‘Centre’s cowardly stand is emboldening the Naxals’

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Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Wednesday, criticised Union home minister P. Chidambaram for taking a cowardly stand against the Naxals and demanded that they should be dealt with like enemies of the state.
Mr Thackeray compared the Naxals to terrorists, and said that the Congress government neither has the courage nor the willpower to give a befitting reply to the attacks launched by the Naxals and terrorists.
Mr Thackeray criticised Mr Chidambaram for his statement: “I don’t consider the Naxals as enemies, and I would never consider them enemies.” He advised the Union home minister to talk to the families of victims of the Naxal attacks. “Those who deceive and attack our security forces, shoot our soldiers even after they are dead, have to be considered as enemies of the state. But our home minister takes a cowardly stand by saying that he is ready to hold talks with the Naxals, if they stop the violence for 72 hours. This kind of spineless stand increases the Naxals’ courage to keep attacking,” Mr Thackeray said.
In an editorial in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna, Mr Thackeray said, “The Naxals have been carrying out frequent attacks in Dantewada. This has forced the common man to wonder whether the Congress government has been appointed to count dead bodies. The country that is dreaming of becoming a superpower is being attacked from all sides. First, foreign terrorists enter the country and kill over 200 people, then Naxals carry out landmine blasts and kill soldiers and civilians. But there has never been a strong counter-attack by the government.”
The Shiv Sena chief added that the government’s inaction has boosted the morale of the state’s enemies and that has resulted in daily bloodshed in the country.
Criticising government policies for the rise of the Naxalite movement, Mr Thackeray said that the movement has now drifted from its original cause. He said, “It cannot be denied that the Naxalite movement drew its strength from the discontent against the government caused by extreme disparity, exploitation and corruption. However, the movement drifted from its motive and the government made a mistake by underestimating the Naxals.”
Meanwhile, Mr Thackeray claimed that more than 6,500 people have been killed in the Naxal attacks between 1996 to 2009. Interestingly though, from 1998 to 2004, the Sena was a part of the ruling NDA government.