Death toll rises to 24; Shukla flown to Gurgaon for treatment
The death toll in Saturday’s attack on the motorcade of Congress leaders and workers in Chhattisgarh rose to 24 after the bullet-ridden bodies of abducted state Congress party chief Nand Kumar Patel, his son Dinesh and eight others were found on Sunday in Jeeram Ghati of Darbha area. Sixteen of the deceased are civilians, while the rest are personal security guards of the leaders, the Chief Minister’s office told The Hindu.
Former Union Minister V. C. Shukla, who was injured in the attack, was airlifted to Medanta Hospital in Gurgaon on Delhi’s outskirts from Raipur early this morning.
Doctors said the condition of Mr. Shukla, who underwent an operation in Jagdalpur hospital for the removal of three bullets, was critical.
Chief Minister Raman Singh has ordered a judicial inquiry in to the incident to be conducted by a sitting judge of the High Court. The family members of the deceased will be given a compensation of Rs. 5 lakh, and the injured will get Rs. 2 lakh each.
Earlier in the day, Manmohan Singh along with Congress president Sonia Gandhi visited the hospital in Raipur where the injured leaders were admitted. The Prime Minister announced Rs. 5 lakh ex-gratia relief from the National Relief Fund for the family members of the deceased and Rs. 50,000 for those injured in the attack. Addressing the workers in the Congress Bhawan in Kotowali police station area of Raipur, Dr. Singh said the “country will never bow before Naxalism.”
On Saturday, Salwa Judum founder Mahendra Karma, ex-MLA Uday Mudliyar were among killed in the Maoist ambush in the forested areas of Jeeram. The bodies of Mahendra Karma and Uday Mudliyar were taken to their respective hometowns in Dantewada and Rajnandgaon. Senior Congress leader V.C. Shukla was injured in the ambush and was airlifted today to a hospital in Gurgaon from Raipur.
The Prime Minister said, “We will pursue the perpetrators of this crime with urgency and I can assure the nation that the Government is committed to bringing them to justice. Those who commit such dastardly crimes are working against the interests of peace and development in the area”, he said. Extending his condolences to the families of those who lost their lives in Saturday’s incident, Dr. Singh asked the State government to facilitate the best medical care to the injured. Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Union Minister Charan Das Mahant, Rajya Sabha MPs Motilal Vora, Mohsina Kidwai and other senior party leaders were also present at Congress Bhavan.
The Prime Minister also reviewed the security situation in Chhattisgarh with the Chief Minister of the state and other officials. The Chhattisgarh cabinet passed a resolution condemning the Saturday’s incident and thanking the Prime Minister for extending his support.
However, the Congress state leadership feels Dr. Singh was “distressed” by the security situation. “The Prime Minister at one point asked, who is responsible for this incident. Nobody could answer the question for two minutes,” said Congress spokesperson Shailesh Nitin Tribedi.
Later in the evening, the body of Nand Kumar Patel and his son were brought to the Congress Bhawan for party workers to pay homage. Initially some of the party workers broke down in front of the aluminium cascade kept in front of the office premises. Slowly the grief changed to anger as the workers started blaming the Raman Singh government for the lapse in security. “This has been a conspiracy,” said a grieving Amit Gupta of Kawardha, who was personally grateful to Mr. Patel for getting him a job. Mr. Patel and his son Dinesh were abducted by Maoists and found dead in Jeeram Ghati on Sunday morning.
Earlier, Congress workers went on a rampage across the State. Youth on motorbikes with Congress flags and clubs could be seen on the main national highway, NH30, connecting Jagdalpur and Raipur, threatening shop owners and truck drivers. Some of the supporters were temporarily detained in various places.
Keywords: Chhattisgarh naxal attack, Congress, Parivartan Yatra, Sukma district
There should be no place for acts like these in our country and I hope
the perpetrators face the justice system.
Having said that however we also need to look at the root causes of
such problems. I think the answer to PM's query in this article is
that we all in the rest of India bear responsibility for such acts.
Through our governments since independence, we have have managed to
get mineral wealth out of this region in an unethical and in many
cases criminal manner. After having taken their lands and driving them
out of their houses, so that we can fulfill our wants, it is only now,
when it is too late that we decided to take note of the problems we
have caused. And why do we take note now? Solely because these
oppressed people saw no other way out and decided to take up arms.
Reconciliation is difficult now, as the government seems to have lost
the trust of people. Although our government is trying to make amends,
it will take a long time before honest efforts bear fruit.
Decades of ignorance of Adivasi people gave birth to a scourge called
Naxalism. The government's accumulated actions over the years have come
back and exploded on its face.
why such heinous acts are not labeled as terrorist actions?
This is very tragic and there are no excuses for cold murder and
whatever the maoists are fighting for has no more sense in it. I think
the government should get to talks along with the army strategy because
these people are our Indian citizens and not some outside terrorists. An
entire group of leaders taken out is very shocking and this will sure
happen to BJP leaders too.
This is what happens when you persecute poor people and make them suffer. This is what happens when you swindle the country and make your coffers full but poor people are left with empty stomachs.
I am not saying the way Maoists fight is right, but Gandhigiri no longer has any meaning in India when the party which Gandhi installed has been looting us for 60 years.
All of us are free citizens of a free country. There are limits to 'divide and rule' policies. Violence gives rise to counter-self-assertion. Statesmen and entrepreneurs have to be far-sighted, not short-sighted. They should invest on schools, ITIs and hospitals. Teach the young men and women to aspire and achieve, according to rules of all the games that are played. Make them fit to take up jobs and earn incomes under the changing circumstances. Let the local inhabitants share the fruits of progress. Development cannot be switched on over-night. It is a long long process.
Let us rise above anger and morose.Let us analyse how to prevent such incidents.The primary way is to tackle the issue politically.The other way is technologically, for which individual competency is available in the country, but not in a structured form in organisations tasked with development of tools.Let us not get swayed by a common refrain that even USA is unable to stop.I appeal to political leadership to find the suitable way where our knowledge is utilised in development of tools.
No authority or weapons can control this kind of movement by
certain mass of people.Terrorism is the example.
Leaders don't do what they have to do right in the beginning to
understand the root cause.
India live in villages.There are seven lacs villages,all of them
are far poorer and improvised compared to their urban brothers.
Yes capitalism do bring money but not uniformity and well being
among the spectrum of population especially democartically becuse
of corruption and greed.
Basic lack of governance is imbalance and not enough has been
done for education.
Such movement innitially is only social and then it becomes
political due to lack of attention and then it goes out of
control.
We are glamorised by western trends ignoring our own culture and
way of long established life.We want to be rich overnight and
that's the trouble.There are two worlds today,western and
eastern.Wisdom must prevail for the choice.
If the people in power really want to contain the Moists, first they must stop their personal wrong doings and infighting and find time to think single mindedly to eradicate the domestic terrorists and save lives of innocent people. Just ponder over the LTTE elimination!
Shocking. Congress leaders of Chattisgarh obviously had ignored the SOPs. In one attack,
the Congress has lost so many of their leaders. Is it not time to annihilate the
Naxalites/Maoists, the enemies of democracy?. Even if there are some collateral casualties,
the Union and State governments should unitedly put an end to this menace.
Very Sad indeed! Chattisgarh is a notorious Maoist den and whether any govt. is functioning there effectively in the world's largest democracy needs to be probed. Maoists are like virus and they should be checked with eternal vigil. But What about addressng their few grievances by successive governments in the past few decades despite their reluctance to give up arms? A commission on JPC lines should be laid to adress the problem once & for all to restore peace. Let law take its own course in not the solution. Jai Hind !
There is a need to follow two track strategy against Naxalism,economic
strategy to uplift the poor neighborhoods of Naxal hit areas and
military strategy to fight it tooth and nail,it appears that Naxalism is
not being addressed at priority.How could a Battalion of Naxalist rebels
attack with such liberty without any knowledge of intelligence
agencies.Where are we heading?
If politics was not such a fmaily business then father and son would not have been killed.
Please Email the Editor