BALAGHAT, June 22 (PTI): Madhya Pradesh home minister Narottam Mishra said on Thursday that the security forces will target the pipeline that is supplying money and promoting Naxalism through “Urban Naxals” to wipe out the menace from its roots.
The term ‘Urban Naxal’ is often used by some segments of the political spectrum to describe sympathisers of the Naxalism cause and certain social activists.
The state’s police and Hawk Force are working well and the government has been successful in effectively controlling Naxal activities in MP, Mishra told reporters after chairing a high-level meeting to review the situation in insurgency-affected districts.
“To end the Naxal ideology from its roots, we have decided to take effective action against the pipeline and Urban Naxalites supplying money and promoting the ideology. We should go to its roots,” said Mishra.
The Hawk Force is the elite unit to combat the Naxalites in Madhya Pradesh.
The state’s director general of police (DGP) Sudhir Saxena, Adarsh Katiyar, additional director general of police (ADGP), and ADGP Ashok Awasthi were among those who attended the meeting.
“We should find out how Urban Naxalites are indulged in brainwashing to promote their ideology and their different sources of funding by attacking their roots to end the menace,” said Mishra, who is also the spokesperson of the BJP-rule government in MP.
The home minister said Naxalites are misusing ammonium nitrate, being supplied to farmers, as explosives. An effective strategy will be chalked out to ensure that the chemical doesn’t reach the Naxals, he said.
He also said that because of efforts made by security agencies, including the police, Hawk Force and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the situation in MP’s Naxal-affected districts, bordering Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, is under control.
In the last 10 months, forces have eliminated or caught a number of Naxalites carrying a total reward of Rs 1.5 crore which reflects how effectively action against them was taken by the cops in the state, the minister said.
Besides reviewing the Naxal challenge, Mishra also arrived here to take part in union home minister Amit Shah’s public meeting.
Shah will flag off five Veerangana Rani Durgavati Gaurav Yatras on Thursday to be taken out from five different places which will culminate in Shahdol on June 27, in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an official said.
