Making clear that ?the State has a legitimate right to deploy its security forces to resist, apprehend and, if necessary, neutralise militants? striking at the very roots of the nation, Union home minister P Chidambaram on Thursday called for countering the Naxal threat with ?a strong head, a stronger heart and enormous staying power?, underlining that ?the government has all three qualities?.
Making a statement in the Rajya Sabha on the Dantewada massacre– in which 76 security personnel were killed on April 6– Chidambaram said the state governments have the ?primary responsibility to regain control of areas dominated by the Naxalites, restore the civil administration, and re-start development work?.
The Centre, he said, ?stands ready and willing to assist the state governments and to coordinate inter-state operations?.
Earlier, both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha witnessed frequent adjournments over the issue as the Opposition wanted an immediate discussion and alleged that the government had taken the incident in a casual manner.
Giving details of the Dantewada incident, Chidambaram rejected suggestions that the security forces were not adequately trained. ?The three companies concerned had undergone pre-induction training before they were inducted in that area.?
?Anti-Naxal operations are being conducted in accordance with the policy deliberated and agreed upon at several meetings with chief ministers of the affected states. The two pillars of the policy are calibrated police action and development,? he said.
But he pointed to hindrances in the way of security operations. ?Because the security forces are deployed in areas populated by Scheduled Tribes, a number of restrictions have been placed on the operations of Central paramilitary forces.?
He reminded Parliament that ?the goal of the Naxalites is to overthrow the established authority of the government through armed liberation struggle?.
?The call to the CPI (Maoist) for talks was made in the hope that there will be a sincere response from them. The only condition is that the CPI (Maoist) must abjure violence.?
He said an inquiry into the Dantewada incident had been instituted and retired IPS officer EN Rammohan had been asked to submit a report in two weeks. ?We should await the report of the inquiry committee before reaching any final conclusions,? he told the House.
?We should remain calm, hold our nerve and stay on the course that we had carefully chosen since October 2009,? he said. Concerted action against the Naxals by the Centre and the affected states was launched in October last year.
Chidambaram said the Centre had despatched 141 companies of Central Paramilitary Forces for anti-Naxal operations over a period of time at the request of the Chhattisgarh government.
The 62nd Battalion of the CRPF, whose men came under attack, was deployed in March-April, 2009, replacing the 55th Battalion. Earlier, the 62nd Battalion had been deployed in Bihar and had gained experience in anti-Naxal operations.