Two days after cabinet secretary KM Chandrasekhar issued a communiqu? at the instance of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to all ministers stating that only the home ministry will be the nodal authority to speak on Maoist insurgency, Congress leader and general secretary Digvijay Singh questioned home minister P Chidambaram?s Naxal policy and claimed to be ?a victim of his intellectual arrogance?.
The Congress was quick to snub Singh, asking him to express his views ?within the party forum only?.
In an article in The Economic Times on Wednesday, Singh made a highly personalised attack on Chidambaram, accusing him of ?intellectual arrogance?.
?I have known P Chidambaram since 1985 when we both were elected to Parliament. He is extremely intelligent, articulate, committed and a sincere politician?but extremely rigid once he makes up his mind. I have been a victim of his intellectual arrogance many times, but we still are good friends. In this case, I have differed with his strategy that does not take into consideration the people living in the affected area who ultimately matter. He is treating it purely as a law and order problem without taking into consideration the issues that affect the tribals,? Singh wrote.
?When I raised these issues with him, he said that it was not his responsibility. I strongly believe in the collective responsibility of the Cabinet, and as home minister, it is his responsibility to take a holistic view of the issue and put it up to the Cabinet rather than opt for a narrow sectarian view. The home minister is also a member of the core group. As far as law and order is concerned, the buck stops with the chief minster, not with the home minister.?
Although Singh made an attempt to project his views as being in sync with the party line?he called the Maoists ?misguided ideologues? and spoke of the need to empower tribals?Congress leaders were annoyed with his direct assault on the government which they felt would further embolden Maoists.
?The Congress is a democratic party. Everyone has the right to express his or her voice but such views should be expressed within the party forum only,? said Janardan Dwivedi who heads the Congress media department. Party managers failed to contact Singh who is presently in the United States.
Congress sources said that while Singh?s views about socio-economic factors being responsible for the rise of Naxalism were in keeping with the party?s stated stance on the issue, he went ?too far? in making a personal attack on the home minister.
A day after 75 CRPF personnel had been killed by Maoists in Dantewada, AICC spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan had left no ambiguity about the change in the party approach to Naxal violence. She had said that while a ?long-term view? had to be taken about addressing socio-economic factors, those indulging in violence had to be ?wiped out?. In this backdrop, Digvijay Singh appears to have sounded a discordant note.