Union Home Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday said para-military forces were being sent to Maoist-hit areas to assert the presence of the state and not to wage a war on them.
"The Maoists claim they are at war with the state. We do not think we are at war with them. They are Indians as you
and I are," he said at the valedictory session of CII Leadership Summit here.
Asserting that the government was against Maoists' theory of an armed struggle, he said anyone who takes to violence to prove a political point will have to be dealt under the provisions of law.
"We are willing to talk if they abjure violence. Alternative government structures can also be discussed," he said. Stating that the para-military forces were being sent to the Maoist areas to reclaim the state's presence, he said, "The state must always have authority over its territory. How can you have development without the state having any authority over a place?"
He said the para-military forces retaliate only when they were attacked. "As one of my officers said, we will not fire the first bullet," he said.