Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday said an "integrated approach" was needed to tackle the Naxal menace as "enforcement action alone" would lead to their wider alienation.
Addressing a meeting of Naxal-affected states convened by the Prime Minister in New Delhi, the Bihar chief minister also attacked the Centre for not providing requisite support to his state for tackling the menace.
Stressing on the need for an "integrated approach" against Left-wing extremism, Kumar said, "Enforcement action alone leads to wider alienation, making heroes out of the leaders of the extremist organisations and leads to only symptomatic treatment, leaving the underlined disease to reappear in a more virulent form."
"Naxal elements are a part of our society even though they have been misled into following the path of violence," he said.
Kumar said despite concerns expressed by his government over the Naxal situation and demands to increase the number of Central Paramilitary Forces in the state, Bihar has "not received the requisite support from the Central government."
"There has been no change in the number of CPMF companies deployed in Bihar over the last several years," he said, adding that after the last such meeting in October 2009, the number of CPMF was increased in other states but Bihar "did not get a single additional company".
The number of CPMF training establishments in the state should also be increased, he said. Kumar said Left-wing extremism could be tackled through sustained development but this needs the Centre's supportive approach to states like Bihar.
He said the state government has been successful in keeping the Naxal situation under check despite handicaps in terms of limited manpower, equipment and resources.
"To augment this, we have raised a Special Auxiliary Police by employing ex-servicemen. Unfortunately, we have not been able to get the sanctioned number even after relaxing the employment conditions and raising the allowances," Kumar said.
Pointing out that over 2,000 state police personnel have been trained by various organisations to tackle "domestic militancy", Kumar said Bihar was also working to set up schools for specialised counter-insurgency training.
On the Planning Commission's integrated action plan for carrying out developmental work in 35 Naxal-affected districts, Kumar said, "It is recognised that there are 83 Left-wing extremism affected districts all over India. It is not clear as to why only 35 districts have been selected for integrated development."
"As the remaining 48 districts will continue to remain backward, the problem cannot be solved by leaving the majority of the districts uncovered," he said.
"It cannot be disputed that intensive all-round development is the final solution for the Left-wing extremism problem," he noted.
Kumar said his government's flagship programme 'Aapki Sarkar Aapke Dwar' aimed at holistic development of the extremist-affected areas.
This strategy, he said, included sanitisation of such areas before implementing developmental and welfare activities in a saturation approach.
The CM also said that Bihar shares a long and porous border with Nepal leading to problems of fake currency, smuggling of narcotics and criminal activities, and there was a "strong need" for increasing the number of CPMFs there.
Kumar said fortification of Border Outposts, construction of border roads and joint survey of the international boundary by the teams of both countries was also required.
Image: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar
