Monitoring West Bengal -

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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Centre plays politics as violence intensifies</b>
pioneer.com
PNS | New Delhi
<b>Politics has intensified over the escalating Maoist violence in West Bengal, with the Left and the UPA Governments at loggerheads on tackling it</b>. While the Union Government has advised West Bengal to fully use its own forces to handle the violence, Left leaders Sitaram Yechury and Brinda Karat have slammed the Congress-TMC combine for ‘patronising’ the attacks. Meanwhile, the <b>Centre on Wednesday dispatched the Command Battalions for Resolute Action (COBRA), a specialised anti-Naxalite force to deal with the situation in the State.</b>

The Centre has decided to hand the newly-raised COBRA its first assignment by sending four units of the force comprising about 120 personnel to the trouble-torn areas in West Midnapore district and its adjoining areas, a top Home Ministry official said.

The force will begin operations only after a thorough study of the area where the Naxals reportedly have started putting land mines, the official said. The Centre had already dispatched about 1,600 troops of Central paramilitary forces to the spot.

Home Minister P Chidambaram told reporters in Delhi that he had spoken to the Chief Minister and asked him to move the State’s forces to these troubled areas with clear instructions to tackle the situation.

The Minister said there was an impression that while one part of the Government was willing to take action against the Maoists, another was worried about the fallout.

“The impression is that one side of the Government is willing to take action, the other side is worried about the consequences. Now, it is the judgement the Chief Minister must make. They must move the (security) forces to the affected areas and must reclaim that area which is now dominated by the Maoists,” he said.

<b>Agitating tribals of West Midnapore and adjoining areas have been protesting police “atrocities” on them in the wake of the landmine blast at Salboni which was believed to target the Chief Minister and two former Union Ministers.</b>

Meanwhile, the Congress lashed out at the Left Front Government in West Bengal over violence in Lalgarh and said that it should resign if it was unable to run the State in accordance with the Constitution.

Blaming the Left Front for escalation of violence in Lalgarh, Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said, “If the Left Front Government is unable to run the affairs of West Bengal in accordance with the constitutional mandate, it should seriously consider stepping down. The Government of West Bengal cannot abdicate its responsibility of running the State. You cannot have a situation where certain regions of a State can be colloquially called liberated states within the State.”

Tewari also rejected Left Front allegations that Trinamool Congress and Congress were behind the tribal violence in Lalgarh in East Midnapore district of the State. “I reject it with the contempt it deserves,” he said, adding that Congress was a non-violent party which did not support any kind of violence.

Accusing the Left Front Government of indulging in a rule by the cadre instead of rule of law, Tewari said, “When you sow the wind, you reap the whirlwind.”

Squarely holding the Left responsible for the violence, he added, “What is happening in Lalgarh is a result of Left’s misrule and wrong policies. It is a result of continued subversion of democracy which the Left Government has institutionalised in the last 32 years. Left leadership should seriously introspect.”

Asked whether Congress supported the Maoist action in Lalgarh, Tewari said they were “absolutely wrong and reprehensible,” but maintained that such a situation would not have arisen had the Left Front Government acted in a proper manner.

He pointed out that law and order was a State subject and the Left Front Government cannot abdicate its responsibility.

To a query as to why the Congress had not criticised the Left when it was offering critical support to the Government for over four years in the previous Government, the spokesman said the party had indeed pointed to the drawbacks on several occasions.

A beleaguered Left hit back at its critics, saying the Congress and TMC were patronising the attackers. Yechury said, “The so-called rainbow coalition (extreme right to extreme left) that got elected against the Left Front has given them this opportunity to spread their violence.”

He added, “Shockingly, these depredations have had the direct support of important sections of the opposition political parties in Bengal.”

Brinda Karat pulled up Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee on the issue and said the TMC chief had “not uttered a single word of condemnation over the Lalgarh violence.”

On the State Government’s efforts to check the violence, Brinda stated, <b>“We are ready to talk to any tribal group which does not believe in violence.” She pointed out that the State Government was “treading cautiously as Maoists are using innocent tribals as human shields.”</b> <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->