लोकसभा में नक्सलियों के मुद्दे पर गरजे अमित शाह
RAIPUR: A political backlash took over the anti-Naxal campaign on Tuesday after former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel hit back at Union home minister Amit Shah, accusing him of making a “blatantly false” statement in Lok Sabha and urging him not to politicise the Maoist issue. The reaction followed Shah’s reply in Lok Sabha on Monday during a discussion on Naxalism, where he said India was now almost free of Naxal violence and had attacked the Congress over its past handling of the issue. In his speech, Shah accused the previous Congress govt in Chhattisgarh of having “saved” Maoists and, amid protests from the opposition, said, in effect, that he could provide proof and that Bhupesh Baghel should be asked about it.Responding on social media, Baghel rejected the charge and said that during the five years of the Congress govt in Chhattisgarh, several meetings of chief ministers of Naxal-affected states were held, attended by chief secretaries and DGPs as well, but the Centre had never then raised any objection that the state was protecting Maoists.Baghel asked hah to make public any evidence if the Centre had indeed objected to his govt’s actions at the time.
Baghel said the Maoist issue should not be reduced to partisan politics. He maintained that his govt, too, had fought Maoists continuously and said security camps had been set up deep inside Bastar during the Congress tenure, without which, many of the present operations would not have been possible. In a sharply worded response, the Congress leader said Shah was free to praise the Centre’s current campaign, but should not try to rise politically by “stepping on our back”.
He also said Congress had suffered deeply from Maoist violence and had lost senior leaders in Maoist attacks, making it all the more important not to turn the issue into a political slugfest.Chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai reacted saying that the statements made by Bhupesh Baghel are “completely false” and accused him of trying to hide his own shortcomings.CM Sai said that after the new govt took charge in Chhattisgarh in December 2023, Shah visited the state the very next month and conducted a review of all Naxal-affected states.
“It was found that more than 75% of Naxalism was concentrated in Chhattisgarh,” he said.He added, “If the previous Congress govt had shown firm resolve and fought Maoism with the right intent during its five-year tenure, the situation would not have reached this stage. Other states had only residual presence of Naxalism. The situation here could have been similar.” Sai alleged that the state govt at the time did not cooperate with the Centre in tackling Maoism. “If Bhupesh Baghel is making such statements today, then he is speaking absolutely false,” he said.
