A tug of war has erupted between the two main political parties of Chhattisgarh over the recent encounter of Maoists by the security forces on May 10 in the forest area of Pedia under Gangloor police station limits of Bijapur district.
Expressing concern over the doubts raised by a section of villagers over the encounter, the Indian National Congress (INC) has now formed a committee to look into the allegations that a few killed in the said encounter were innocent villagers who have been branded as Maoists.
In a letter issued on Tuesday, May 13, the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) of Chhattisgarh announced plans to form an 8-member committee to look into allegation made by a section of villagers.
The committee, headed by the former vice-president of the State assembly, Santram Netam, has been assigned with the task of visit the affected villages and submitting the report to the PCC Chhattisgarh after interacting with the villagers.
The other leaders named in the committee include Vikram Mandavi, Indrashah Mandavi, Janak Ram Dhruv, Savitri Mandavi, all MLAs of the Congress party along with former legislature of the party, Devati Karma, Narayanpur district head of the Congress party, Rajnu Netam and president of Bijapur Jila Panchayat of the Congress party, Shankar Kudiyam.
The development occurred after family members of the Maoist killed in action along with a section of villagers raised doubt over the encounter and alleged that a few of the Maoist killed in the action was not associated with the outlawed group and were innocent villagers.
However contrary to the claims of the villagers, Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG) South Bastar, Kamlochan Kashyap has refuted the allegations and insisted that those killed in the encounter were Maoist carrying bounties on their heads.
Row escalates over the encounter
The PCC head of the Congress party of Chhattisgarh, Deepak Baij while highlighting the doubts raised by some villagers over the gunfight, informed that “Villagers have raised serious doubts over the encounter between the security forces and the Naxals (Maoist) in Pediya village, the villagers are of the opinion that innocent villagers have been killed in the incident, this includes killing of a dumb youth, Sanno.
After the allegations of the villagers, the Congress party has decided to investigate the matter, we will submit our report after visiting the Zero and interacting with the villagers, after which the party will decide its future course of action on the incident, added Deepak Baij.
Meanwhile, another senior leader of the Chhattisgarh Congress and INC candidate from Bastar Lok Sabha constituency, Kawasi Lakhma, while interacting with the media, alleged that the tribals are scared and leaving in fear in the incumbent government.
We successfully run the government led by Bhupesh Baghel for five years, we priorities development, security and winning the trust of the people, there were development all around, dumping development projects and haunting the people will not going to help certainly. How will a poor man make out of the jail, they don’t have the money to hire lawyers, big people makes their way out but how fair is to put marginalize people in Jail, said Lakhma.
BJP hits back
Meanwhile, slamming the Congress party for questioning the security forces, Chhattisgarh’s Deputy Chief Minister (DY CM), Arun Sao said that “for five years the Congress government done injustice to Bastar, they protected Naxalism and now they are questioning the actions of the security forces who are bravely working for peace and happiness of Bastar.”
The Congress has a history of questioning the bravery of security forces and constitutional institutions of the country, this has been the habit of the congress party.The way our security forces have shown bravery, the congress party should praise them, added Arun Sao.
Reacting to the committee formed by the Congress party, DY CM Vijay Sharma said that a significant number of Congress leaders were martyred in the Jheeram valley attack. They used to say that they are carrying the report of that incident in their pocket, but it never came out.
A committee was also formed on that attack but there were no outcome, the issue is that what will they do by forming a committee, if they want to investigate then they should investigate on valid points, said DY CM Sharma.
Further, while questioning the absence of such a move at the time of the major attacks carried out by the Maoist, Sharma said how many people have been killed by the Maoist should also be investigated, how many become crippled by them, why anyone don’t talk on this, where were those people when 76 personnel were killed in Tadmetla, they should had formed a committee at that time, added Sharma.
Bijapur encounter
It is worth mentioning here that the security forces on May 10 launched a major offensive against the Maoist in insurgency–hit Bijapur district leading to a fierce encounter between the forces and the outlaws which lasted for several hours.
Hundreds of personnel of paramilitary forces along with the personnel of Chhattisgarh police were part of the massive operation that was launched after receiving credible intel about the presence of the senior cadres of the outlawed CPI Maoist in the wee hours of Friday.
As many as 12 Maoist cadres were gunned down in the exchange of fire which commenced after the joint team of security forces encircled a group of Maoist in the Pedia forest area under Gangloor police station limits on Friday morning.
https://twitter.com/lokendra_nayak/status/1789221698354745613?t=Ks0MLSbyh4QjdBNLGjHMNg&s=08
After the gunfight stopped, the joint team also recovered explosive materials, arms, ammunition and other daily use materials from the vicinity of the spot.
The operation launched in Pedia was part of the ongoing offensive of the security forces against the Maoist in the insurgency-hit state. As of May 10, a total of 103 Maoist have been so far killed in separate operation launched by the forces in the state in this year alone.
It is pertinent to mention here that this is not the first time that the leaders of the Congress party have stirred a controversy after pointing fingers over an encounter in the state, and earlier, senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel also stoked controversy after he remarked that fake encounters take place under the BJP regime in the State.
Baghel had made the remarks after the security forces, in a separate encounter, gunned down as many as 29 Maoists, including a few top cadres of the outlawed CPI Maoist under the Chotebethiya police station limits of Kanker district on April 16. However soon after the remarks made by Baghel stirred a political row, the former Chief Minister, in another statement lauded the security forces for achieving success against the outlaws.
Though reacting to the initial remarks made by Baghel, CM Vishnu Deo Sai had replied that “he should not put question marks on every topic such as surgical strikes, air strikes, etc. “This incident (Kanker encounter) has happened in Chhattisgarh, and if he thinks its fake, then he should prove it,” remarked CM Sai.
