New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah said Tuesday that his appeal to Maoist cadres from Parliament had worked successfully, adding that only 10 percent of the cadres had been killed in operations, while 90 percent had surrendered weapons before the security forces.
Shah said that those who abide by the law of the land would be treated as citizens, but those violating the law would be dealt with firmly by the security forces—from Jammu and Kashmir, to the North East and Bastar.
His remarks came during the concluding ceremony of the Chhattisgarh Rajyotsav celebrations in Raipur held by the Bharatiya Janata Party government, led by Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai. The event was organised to commemorate the formation of the state in November 2000 by then NDA government, led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
The home minister also questioned the critics of the government’s approach towards dealing with Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) with a deadline. He attacked former Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram over his comments on Naxalites during his tenure under the UPA government.
“P. Chidambaram had said that naxalites did not need to surrender weapons, just don’t create violence and fire bullets. Mr Chidambaram, violence is not stopped this way. I am saying this today. I had made it clear in Parliament. Whoever wants to surrender, they can surrender with a weapon, and they would be brought to the mainstream, or else our forces would challenge them,” he said.
“And look at the results, only 10 percent of people were killed, while 90 percent surrendered their weapons, and now the entire country is free of Naxalism. This is the policy of the Narendra Modi government. Those who follow laws will be treated as citizens, and those who break laws, either in Bastar, North East or Kashmir, will be dealt with by security forces in the security of the citizens.”
Shah further said that the BJP government had resolved to eradicate Naxalism from Chhattisgarh within two months of returning to power in the state in December 2023.
On the issue of LWE, he remarked that a red corridor had been created across the region’s forests, and that landmines had replaced mahua, tendu leaves and folk songs.
“The child who should have held a pen in his hand was abducted from school and handed a gun. Where the school bell should have rung, the school building itself was blown up, and the person who was to build the road meant to bring development was burnt alive in front of his family,” Shah added.
He also questioned those who support Naxalism “in the name of human rights”. “Do human rights belong only to those who take up guns and halt development? Do the poor tribals not have human rights?” he said.
The MHA spokesperson further quoted Shah as saying, “Modi government has shown that poor tribals too have human rights… Those whose hands and feet were blown off in bomb blasts over the past 30 years have been provided artificial limbs in an effort to make their lives easier.”
He added that those who have been writing long articles “offering advice” on how to deal with the issues could not muster the courage to come to Bastar and spend even a single day. “Come and experience the breeze of development. If Shri Ram awakens in your heart, then write a couple of articles on their pain.”
‘Oppn has always supported unconstitutional govts’
Likening Opposition parties’ move to hold a ‘mock parliament’ over alleged irregularities in Special Intensive Revision exercise by Election Commission of India, to “Jantana Sarkar” run by the Maoist party, Shah said that these parties have always supported “unconstitutional establishments”.
“The Congress party has always supported unconstitutional governments and parliaments. Here, the naxalites had formed a parallel government called the Jantana Sarkar in Chhattisgarh. They had their own home minister, chief minister, finance minister and other officials. Which constitution permits a ‘Jantana Sarkar’? Who gave you the right to do justice? Several innocent journalists, social workers and students had been hanged from trees by the Naxalites,” he said.
“Congress leader Rahul Gandhi also supports this in Parliament. Earlier, they used to support ‘jantana sarkar’ and unconstitutional governments, and now they have mocked Parliament by organising a ‘mock parliament’ and played a drama of discussion. I want to tell you, Rahul ji, Narendra Modi is ready to discuss each and every issue in Parliament.”
Shah further remarked, “Let the Parliament function; we shall call a special session, and we are ready to discuss the SIR issue. I dare you to discuss SIR before the public. You don’t support the Constitution by carrying a copy of the Constitution; instead, your conduct should be constitutional. You have hampered Parliament; let Parliament function, and let’s have a discussion. The people of the country will get to know who is true and who is false on the issue.”