The barbaric attack on a CRPF convoy at Dantewada in Chhattisgarh?in which 76 jawans were killed? may well alter the future tenor of the national discussion on the Naxal threat and the ways to tackle it. For the moment, however, it has given the ruling party of West Bengal a chance to snap back at Union home minister P Chidambaram. In a significant departure, though, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee struck a conciliatory note at a press conference in the capital, saying that it was ?not the time to blame anyone, not the time to blame each other?.
The story began when during a visit to West Bengal, just two days before the attack, Chidambaram was all praise for the Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh governments. They had achieved commendable results in crushing the Maoist menace, he had said.
Standing in Lalgarh, the very lair of Naxalites, while reminding chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee that the buck (for maintaining law and order in the state) stopped with him, Chidambaram had cited the examples of these two states. He also expressed concern over the increase in the number of political killings in West Bengal.
The very next day, a day before the attack at Dantewada, Bhattacharjee hit back at Chidambaram, saying that he was fully aware of his responsibilities, and literally asking the home minister to mind his language. ?What is happening in the whole country? Everybody can see that. Why should the Union home minister talk only of West Bengal?? an angry Bhattacharjee asked.
After Dantewada, the West Bengal government has seized the opportunity to lash back at Chidambaram. CPI(M) state secretary Biman Bose has been most vocal in this regard. Reacting to the incident at Dantewada, Bose said that in order to thwart the evil designs of the Maoists, the Union home minister, instead of putting the state in the dock during his visit at Lalgarh, should have given a call to all democratic forces to come forward and fight the Maoists.
Bose said, ?He (Chidambaram) got the opportunity of making that comment sitting at Lalgarh but in Chhattisgarh he could not go to Dantewada where the incident took place. He had to be content with going up to the neighbouring district of Bastar. It shows the abysmal situation in those states,?? Bose said.
The Union government, he said, should keep in mind that crushing Naxalite violence could not be the responsibility of the states alone, and that the Centre has a larger role to play in this regard. ?The states definitely have the responsibility to tackle this wanton violence unleashed by the Maoists but the Centre has a bigger role to play and Chidambaram should not have forgotten it,?? Bose said,
The CPI(M) Politburo member also used the occasion to take pot shots at the Opposition Trinamool Congress saying the party was hand in glove with the Maoists. ?It is the Trinamool Congress which is standing in the way in the development at Lalgarh. It is this party which, in collusion with NGOs, is stoking Naxalite violence. The Union home minister should have given the call to all the parties, including the Trinamool Congress, to come forward for development of Jungle Mahal,?? Bose said.