After the government came under opposition attack on the handling of Naxal violence, Home Minister P Chidambaram on Thursday said the state governments have the primary responsibility to fight the Maoist menace and the Centre was ready to assist them.
Making a statement in the Rajya Sabha on the Dantewada massacre in which 76 security personnel were killed, Chidambaram said, "The state governments have the primary responsibility to regain control of areas dominated by the Naxals."
The Central government, he said, was ready and willing to assist the state governments and to coordinate inter-state operations. "To counter the menace of Naxalism, we need a strong head, a stronger heart and enormous staying power. I believe that the government has all three qualities," he said.
As the security forces were deployed in areas populated by scheduled tribes, they were facing hindrances, the minister said.
"Because the security forces are deployed in areas populated by scheduled tribes, a number of restrictions have been placed on the operations of the central paramilitary forces," Chidamabaram said giving details of the Dantewada incident of April 6.
Earlier, both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha witnessed frequent adjournments over the issue as the opposition wanted an immediate discussion and alleged that the government had taken the incident in a casual manner.
Apparently rejecting suggestions that the security forces were not adequately trained, Chidambaram said, "The three companies (deployed in Dantewada) concerned had undergone pre-induction training before they were inducted in that area."
Noting that the goal of Naxalites was to overthrow the established authority of the government, he said the state has a legitimate right to deploy its security forces to 'resist, apprehend and, if necessary, neutralise militants who are determined to strike at the very roots of our nation.'
The Home Minister said that the call to the Communist Party of India-Maoist for talks was made in the hope of getting their sincere response.
"The only condition is that the CPI-Maoist must abjure violence," he said.
Recalling his visit to Chhatisgarh soon after the incident, Chidambaram said the Centre has appointed a one-man inquiry committee headed by E N Ram Mohan, a retired IPS officer, which has been asked to submit a report within two weeks.
"I would submit to the House that we should await the report of the inquiry committee before reaching any final conclusions. We should remain calm, hold our nerve and stay on the courses that we had carefully chosen since October 2009," he said.
The concerted action against the Naxals by the Centre and the affected states was launched in October last year.
Chidambaram said the Centre had dispatched 141 companies (over 14,000 personnel) of the Central paramilitary forces for anti-Naxal operations over a period of time at the request of the Chhattisgarh government.
A joint decision was taken by the IG (Bastar), DIG (Dantewada) and DIG (CRPF) to undertake an area domination exercise including night halts over three years, he said adding that the actual deployment was left to the SP (Dantewada) and the Commandant of the battalion.
He said that the preliminary enquiries have revealed that the 76 deaths of security personnel were caused largely due to bullet injuries, crude bombs and grenades.
Besides, 75 weapons were also looted by the Naxalites, he said.
Chidambaram said that the anti-Naxal operations were being conducted in accordance with the policy deliberated and agreed upon at several meetings of the Chief Ministers of the Maoist-hit states.
"The two pillars of the policy are calibrated police action and development," he said adding that Central paramilitary forces have been provided to the affected states including Chhattisgarh to help them carry out counter insurgency operations, regain control of areas, restore civil administration and re-start development work.
