BJP: setback to national security

The wreckage of a military vehicle is seen next to a crater caused by an explosion during the Maoist attack in Dantewada.

The Supreme Court judgment, directing the Chhattisgarh government to disarm and disband vigilante groups — Salwa Judum — set up by it to help fight Naxals, is a “setback to national security,” the Bharatiya Janata Party said on Wednesday.

But party spokesperson Shahnawaz Husain refused to elaborate why the State continued appointing Special Police Officers and Koya Commandos to fight Naxals when that policy had proved counter-productive.

While admitting that Chhattisgarh had now become the “centre of Naxal activity,” the BJP said Naxalism was not just the State's problem but also of the Centre.