Ranchi: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today appealed to Naxalites to quit the path of violence and return to the social mainstream. He said the government was ready to hold talks with the Naxalites if they were ready to change their ways.
The Union minister was speaking to scribes after holding a high level meeting with Chief Minister Hemant Soren and senior bureaucrats of the Central and state governments on the issue of Left-wing sponsored violence in Jharkhand and the development of districts affected by extremism.
The Home Minister, who held a meeting with the state government authorities at Raj Bhavan for over three hours, said it was his maiden visit to an extremism-affected state of the country. He said he had decided to visit the extremism-affected states soon after taking charge of the Home Ministry. He said the Central government was ready to face the challenge of extremism. He said the government was in favour of a balanced method to resolve the issue of Left-wing sponsored violence.
�We iterate our appeal to the Maoists to reinstate their faith in the democratic setup. There is no place for violence in a democracy. Every individual is empowered by his right to vote. They can turn even the biggest of governments upside down on the basis of their power to vote,� said Singh.
The Home Minister said the state government had discussed certain issues with him related to the Naxalite violence. He said the issues had been taken into account and that the Centre would be trying to resolve them. He went on to add that the Central government had prepared a surrender policy for the Naxalites keeping in mind various aspects of the Left-wing violence. The state government had its own surrender policy, he said.
Among others present during today�s meeting included the Chief Security Advisor of the Home Ministry K Vijay Kumar, Chief Secretary of Jharkhand Sudhir Prasad, Home Secretary NN Pandey and DGP Rajeev Kumar.