'Naxal front outfits staged demo supporting Maruti workers'

The government today said a number of front organisations of Naxals and their sympathisers have organised demonstrations supporting the Maruti workers, some of whom were indulged in violence in the company's Manesar plant leading to the death of an executive last month.

"Subsequent to the incident (violence at Maruti Manesar plant), a number of front organisations of the banned CPI-Maoists as well as bodies sympathetic to the outfit like Mehnatkash Mazdoor Morcha, Democratic Students Union, People's Democratic Front of India, Committee for Release of Political Prisoners have organised demonstrations supporting the cause of the workers of the Maruti factory," Minister of State for Home Jitendra Singh told the Rajya Sabha.

He, however, said there was no intelligence to suggest that the violence in the Maruti factory was instigated by Left Wing Extremists.

The minister said the objective of the organisations sympathetic to Maoists was essentially to exploit the situation to gain a foot-hold among the working class in the National Capital Region.

Appearing in a panel discussion on TV channel 'Headlines Today', Maruti Suzuki India Chairman R C Bhargava had earlier described the violence as a "class attack".

"These were left-wing extreme elements who incited violence at Maruti. It was a conspiracy which was kept within a small group of people," a statement from TV Today Network, which owns Headlines Today, had quoting Bhargava as saying.