Govt handing forests to Adani while rejecting maoist ceasefire: CPI chief D Raja

A day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah categorically ruled out a ceasefire with Maoists, CPI general secretary D Raja on Monday tore into the decision, accusing the government of being more interested in handing over tribal lands to corporate houses than resolving the conflict.

“Maoists want dialogue with the government. They have proposed a ceasefire… Why can't the Indian government accept?” Raja asked at a press conference in Delhi.

Shah had declared on Sunday that there would be “no ceasefire” with Maoists, making it clear that only those who surrender and lay down arms would be welcomed with a rehabilitation package.

Countering this, Raja hit out at the BJP government’s ongoing Operation Kagar (Operation Black Forest) along the Chhattisgarh-Telangana border, which has seen multiple encounters with Maoists.

“What is this Operation Kagar? Can the government tell us how many Maoists were killed, how many tribal people were killed? Chhattisgarh is a forest-rich state and tendu leaves are supposed to be green gold,” he said.

Accusing the Centre of siding with big business, the CPI leader alleged:

“This government is trying to evict tribal people from their forests and hand over the land to people like Adani. Seaports and airports are all handed over to Adani… now forests will be too. Then what remains? What India are we today? This is a democratic republic?”

Reacting to Shah’s charge that Left parties provide ideological support to Left Wing Extremism, Raja shot back:

“I don’t know what he means by that. Let him explain. Urban Naxalites or rural Naxalites are challenging government policies. But what about right-wing extremists? They want to redefine India as a theocratic nation and rewrite history. Who is more dangerous?”

He further warned that the BJP’s agenda goes beyond eliminating Maoists.

“First, they said Congress-Mukt Bharat. Tomorrow they will say Communist-Mukt Bharat. But we have a Constitution, and the Constitution is clear – India is a secular, democratic republic,” he said.

Shah, addressing a seminar on ‘Naxal Mukt Bharat’ on Sunday, had dismissed Left arguments that lack of development fuels Maoist insurgency.

He also declared that the government aims to completely eradicate Naxalism by March 2026 through Operation Kagar, a large-scale counter-insurgency offensive launched last year.