In a marked departure from iron-handed approach to deal with the maoist issue, advocated so staunchly by home minister P Chidambaram, the rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has argued for a ‘dvelopmentalist’ and more humane approach in dealing with what the prime minister called the gravest internal security problem in the country.

“There is clearly a need to recognize the tribal population as the victim-first of state apathy and discrimination and then of the naxal agenda. My firm belief is that a complete revamp of the administration and governance in tribal areas, especially in central and eastern India is the pressing need of the hour,” he said.

Delivering Sardar Patel memorial lecture in the capital on Tuesday, he said, “The driving force has necessarily to be development and addressing the daily concerns of people who have every reason to feel alienated.”

In a frank admission of the role of both the centre and state governments in creating a situation conducive for the left wing extremism he said, “it is not the naxals who have created the ground condition ripe for acceptance of their ideology—it is the singular failure of the successive governments both in states and centre to protect the dignity and the constitutional rights of the poor and the disadvantaged that has created a fertile ground for violence and give the naxals space to speak the language of social welfare but reality to use that as a cloak to construct guerilla bases and recruit most tragically women and children in large number.”

Not discounting the threat the left wing extremism poses for the country he said while he did not underestimate the seriousness of the threat the country is faced with, he did not believe a ‘devlopmentalist’ strategy alone will do. “I also do not believe that a strategy based on the primacy of para-military and police action will yield long term results. The two must go hand in hand deriving strength from each other,” he said. 

“We are combating not just a destructive ideology but are also confronted with the wages of our own insensitivity and neglect, especially in so far as the central Indian tribal population is concerned. Simply put we need to rise above partisan political considerations and  set aside old centre versus state arguments restore people faith in the administration to be  fair and just, to be prompt and caring, to be prepared to redress the injustices of the past and to be both responsible and responsive in future. Only then will the tide of naxalism be stemmed.”