Use of air power against Maoists is not a solution: Digvijay Singh

Senior Congress politician and former chief minister of united Madhya Pradesh Digvijay Singh today said the use of air power to strike at Maoists is not a solution in dealing with Naxalism.

Singh said helicopters could be deployed to transport forces to regions that are in the grip of the rebels.

"To transport forces, if they use helicopters, there is no problem," he said. "But to use the air force to strike is not the answer."

Singh has been strongly advocating a 'multi-pronged strategy' to deal with the problem.

Singh's comments came a day after Union home minister P Chidambaram said he was trying to "convince" the cabinet to provide air support to the anti-Naxal operations.

The home minister had said that the chief ministers of West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, and Orissa have all asked for air support to deal with the Naxalites.

"Those who talk about this do not know the terrain of the area [Dantewada]," Singh told reporters here when asked whether he favoured the use of the air force or the army in operations to get rid of the Maoists in the wake of yesterday's attack in Chhattisgarh, which left 36 people, including special police officers, dead.

The Congress general secretary had recently criticised the Chidambaram and the home ministry's approach to the problem in a newspaper article.

Singh underlined the importance of development at the lowest level to fight the Naxalites. "We have to win over the people of the area," he said.

On yesterday's attack by Maoists in Dantewada in Chhattisgarh, the Congress politician lashed out at the state government, saying the incident was a result of its "utter failure".

He asked why the operation to detect landmines on an important road was not carried out, and contended that the strategy adopted by the BJP-led Raman Singh government was not realistic.

He said more than 800 villages and 70,000 tribals have been displaced. "The whole area has been handed over to the Naxalites," he said.

Singh appreciated the Centre's role, saying it had "fulfilled its responsibility" by providing paramilitary forces and funds whenever required.

Referring to neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, Singh said the government there won the confidence of the people by adopting a pro-development strategy.

"Chhattisgarh has to take lessons from the Andhra Pradesh government," he said, adding that the BJP does not know how to tackle the issue.