CHIDAMBARAM-KARAT 2 LAST

Maintaining that hundreds of CPI(M) cadres were killed by
the ultra-Left activists in the early 1970s, Karat rebutted
Chidambaram's reference to alleged difference in the CPI(M)'s
"attitude" towards the extremists, saying it was "misplaced".
"The CPI(M) is critical of the laws that have draconian
provisions in the name of fighting terrorism. Such laws have
been used against hundreds of innocent people, mainly from the
Muslim community in the name of fighting terror," he said.
Maintaining that Maoists cannot be equated with
Lashkar-e-Toiba or Jaish-e-Mohammad, he said "we have always
held that the Maoists have to be fought ideologically and
politically apart from resort to firm administrative measures
when they indulge in violence."
The CPI(M) leader said the fact that the Home Minister
has offered to talk to the Maoists if they stopped violence,
"itself recognises this difference".
Karat's party colleague Sitaram Yechury had sharply
reacted to Chidambaram's statements Friday saying the Minister
should coordinate efforts with eastern states of West Bengal,
Orissa and Jharkhand governments to contain Maoist violence,
instead of "joining issues with us".
Yechury had asserted that the Naxalite movement could not
be sustained in West Bengal where it was born because of steps
like land reforms the Left Front government had taken. "These
forces have been brought back to West Bengal today from
outside by the Trinamool Congress," he alleged. PTI