History will never forgive Maoists: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh said on Monday that history will never forgive Maoists for halting development in Bastar region, where the guerrillas hold sway.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh said on Monday that history will never forgive Maoists for halting development in Bastar region, where the guerrillas hold sway.
"Maoists are fully responsible for the backwardness of Bastar region and for halting its development. Only the Maoists and their violent activities are responsible for making the tribal people of Bastar lead an 18th century lifestyle," Singh said in a statement.
Bastar region, comprising five districts -- Dantewada, Bijapur, Narayanpur, Bastar and Kanker -- has been the nerve centre of Maoist militancy since the late 1980s.
The Maoists carried out the biggest ever attack in their nearly four decade-old violent movement April 6 in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh and massacred 76 security personnel.
Singh, who has headed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the mineral-rich state since December 2003, said: "The government is committed to overall development in Bastar but the Maoists are blowing up schools, roads, bridges and electricity towers besides killing civilians."
The rebels, who claim to fight for the rights of poor peasants and landless labourers, run a parallel government in the forested interiors of Bastar, spread out on roughly 40,000 sq km area.
