A day ahead of the chief ministers’ meeting on internal security, the government on Wednesday said naxalism could not be treated just as a “police issue”. It said developmental programmes need to be undertaken along with security matters to tackle the menace.
Union home secretary Madhukar Gupta emphasised the need to employ “new techniques” to counter naxalism.
“Naxalism is not purely a police issue. There are developmental aspects also. Let us see how we can bring these two issues on one table,” Gupta told reporters here.
“The ideology of the naxals is to exploit the lack of development and this is what we have to address and expose. They are employing new methods and we have to continuously update our strategy and adopt new technology,” he said.
Noting that there is a need to address development and security issues to tackle naxalism, he said tomorrow’s meeting is expected to discuss ways and means to deal with the menace and improve interactions with states.
Amid growing incidents of naxalism, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will chair a meeting of chief ministers on Thursday in the capital to devise a strategy to fight the menace as well as terrorism.
The day-long meeting will also deliberate on the overall situation in Jammu and Kashmir and the north east besides the need for better intelligence gathering and filling the large number of vacancies in the state police.
The meeting comes in the backdrop of a series of terror attacks, the latest being the serial blasts in three Uttar Pradesh towns last month.
