Modi targets government on Maoists, black money

Speaking on the sidelines of the chief ministers meet on internal security here, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said the prime minister's remarks during the meeting that there had been a reduction in incidents of Maoist violence last year was "nothing to be proud of".

"Earlier, many Maoists and terrorists were killed. Now, many security force personnel and citizens are being killed. The capability of Maoists has increased. "They (Maoists) have more armaments and networks to strike. They can get better results with less action. This is not a matter to be proud of," Modi said.

Attacking the United Progressive Alliance government on the issue of black money, Modi said while the central government had asked states to "take serious action in cases of money-laundering, it was terming cases of black money of Indians in Swiss banks as just tax-evasion".

He said the central government should also take responsibility for curbing black money in the same way it had instructed the states. He demanded that the central government should blacklist Germany and Austria as the two countries had refused to supply weapons to Orissa and Punjab for fear of misuse.

Chidambaram, speaking to mediapersons later, denied the allegations levelled by Modi. The home minister said the prime minister was "absolutely right" when he said there was a decrease in incidents of left-wing extremism. Chidambaram said he had said in his speech too that there was a kind of stalemate in the fight against Maoists in 2010.

Quoting from his own speech, Chidambaram said that the Maoist-violence affected states cannot claim any major advances but it also cannot be concluded that Maoists had gained an upper hand.

The worst Maoist-affected states are Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, Chidamabram said, adding that concerns on Maoist violence should be addressed to chief ministers of all these states and not to the central government alone.

Chidambaram said Germany and Austria have denied manufacturers licence for exporting arms to some states, including Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat and Orissa.  He said because export licence was denied, the central government wrote a "helpful letter" that the concerned states may approach Turkey, Russia, Italy, the US and some other countries.

"There was no picking on Gujarat," he said.  To Modi's charge that the central government was not doing enough in cases of money-laundering, Chidambaram said "money laundering was not part of the agenda" of the chief ministers' conference.

To chief ministers belonging to National Democratic Alliance (NDA-ruled states blaming corruption and price rise as "factors undermining internal security", Chidambaram said "it was an extraordinary conclusion".

In his speech, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh of the BJP said the states should not be asked to pay for the deployment of central forces to battle Maoists. "We are surprised that in this joint battle against Maoists, the states should be asked to pay for the deployment of central para-military forces. No state in the country has financial resources to make these payments," Singh added.