Work more and speak less: Nitish Kumar tells Chidambaram

Union home minister P Chidambaram should work more and speak less and control his "tone and tenor", Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar said today.

"There is one suggestion. There is no profit in speaking too much. Do work...I have all regard for Chidambaram but I will suggest that he should control his tone and tenor," Kumar said while addressing a press conference in New Delhi.

This advice from Kumar has come close on the heels of Dantewada massacre in Chhattisgarh, the worst attack by Maoists on security forces.

Besides, he said, everybody knew that the offer of resignation by Chidambaram to the prime minister will not be accepted. "People know it. It is not good to speak too much (bahut bola nahin jaata hai)."

Kumar also took on home secretary GK Pillai for his recent comments that Bihar was a "little soft" in taking any "hard action" against Maoists since assembly elections were scheduled later this year. "Is it the job of a home secretary to give a political statement? This is absolutely impudent," he said.

"It becomes difficult for me to react on the statement of a home secretary of government of India. We will have to understand the federal structure (of this country). We will have to pay respect to each other," he said.

Taking a dig at the Centre's "readiness" to provide paramilitary forces to Naxal-hit states, Kumar said that when they were required during elections in Bihar, only 23 companies of CRPF were sent which was completely inadequate to meet the requirement then.

Speaking on the Centre's policy on dealing with the Naxal menace, Kumar said it cannot be solved only by carrying out
police operations. The government will have to have a dual policy which include focus on development work at grassroot
level "for those who need it", the JD(U) leader said.

"I am not against anti-Naxal operation (by security forces). It has to be carried out when required. We are also doing it. But, we will have to see why the problem has come up," Kumar said.

He suggested that credible action should be taken to eradicate poverty and check corruption at lower level. 

"We will have to deliver...government programmes should reach them (people) and taken to a saturation point. This (a permanent solution to the Naxal menace) is only possible by this. Otherwise, they (Maoists) will resurface again even if they are wiped out from one location or other," Kumar said.

He said the people's faith in the democratic system in Bihar has increased due to the development work carried out by his government at ground level.

"We are against violence of any kind... but at the same time, it is also not correct to deal violence with violence," he said.

On speculation that the government may use air power to tackle the Naxal problem, he said, "I don't think these things will work."