A day after Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram flayed the Maoist-backed Police Santrash Birodhi Janasadharaner Committee for supporting Maoists and invited it to come to the dialogue table, the PSBJC leadership said it would be ready to initiate talks only if security operations in the Jangalmahal region (in southwest of West Bengal) were suspended for “at least a month”.
Speaking to The Hindu over telephone from the Lalgarh region on Monday, the outfit's spokesperson Asit Mahato, said: “Though we always advocated initiating a dialogue, the current situation demands a conditional talk. With the security forces hounding out our leaders, killing and arresting them indiscriminately, talks cannot be started.”
Mr. Chidambaram wondered, at a press conference following his visit to Lalgarh on Sunday, why the PSBJC was supporting the rebels if it had complaints against police atrocities. He volunteered to aid the dialogue process between the State Government and the outfit if it accepted the offer.
Meanwhile, after a 24-hour-bandh observed on Sunday, the PSBJC called an indefinite blockade in Paschim Medinipur, Bankura and Purulia districts from Monday in protest against “state-sponsored terrorism” against the tribal population.