New Delhi: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh on Wednesday called Naxals “terrorists” and alleged they may have links with Lashkar-e-Toiba, the militant group blamed for several terror attacks in the country.
"Who else can be termed as terrorists? They are the biggest terrorists; Naxalism is a biggest challenge to the democracy. They want to capture power at gunpoint," said Singh at a news conference in Delhi. The BJP politician is in the national capital to meet the Prime Minister after Naxals blew up a bus and killed over 30 people in Danetwada district on Monday.
"Though I have no confirmation but some facts have come to light indicating that Naxals may have some connection with Lashkar militants. The manner in which they are using IEDs (improvised explosive device), explosives and weapons with 100 per cent technical surety shows there are experts behind this who are giving them training," Singh said.
He alleged Naxals had killed over a thousand civilians and more than 650 policemen in 10 years in his state. They had blown up 132 electric towers, 106 school buildings and three hospitals.
Singh said he wants military helicopters for tracking Naxals and for rescuing security personnel but not air strikes because that could cause collateral damage.
"There are landmines in up to 100 km in an area. If there is a blast it will take hours to take the injured to hospital by road. Army helicopters can be used here, and also for supplying emergency rations," Singh said.
"But I don't recommend use of air power as Chhattisgarh has a huge dense forest cover inhabited by tribals and if any such attack is launched, then they will suffer greatly. Bombing is not possible in these areas. This is not a war," he said.
"There cannot be any hard or soft line to tackle Naxalism. What has been achieved by adopting a soft line against them in the last 50 years?"
Singh said the Prime Minister and the Home Minister had given him "adequate" support, but he criticized Congress leader Digvijay Singh for saying the rebels were “misguided ideologues”.
"Some people feel they are experts on the subject and continuously issue statements after every Naxal incident. The issue should be kept away from politics. It is not a political issue where statements need to be issued," he said.
Singh criticised Digvijay for saying that the Naxals should be brought into the mainstream. "He (Digvijay) was Chief Minister of undivided Madhya Pradesh for 10 years. Who stopped him from doing so? Why did he not bring them into the mainstream?"
He criticized human rights groups, saying they were creating a hype about violation of human rights during operations against naxals.
"While we are trying to tackle them, the human rights groups keep on crying about the large scale violation of human rights. If we arrest somebody then a plane full of activists descend on Chhattisgarh and start protesting against us. They stay in plush hotels and then fly back to Delhi in the evening," Singh said.
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