New Delhi: Alleging that lack of adequate support and political will by the Congress-led Centre has led to escalation of Maoist violence, BJP Tuesday said the UPA government should extend massive support to Naxal-affected states and stop treating the menace as a law and order issue.
Condemning the killing of seven CRPF personnel in a gun battle with Maoist guerrillas in Latehar district of Jharkhand yesterday, the main opposition charged it is "a grim reminder of the failure of the Congress-led UPA Government".
"The Centre has failed to put in place a fool-proof, unified strategy along with the states affected by the Naxal violence to prevent such attacks," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said.
"The Naxals are challenging the very idea of India... Yet the policy, strategy and intention of the UPA government is suspect," he added.
BJP alleged Maoists are attacking the sovereignty of the country and yet the government is dithering in fighting them and treating it as a state issue though ten states are affected by it.
The party maintained that BJP-ruled states like Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh have been working hard to contain the menace by broad-basing developmental activities so that youths get viable employment and thus do not take up arms or join the ranks of Naxals.
"But lack of adequate support and political will on the part of the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre are the major reasons for repeated incidents of Naxal attacks targeted at police and para-military personnel," Javadekar said.
PTI
