Claiming that Maoists were 'patriots of a kind', controversial writer Arundhati Roy on Sunday accused Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home minister P Chidambaram of 'violating the Constitution and PESA (Panchayat Extention of Scheduled Areas) act by allowing corporates to use tribal land'.
"Patriots of a kind, they (Maoists) are. But here patriotism is very complicated. So at the moment what people are fighting for is to keep this country from falling apart," Roy told reporters after addressing a meeting on Cultural resistance to war on people in corporate interest, organised by a magazine in Bhubaneswar.
Responding to a question, the writer-cum-activist said that a Maoist revolution was not the only solution to solving problems.
"There will be a new kind of alliance of all kinds of people," said Roy, whose visit was opposed by saffron outfits like the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad for her remarks on Kashmir.
Stating that the PESA Act was enacted to safeguard rights of tribals and others living in scheduled areas, the Booker Prize winner said that the prime minister and the home minister were saying that forest land was needed for other purposes.
"They (PM and HM) enact laws and violate it," Roy alleged, claiming that local people, particularly tribals, had every right over the land, forest and water in their areas. Besides PM and HM, the police, Central Reserve Police Force and Border Security Force also violate laws framed under the Constitution, she alleged.
Accusing successive governments at the Centre of 'frequently' using military force in places like Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and north-east, Roy said while people in Pakistan are fighting against military rule, "some people here want to use brute force to suppress people's voice."
"Force is being used by the government and not the Naxals," she alleged.
