New Delhi: Naxalism could not form a base in
West Bengal for 30 years since its inception due to the
political battle waged by the organised Left, CPI(M) leader
Sitaram Yechury has said.
"Please remember that Naxalbari is a village in West
Bengal from where this ultra-Left (Naxal) deviation took
place. And for 30 years they could not come back to West
Bengal only because of the fight we had put up," he told a news channel.
He charged the Trinamool Congress with bringing them
back, saying "they were imported into West Bengal by our
political opponents ... in order to be used against us."
Yechury said the Trinamool Congress, which was "sitting
in the Central government", wanted to fight the Left "using
the Maoists and gave them shelter, gave them patronage. They
were brought in from across the border (of the state)".
Defending the release of some tribal women in exchange
for a police officer who was held captive by the Maoists, he
said they were "hapless tribal women and not hardened
Maoists".
The senior Marxist leader said the CPI(M)'s fight against
the ultra-Left dated back to the late 1960s and early 1970s
when over a thousand of its cadres were killed.
"We are the ones who have lost the maximum number of
people in the fight against the Maoists," he said.
To questions as to why the state government was failing
to control the Maoists, Yechury said their activities were
primarily concentrated in three districts of West Bengal
bordering Jharkhand or Orissa.
In this context, the CPI(M) leader gave the example of
Veerappan, saying the forest brigand operated for two decades
in the jungles of Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
"Could you catch him? ... Unless the forces of all the
three states work together, it is not possible. That is how
Veerappan was caught and this is what is required now," he
said.
Bureau Report
First Published: Sunday, November 08, 2009, 11:34