The Hindu : Front Page : Misguided outfits should be fought politically, says Left Front

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Tuesday, Jun 23, 2009
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Misguided outfits should be fought politically, says Left Front

Marcus Dam

KOLKATA: The ruling Left Front in West Bengal believes that the activities of outfits such as the Communist Party of India (Maoist) cannot be countered by banning them. But the State government will ascertain whether the Centre’s announcement proscribing the Maoist organisation is binding on it. The legal implications will be looked into.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will discuss the matter with his colleagues and legal experts. The matter is not entirely an administrative one, Chief Secretary Ashok Mohan Chakraborty said here on Monday when asked for the State’s reaction to the Centre’s ban.

“We have discussed the issue in the past too and taken a decision that outfits that pursue misguided politics should be countered politically, not by banning them,” Biman Bose, chairman of the Left Front Committee, said in a statement. But administrative steps should be taken at the government level to ensure that people could lead normal lives.

The “political fight” by the Left parties against the misguided politics of such outfits was continuing. “We are opposing the terrorist activities of such outfits which is why we are being attacked,” he said. To alienate the people from the dangerous politics pursued by the Maoists was a continuous process and this work had to be carried on.

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