Ban on Maoists: Cong slams WB government

With Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Front government in West Bengal not readily implementing the ban imposed on Communist Party of India-Maoist, Congress on Wednesday accused the Marxist party of "double speak" and warned if state governments implement Central laws "selectively", it would lead to "constitutional chaos."

"West Bengal government should immediately declare CPI-Maoist as an unlawful organisation. If the state governments start implementing Central laws selectively, it will lead to constitutional chaos," party spokesman Manish Tewari told mediapersons in New Delhi.

Referring to the statement of West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhdeb Bhattacharjee that he will implement the ban in his own way, Tewari said the "caveat" of the CM is an example of the "doublespeak" of CPI-M.

"On one hand, the state government asks for Central government's help and seeks Central forces to check the Maoists and on the other, it is not ready to take effective steps," Tewari added.

Tewari accused Left parties of having a history of "dithering" whenever the country faced challenges. "They dithered when there was Chinese aggression in 1962 and again in 2008 when the Indo-US nuclear deal was signed," the spokesman said.

Taking a dig at CPI-M, Tewari wondered about "many CPI-Ms" and said each leader, Prakash Karat, Buddhdeb Bhattacharjee, Biman Bose, Achutanandan and Pinrayi Vijayan "had their own CPI-M."