Kolkata, Oct 6 (IANS) The West Bengal government will crush the Maoist menace like it did in 1970-71, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said Wednesday.
‘The Maoist problem is not the continuation of the earlier Naxalite problem, which started from Naxalbari. This is completely new. They have chosen that area not because poor people or tribals live there but because of the difficult terrain,’ Bhattacharjee said in an interactive session with industrialists organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
He said most of the Maoists operating in West Bengal were from neighbouring Jharkhand and Orissa.
Maoists are active particularly in three districts of West Bengal – Purulia, Bankura and West Midnapore.
Bhattacharjee said 28 police station areas in the western part of the state were disturbed due to Maoist activities.
‘As we have defeated the Naxalite (movement) in 1970-71, both politically and administratively, this time also they (Maoists) will not be able to stray in other parts of the state. In our state, I will not allow them to spread in other parts,’ he said.
The Naxalite movement that originated in West Bengal in May 1970 quickly spread to many parts of India, leaving thousands dead. Partly because of internal schism, security forces crushed the movement in the early 1970s.
The present Communist Party of India-Maoist claims to follow the ideals of Charu Mazumdar, the godfather of the original Indian Maoist insurgency.
