persuade the Naxals to abjure violence. I think it is a bit disingenuous, because this binary which has been created - of the Naxals on one side and the Government on the other side and the human rights activists in the middle - is a simplification of a very, very complex picture. I don't think there is anything as human rights activists for they all belong to different groups. There is a whole range of non-violent, democratic resistances which are all being called Naxal which are all being asked to negotiate. So if the Government wants to negotiate with the Naxals, then it should specifically negotiate with them.

CNN-IBN The Government is very specifically asking citizen groups to speak to the CPI-Maoists and to bring them into the political mainstream. What's wrong with that?

Arundhati Roy: I am not a citizens' group. I am an activist.

CNN-IBN But you are a citizens' group that came out publicly on Tuesday and asked that the offensive should be called off.

Arundhati Roy: Of course. You have to look at this historically in terms of why this has happened. For 30 years in places like Chhattisgarh, there have been Naxals. Why is the situation now being made to sound like there is this huge upsurge? The real fact is - and I believe this - that it is the Government that wants a war to clear out the forest areas because there is a huge backlog of MoUs in Jharkhand as well as Chhattisgarh that are not being activated.

CNN-IBN The Home Minister told CNN-IBN about a month ago - in answer to this very same question - that the Government would like to do development work in these areas, but when we build roads the Naxals blow them up, when we build schools the Naxals blow them up, they mine everything and they do not allow development to take place. You say it is binary but it is also a bit chicken and egg. What is the Government of India supposed to do if the force that is opposed to them is taking arms, is beheading policemen, is resorting to violence?