Published May 05, 2025 | 12:58 PM ⚊ Updated May 05, 2025 | 2:33 PM
Bandi Sanjay Kumar with Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. (X)
Synopsis: Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar made it clear that there was no question of the Union government holding talks with the Maoists if they were not prepared to abjure violence. The Union Minister also slammed Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and BRS President K Chandrashekar Rao for coming out in support of the Maoists.
After signs of thaw, the Union government appears to have hardened its stand on Maoists. Union Minister of State (MoS) for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay Kumar on Sunday, 4 May, made it clear that there was no question of the Union government holding talks with the Maoists if they were not prepared to abjure violence.
His reiteration of the Union government’s stand on holding talks with the Maoists came as a douche of cold water to the Maoists. It could not have come at a worse time as they were just beginning to allow themselves the luxury of hope that the Union government would stop bearing down on them, bowing to the public opinion building to the contrary.
Sanjay Kumar, speaking to reporters in Karimnagar, said: “There is no question of holding talks with the Naxalites. They have to renounce arms, surrender before the police, and change their ways. How can we hold talks with a banned organisation whose members continue to hold firearms?”
The Union Minister also slammed Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and BRS President K Chandrashekar Rao for coming out in support of the Maoists.
“The Maoists hold arms. But the chief minister says the problem has to be seen from a sociological perspective. The Maoists are killing policemen by blowing up land mines. Let Revanth Reddy be reminded that it was the Congress which had imposed a ban on the Naxalites. It was the Naxalites who killed Congress leader D Sripada Rao, who is known to have had no enemies at all,” he said.
The Union minister said that both Revanth Reddy and Chandrashekar Rao were vying with each other to put forth the demand that the hunt for the Maoists should stop and talks should be held with them. “How can any government hold talks with the Maoists who continue to hold firearms?” he asked and wondered whether they supported the killing of the policemen.
He said: “In Mahamutharam mandal in Karimnagar, the Naxalites had killed an SI (Sub Inspector) ahead of an auspicious ceremony in his home and shot and killed another constable as he was celebrating his son’s birthday. When KCR (Chandrashekar Rao) was in the TDP, Maoists killed several of the yellow party leaders. Have they forgotten the mayhem?” he asked.
He also took a swipe at left-wing intellectuals seeking the initiation of a dialogue with the Maoists.
Meanwhile, the security forces seem to have made no headway in locating the ultras in the Karreguttalu area in Chhattisgarh, even though they have been combing the hillocks using the latest technology for the last few days.
The forces are reportedly trying to negotiate the terrain, which is proving to be very tough for them. They seem to have made no progress. They were hunting for about 1,000 Maoists who were given to understand that were holed up in the hilly terrain.
The security forces had hoisted the National Flag on two hillocks, declared that they had gone through them inch by inch and are searching the other hillocks in the area.
At the height of the combing operation, on 28 April, a group of left-wing intellectuals and activists in Hyderabad, including retired professor Dr G Haragopal and former judge Justice Chandra Kumar, made a representation to the Telangana Chief Minister urging him to persuade the Union government to suspend Operation Kagar in Chhattisgarh, and initiate peace talks with the CPI (Maoists).
The Peace Committee, comprising civil society members, legal experts, human rights activists, and academics, explained to Revanth Reddy the social perspective of the Naxal issue, advocating for dialogue to end violence and save lives.
Immediately thereafter, Revanth Reddy met former home minister K Jana Reddy, who headed the government in peace talks with the Maoists in 2004. Later, Revanth Reddy told reporters that since it was a national issue, he would take it up with the party’s high command.
Meanwhile, Bharat Bachao Sangathan, represented by Gade Innayya, Dr MF Gopinath, and Janjarla Ramesh Babu, met Telangana Minister Danasari Anasuya, Seethakka, in Hyderabad on 29 April. They sought her intervention for the suspension of Operation Kagar.
As she is a tribal and has an ultra-left background, she shared their concern that the operation Kagar should end. After the efforts of these intellectuals, an impression began gaining ground that the Centre might respect the public opinion and act accordingly.
However, Sanjay Kumar’s assertion that the Union government would not hold talks with the Maoists if they continue to hold arms has brought the issue back to square one since the Maoists consider the firearm in their hands as their identity.
Even during the 2004 talks with the then Andhra Pradesh state government led by YS Rajasekhar Reddy, the government insisted that the Maoists eschew violence. However, the Maoists maintained that they could not forsake arms, though they promised not to use them.
The talks eventually broke down over this issue, although some of the other demands, such as land reforms, gained momentum later and led to the distribution of land to the landless poor in the state.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
