He came, he spoke and touched a chord with the locals worn out in the struggle between the security forces and the Naxals.
Interacting with the people of Lalgarh, P Chidambaram, the first Union Minister to visit this Maoist hotbed after the launch of anti-naxal operations in June last year, asked the mother of an infant who was born just a few hours before his arrival at a public health centre here if she had thought of any name for the baby. The crowd said "Chidambaram" in union and broke into peals of laughter, making it clear that the minister had struck an instant chord with the locals.
The Home Minister asked the residents, caught in the midst of anti-naxal operations, about their problems and sat patiently as they narrated their plight. As the Minister clad in his signature white attire spoke for 15 minutes with the audience sitting in rapt attention, an elderly lady with a handheld bamboo fan started fanning him to relieve him of the sweating in the hot and humid weather in the area.
Earlier, Chidambaram went straight to the local police station after landing and met the Station House Officer and other officials there. After taking details of the situation prevailing in the area, he took to the narrow bylanes of the village where curious locals had already gathered after hearing the news of arrival of the high-profile visitor. Though he spoke in English, Chidambaram interacted with the locals with the help district administration officials.
Villagers told him that they were sandwiched between police and Naxals and complained to him about the lack of development in the area especially the absence of basic facilties like health, road, employment and school.
He asked them the reasons for supporting the Naxals to which they said some of them do support them because they were scared of the extremists. The villagers complained that police officials were also exploiting them. They claimed that people were randomly picked up by police on charges of being Naxal sympathisers.
The Home Minister met the doctors, staff and even had a look at the medicines in the inventory and checked their expiry dates. Chidambaram asked the staff about the problems they were facing because of the ongoing battle between security forces and naxals.
The Home Minister later chaired a meeting of District Board where, in very unequivocal terms, he made it clear that development efforts are not being translated on the ground.
He apprised them of his observations made during detailed discussion with vilagers, police, health officials and raised issues about the lack of development in the area which has helped Maoists to win sympathy of the locals.
Before he reached Midanapore, the central security agencies had advised him not to fly over the forest areas which are the hotbed of Maoists in the region but Chidambaram insisted on making a survey of the area and made a detailed aerial tour of the forest area. The Home Minister also went to the CRPF camp in the region, spoke to jawans and officials and took stock of the situation prevailing on the ground. PTI
