Swami Agnivesh on Monday urged the UPA Government to convene a Special Session of the Parliament to discuss Maoist problem and resolve the contentious issue along with implementation of rights of the Schedule Tribes as enshrined in the Constitution.
Addressing a Press conference here, Swami Agnivesh condemned the Maoist attack on a Congress covey and the police in Sukuma area of Chhatisgarah. However, the move by the Union Government for a counter operation against Maoists is not acceptable, he said, adding “The Maoist problem would not be solved through bullets but through dialogue.”
Both the Union Government and the Maoists should sit across the table on a direct dialogue to end the problem once and for all by identifying the root cause, he said, and appealed the Prime Minister and Home Minister to take the lead.
Besides, he said since Maoist problem is a political and social one, all the political parties should come together to find out a solution to the vexed issue.
Agnivesh said that he had already met the top Maoist leaders, now in jail custody, like Cobard Gandey and Narayan Sanyal, who had favoured direct dialogue with the Government to end the critical issue.
Taking exception to the anti-Maoist operation, he said that innocent tribals would be the victim of the counter operation and urged the Union Government to desist from the move. lamenting that the innocent tribals in the jungles are the worst victim of the Maoist problem, Agnivesh said in the name of anti-Maoist operations, the innocent tribals were being jailed in frivolous cases and in suspicion.
Stating that the tribals are yet to get their rights as envisaged in the Constitution and the tribal development schemes were being implemented in breach, he urged the President of India to convene a meeting of the Governors, who were given the authority to oversee the proper implementation of tribal rights.
Agnivesh, who also appealed the Maoists to shun violence and come to the mainstream, said that the issue could only be resolved through Gandhian means and direct dialogue.
Agnivesh said that it was decided to raise one organization under the auspices of the Arya Samaj with the support of 18 Baidik bodies to start a sustained campaign to solve the issue. As many as one lakh volunteers would be raised in three Maoist infested States, including Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhatisgarh to create awareness among the tribals and Maoists to bring them to the mainstream along with insisting the Government to implement the rights of the tribals in letter and spirit.