Baghel calls Shah’s remarks ‘blatantly false’

Raipur: A political row broke out over the anti-Naxal campaign after former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel hit back at Union home minister Amit Shah, calling his Lok Sabha remarks "blatantly false" and urging him not to politicise the Maoist issue.The reaction followed Shah's reply in Lok Sabha on Monday during a discussion on Naxalism, where he said "Naxalism has been almost completely eradicated from Bastar" and had attacked Congress over its past handling of the issue. In his speech, Shah accused the previous Congress govt in Chhattisgarh of having "saved" Maoists and, amid protests from the opposition, said, in effect, that he could provide proof and that Bhupesh Baghel should be asked about it.Responding on social media, Baghel rejected the charge and said that during the five years of the Congress govt in Chhattisgarh, several meetings of chief ministers of Naxal-affected states were held, attended by chief secretaries and DGPs as well, but the Centre had never then raised any objection that the state was protecting Maoists.Baghel asked Shah to make public any evidence if the Centre had indeed objected to his govt's actions at the time. Baghel said the Maoist issue should not be reduced to partisan politics. He maintained that his govt, too, had fought Maoists continuously and said security camps had been set up deep inside Bastar during the Congress tenure, without which, many of the present operations would not have been possible. In a sharply worded response, the Congress leader said Shah was free to praise the Centre's current campaign, but should not try to rise politically by "stepping on our back". He also said Congress had suffered deeply from Maoist violence and had lost senior leaders in Maoist attacks.