New Delhi, Aug 10 (IANS) The Lok Sabha Tuesday saw a united opposition attacking the government over Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee’s speech in Lalgarh asking for a probe into the ‘murder’ of Maoist spokesperson Azad. It demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh clarify the government’s position on tackling Maoists.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Gopinath Munde came down heavily on union ministers for giving ‘different versions’ on the anti-Maoist operation and demanded that the prime minister or the leader of the house (Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee) clarify the government’s position.
Addressing a rally in the Maoist stronghold of Lalgarh in West Bengal Monday, Mamata Banerjee, who is leader of the Trinamool Congress, termed the July 2 killing of Maoist spokesperson Cherukuri Rajkumar alias Azad in an alleged shootout in Andhra Pradesh as ‘khoon’, or murder. She was virtually echoing the Leftwing rebels’ allegation that Azad was gunned down in a staged shootout.
Munde said during zero hour: ‘The version of central ministers (on tackling Maoist violence) is different. The prime minister is silent.’ Manmohan Singh has consistently termed Leftwing violence as the biggest internal security threat of the country.
This forced Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to say he could not say ‘anything’ on the issue ‘at this stage’ without having ‘an assertion’ from the railway minister.
Munde said the railway minister’s statement in the rally ‘merits serious concern’.
‘She has opposed Operation Green Hunt (the anti-Maoist security operation) by sharing the dais with two Naxals (Maoists). The minister also condemned the killing of a Naxal in an encounter. She has termed it as a fake encounter and the killing as a murder,’ Munde said.
He asked whether the government would agree to Banerjee’s demand for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the ‘murder’.
Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay, who was allowed to speak by Deputy Speaker Karia Munda, said the whole house should extend full support to Banerjee, who he asserted, has ‘shown courage to visit Maoist-affected areas to give a political message’.
‘She has gone to Lalgarh as chairperson of the Trinamool Congress,’ he said, and added that Banerjee is ‘totally opposed to the killings’.
He also alleged that the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) was misusing the central forces deployed in Lalgarh ‘to regain their lost grounds’.
Bansa Gopal Chowdhury of the CPI-M termed the railway minister’s rally ‘shameful’. He alleged that an accused in the Gyaneshwari Express derailment, which led to 148 deaths, was leading the rally.
‘What happened there was shameful…. in the name of a union minister how could somebody do it. An accused was leading the rally.’
His speech was repeatedly interrupted by Trinamool Congress MP Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar.
Earlier in the day, the Lok Sabha witnessed rare unity between the BJP and the Left parties with both attacking Banerjee over her rally.
When Munde tried to raise the issue during question hour, Trinamool Congress MPs vigorously protested, prompting the Left party MPs to support Munde.
There was a heated exchange of words between Munde, who was also supported by his party MPs, and Trinamool Congress leader Sudip Bandyopadhyay.
Bandyopadhyay charged that the Left and the BJP were in alliance.
As the uproar continued, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said: ‘They (the opposition) do not want question hour to run.’
With Congress MPs on their feet demanding the smooth functioning of question hour, Bansal pointed out that ‘Munde has not give notice’ to raise the issue.
