Naxalites will not be allowed to overthrow Government through armed struggle, says Chidambaram
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

15:35 IST
The Union Home Minister, Shri P. Chidambarm has said that naxalites will not be allowed to overthrow the Government through armed liberation struggle. In a statement issued at Jagdalpur in Chhatisgarh today, he appealed for calm and stressed the need not to stray from the carefully chosen course, adopted since November last year. The following is the text of his statement.

“Five platoons of the 62nd battalion of the CRPF had established a base camp at Chintalnar, district Dantewada. A decision was taken that the security forces would undertake an ‘Area Domination’ (AD Ops) exercise, including night halts, in the area. It was a joint decision taken by IG(Bastar) Shri Longkumar, DIG(Dantewada) Shri SRP Kalluri and DIG(CRPF) Shri Nalin Parbhat. The actual deployment was left to be decided by SP (Dantewada) Shri Amresh Mishra and the Commandant of the battalion.

Accordingly, a decision was taken and ‘A’ Coy and part of ‘G’ Coy left Chintalnar base camp at 1900 hours on April 4, 2010. It was a 81 strong party, accompanied by one HC of the civil police. They had two night halts on the night of the 4th and the 5th. On the 6th morning, they set off northeast in the direction of Tongpalli.

At about 0550 hours, they came under heavy fire. Upon receiving a wireless message of the attack at about 0600 hours, the Commandant of the 62nd Battalion along with 30 men rushed to the place of the incident. They came under fire 3 kms short of the actual place of the incident. Simultaneously, another party led by Inspector Wagdi of the 62nd Battalion moved ex-Chintalnar towards the place of the incident. Just outside Chintalnar, that party also came under fire.

It is learnt that the deaths were caused largely by IEDs, bullet injuries and crude bombs and, possibly, grenade injuries. Only the post mortem reports and a thorough inquiry, including de-briefing of the injured jawans, can fully establish the sequence of events and the facts.

The Governor, the Chief Minister, the Home Minister and I have come here to express our profound sense of shock and grief. We deeply mourn the loss of 76 lives. And we salute the brave officers and jawans who have laid down their lives in the defence of freedom, liberty and democracy.

Central para military forces have been provided to the affected States, including Chhattisgarh, to help the State Governments carry out counter-insurgency operations, regain control of areas dominated by the Naxalites, restore the civil administration, and re-start developmental work. I may point out that, because they are deployed in areas populated by scheduled tribes, a number of restrictions have been placed on the central para military forces.

Let us not forget that the goal of the Naxalites is to overthrow the established authority of the Government through armed liberation struggle. We cannot – and we shall not – allow them to succeed in that goal.

The State has a legitimate right to deploy its security forces to resist, apprehend and, if necessary, neutralise militants who are determined to strike at the very roots of our nation.

To our call for talks after giving up violence, the Naxalites have answered by a savage and brutal act of violence.

It is the Naxalites who have described the State as the ‘enemy’ and the conflict as a ‘war’. If this is a war – and I wish to say that we have never used that word – it is a war that has been thrust upon the State by those who do not have a legitimate right to carry weapons or to kill. The State – the Central Government and the affected State Governments – are discharging their legal and Constitutional duty to protect the people.

The whole nation has expressed its sense of outrage at this horrific incident. We have heard the angry voices of the people. Nevertheless, I would urge that, even as we grieve, we remain calm, hold our nerve, and do not stray from the carefully chosen course that we have adopted since November 2009”.