Ajit Jogi: Army deployment not feasible in naxal belts

Advises govt to adopt Andhra Pradesh model to tackle naxal menace

Alleges CM was highest bidder for legislative seats during VS polls

Raipur, July 27

Flaying the state government for not framing any
effective strategy to eradicate naxalism, senior Congress leader and
former CM Ajit Jogi said that Chief Minister Raman Singh’s proposal of
army deployment in the Maoist-hit areas was not feasible. The entire
proposal indicates that the BJP-led state government was not serious
in solving the issue and it just wanted to throw the ball in the
Centre’s court, Jogi said during the discussion on adjournment motion
called by Opposition on rising naxal violence in the Chhattisgarh
during the monsoon session of the state Assembly on Tuesday.
Jogi said the government did not ponder about the aftereffects of army
deployment before making such demand from the Centre. He said the
conditions in Chhattisgarh had not aggravate to that extent that army
was thought to be the last resort. “The government can deal the
problem with the existing paramilitary forces, but it must use it
properly,” he said pointing that the Centre usually presses the army
in those states that are located at national borders like Jammu and
Kashmir and north-eastern states.
Jogi advised the government to adopt the Andhra Pradesh formula to
uproot the naxals. “Although the number of our jawans is much more
than the total number of Maoists in the state, but during encounters,
the extremists overpower us because they are well versed with the
demography of the Bastar region and are experts in guerilla war. The
government should first train the CRPF jawans before sending them in
the dense forests,” he said.
Pointing towards the Raman government’s success in the past two
Assembly elections in the Bastar region, Jogi alleged that it happened
back-to-back because the CM himself was the highest bidder for
legislative seats.
Expressing his concern over the expanding domain of naxals in the
state, Jogi referred to a report that said that the Maoist terror
could be felt in all the districts except Janjgir-Champa.
He said the government incurred maximum loss in terms of property and
lives due to landmine laid by the naxals in every party of the Bastar
region including kuchcha and pucca roads. “The United States of
America (USA) faced similar situation in Afghanistan, but it had host
of hi-tech landmine detectors. When Centre is ready to flow the fund,
why Raman-government is not purchasing such gadgets?” he asked. He
also condemned the government for not buying quality bullet proof
jackets for the jawans.
Ridiculing the salva judum campaign launched by the BJP government,
Jogi asked how the government could initiate such drives based on
peaceful agitation when the naxals were relentlessly killing the
innocent people. He said the supporters of salva judum had directly
come into the hit list of Maoists and they would kill them one-by-one.