Ban on Maoists will not serve any purpose: Karat

“We have to combat them politically and administratively”

NEW DELHI: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) said on Monday that the ban imposed by the Centre on Maoists would not serve any purpose.

“Our stand in West Bengal is that we have to combat [Maoists] politically and administratively,” general secretary Prakash Karat told The Hindu.

His point of view was not in response to the decision of the Centre, which could ban organisations, but the party line, he said.

Combination strategy

Mr. Karat said a political strategy was necessary, because the Maoists had to be isolated from the sections of the people who associated themselves with them, and a firm administrative action was needed when they indulged in violence. “A combination [of political and administrative] measures is the most effective.”

All-India Forward Bloc general secretary Debabrata Biswas said the Maoist movement could not be seen as a mere law and order issue, and banning it would not solve the problem.

Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said the government should also act against organisations that had ties with the Maoists.

Ban no cure, says Bardhan

CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan has said imposing a ban on the CPI (Maoist) is not a cure to the problem and the CPI will prefer countering such outfits politically.

“That has been our stand and that will continue,” Mr. Bardhan said. He extended his party’s support to the operations launched jointly by the State and Central governments in West Bengal to recapture the areas occupied and declared as ‘liberated provinces’ by the Maoists.

Asserting that the rule of law should be established in all parts of the State, he, however, said the operations should be conducted “as peacefully as possible” and the common people should not be unduly harassed. “Even if the operation is conducted slowly and steadily, efforts should be made to see that harassment is not unleashed on the people,” he said.

State-specific factors responsible for poll debacle: Bardhan

Kolkata (PTI): The process of land acquisition by the West Bengal Government to set up industry was not right, which along with some other state-specific factors, was responsible for the Left debacle in the Lok Sabha elections, CPI general secretary A B Bardhan said here on Sunday.

"We are not against industrialisation, but the process of land acquisition was not right. The state government should know how to carry on the process of industrialisation in a Leftist way within the framework of the Constitution," Mr. Bardhan said.

He was addressing the press after a two-day state council meeting at the Bhupesh Bhawan -- the CPI state headquarters.

Admitting that the Left Front Government in the state had created "some blunders", Mr. Bardhan said his party had always believed revival of the old and closed-down industries were as equally important as opening up of new ones.

Asked why it took them so long to realise this and whether they will take it up with the CPI(M), Bardhan said, "We had expressed our views within the Left Front and in different places. We will take it up in the Left Front meeting again."

He said apart from the land acquisition, there were other state- specific local issues as well which contributed to the poll setback in West Bengal and Kerala.