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Chidambaram sticks to standard line: There is no operation Green Hunt
*India's home Minister carries on a ridiculous fraud *Admits that situation on the naxalite front is bad *Also admits there were police excesses in certain areas of Maoist dominance
WSN Bureau 

NEW DELHI: the ping-pong exchange of statements is currently on between the beleaguered Indian government and the violent Maoist groups.  Reacting to Indian home Minister P. Chidambaram's statement that he was prepared to talk to the Maoists provided they stopped violence for 72 hours, the Maoist leadership came up with the rebuttal that they were ready to announce ceasefire was 72 days instead of 72 hours if the government was ready to talk.  On Tuesday, P. Chidambaram seemed to be almost trying to escape the situation by saying he would first want to see a fax from the Maoists at a particular number in the home Ministry and a clear statement that the Maoists are ready to talk without any preconditions and only then he will take the matter to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet and will be ready to talk. 

The 72 hours-72 days drama started happening within days of rather funny statements by the Chidambaram in which he repeatedly asked by intellectual in India not to support the Maoists.  This has been a regular refrain of Chidambaram who has often complained that the intellectuals were making his job difficult by repeatedly pointing out to the government's inability, unwillingness and complete failure to carry out any socioeconomic progress in the areas that have witnessed Maoist activity in recent years. 

By saying this, Chidambaram has clearly exposed not only himself but even his own government as the one that only sees the Maoist violence as a landlord was situation instead of the outcome of years of neglect, apathy and disempowerment of the tribals.  Not once has Chidambaram said a word about the role of the multinational corporations that have been eyeing the area which is full of minerals. 

In fact, Chidambaram even accused the media of letting itself be seduced by the Maoists and once again clearly stated that his solution comes only from the barrel of a gun rather then any imaginative ideas about carrying out the real development in the region that has been ignored for decades and where the corporate interests are now getting proactive. 

“But don’t forget the bottom line — the CPI(Maoists) believe in armed liberation struggle. Accept it or reject it. There can be no half-way approach. Most people still think there could be a compromise or some kind of median approach. This is immature and foolish,” Chidambaram said.  

Chidambaram said the government was following a policy on naxalites but it would take some time for the results to become visible, and in the meantime they would continue to try every trick in the bag to garner support.  

He admitted that the situation on the naxalite front was bad. “This is expected because as long as we did not engage them, they were happy and expanding. They will continue to expand unless we challenge them.” 

Denying that any operation was being carried out under the name of “Operation Green Hunt” in Chhattisgarh, he said the Centre was just assisting the States in reclaiming the areas under Maoists control. “This is a careful, controlled and calibrated move with no carnage or collateral damage.”  

Continuous denial of the operation Green Hunt has been a strategy of Chidambaram even though it is more than clear that the operation has been planned months in advance and there are ulterior motives involved.

24 February 2010
 

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