BJP slams Rahul, Cong for linking 'poverty with naxalism'

Slamming the Centre for failing to check Maoist violence, BJP said Rahul Gandhi had "in a way supported naxalism" by blaming poverty and government apathy for the menace and charged Congress with trying to "politicise issues related to national security".

Slamming the Centre for failing to check Maoist violence, BJP on Friday said Rahul Gandhi had "in a way supported naxalism" by blaming poverty and government apathy for the menace and charged Congress with trying to "politicise issues related to national security".

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"Congress has tried to to politicise issues related to national security... Rahul Gandhi had in a way supported naxalism by blaming poverty and government apathy for the menace.

"Such contradictory statements by the Congress high command put a question mark on the government's efforts to deal with the situation," BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.

He wondered whether Congress was working for its vested interests by linking naxalism with poverty.

The violent incidents in West Bengal's Lalgarh indicate that Congress and Trinamool Congress and "direct or indirect links with Maoists", Rudy said in a statement.

"While expressing sorrow at the death of 16 policemen in Maharashtra, BJP would like to ask Home Minister P Chidambaram about the fate of the stern action he had assured against naxalites," Rudy said.

He said despite the assurance given by the Prime Minister and the Home Minister to deal with the crisis, naxals have continued with their acts of violence, thereby "challenging" the government machinery.

In a veiled attack on non-Congress parties ruling states, Rahul Gandhi said in Kerala on October 7 that "inability" of the state governments concerned to reach out to people was one of the reasons behind spread of naxalism.