New Delhi, Jul 14: Days after Supreme Court declared Salwa Judum “unconstitutional”, BJP today justified use of such groups to fight naxalism and said Judiciary cannot tell the Executive how to deal with Maoist problem.
“Why Maoism took root, how it should be tackled. These things, the Judiciary cannot tell tell the Executive. It is for the Executive to decide ...The Judiciary cannot tell the government,” senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said at a function here.
The Apex court last week had come down heavily on the practice of deploying vigilante groups like Salwa Judum in the fight against Maoists and asked the Centre and Chhattisgarh Government to desist from arming tribals.
Justifying arming of tribals in the Chhattisgarh, Jaitley said the force was like a village protection committee set up in states like Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Jammu and Kashmir. “Even Punjab had similar forces during the the period when terrorism was at peak,” he said.
“Their (naxals') clout has increased,” the BJP leader said, adding that weakening of the nation cannot be part of anybody's thinking.
Talking about the Lokpal Bill, Jaitley favoured bringing the post of Prime Minister under its ambit.
He justified this demand by pointing towards the cash-for-vote scandal of July 2008 when wades of money was displayed in the Lok Sabha during debate on the government's Confidence Motion.
Three BJP MPs had claimed that they were paid Rs one crore each to vote against their party.
“As the government was not able to contain corruption, the people of the country feel that there should be a neutral Lokpal to deal with the menace.” PTI
