Naxal threat has not become worse: Patil

THE RED MENACE: Union Home Minister says he is sure the police can wipe out rebels.

        

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Is Naxalism India’s gravest security threat and what is the Centre doing to fight the rebels. Karan Thapar asked this to Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil on Devil’s Advocate.

Karan Thapar: Mr Patil, speaking to the Chief Ministers in December, the Prime Minister said not a day passes without an incident of Leftist extremism taking place some place or the other. How serious is the Naxal problem?

Shivraj Patil: Well, any bloodshed or any violence taking place in the country, we cannot be happy about it.

Karan Thapar: But is this serious?

Shivraj Patil: There are incidents taking place in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, some places in Bihar, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh. But the two states which are worst affected are Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, and the third state which is affected on a large scale is Orissa.

Karan Thapar: Is this the single biggest security challenge to the Indian state?

Shivraj Patil: I don’t think so.

Karan Thapar: You don’t think so?

Shivraj Patil: No.

Karan Thapar: I quoted the Prime Minister –

Shivraj Patil: Well, again I’d like to request you, don’t ask me to comment on my colleagues or my Prime Minister, or my leader. You ask for my opinion, I’ll give you my opinion.

Karan Thapar: All right, tell me then, why do you disagree with the statement that this is the single biggest security threat India faces?

Shivraj Patil: You know, what is it that we are trying to understand? Are we trying to understand how serious is this problem, what steps are going to be taken, in what manner are we going to control it–or are we going to create a situation in which everybody’s statement is being commented upon? What is it that we are trying to do?

Karan Thapar: I am trying to first to understand how serious it is.

Shivraj Patil: Yes, that’s why you ask me. If you take the statistics from 2003 to 2007, you will find that the statistics are not at all different. On the contrary, if you go to Andhra Pradesh, the improvement in Andhra Pradesh is to the tune of 70 per cent. So you see, if you go to Bihar, there is an improvement. If you go to the other states, there is an improvement whereas in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand –I am not blaming the government, I am not blaming the Chief Minister over there–there, the situation has deteriorated.

Karan Thapar: Can I interrupt? You’re saying two things and I am just clarifying for the audience. First of all you are saying the statistics of 2002 onward do not justify Naxalism being considered the single, biggest threat.

Shivraj Patil: No, what I am saying is that if you consider whether the situation has deteriorated or improved, then you have to depend on the statistic that is available to you, and the statistic which is available to you goes to show that except for Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Orissa, the situation in other states has improved.