Magsaysay award winning author and social activist Mahasweta Devi on Saturday said the West Bengal government should respond to Maoists' offer of truce and sit for a dialogue with the left-wing extremists to hammer out a solution to the “positive problem.”
She has been actively involved in social work in the State's tribal belt for years now and has repeatedly advocated peace talks between the government and the Maoists.
“I think that there is no problem in this world that cannot be solved through mutual and protracted discussions. It should be a give and take where you accept some demands and reject others. I had said so to the former Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and have repeated my words to Ms. [Mamata] Banerjee as well.”
“When one of the sides is willing to talk, both parties should lay down arms and come to the negotiating table.”
At a press conference here, Mahasweta Devi said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's poll promise that security forces would be withdrawn from the Jangalmahal region was yet to be honoured, and expressed the hope that she would deliver on her word.
Asked whether the government's decision to recruit tribal youth to the National Volunteer Force would eventually give rise to a Salwa Judum-like force in the State, she said: “While many tribal youths immediately need jobs, I am not sure whether there is the need to build up such a force since I am not a politician”.
