A day after a Maoist leader from Jharkhand was arrested from Angamaly, near here, Minister for Home Ramesh Chennithala said the State police would effectively check the movement of ‘reds’ to “uproot” the outfit from the State.
“We have effectively stopped Maoists from establishing their presence in Kerala’s tribal areas. Many top Maoist leaders (from Kerala) have been taken into custody. This is because of strong combined action initiated against them by the governments of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh,” he said.
Referring to the arrest of Jitender Oraon, Mr. Chennithala said the government had chalked out a two-pronged strategy to tackle Maoists in Kerala. “First, flush out Maoists from vulnerable tribal hamlets through police action. Second, initiate development programmes in the tribal areas. We are implementing both,” he said.
Mr. Chennithala dismissed suggestions that migrant labour camps had become a haven for Maoists, but said all criminal activities within their hamlets would be suppressed forcefully. “Migrant workers are not Maoists. It is because of them that developmental works are happening in Kerala. But if there are criminal activities (involving migrant workers), that would be suppressed,” he said.
