BJP Slams Congress For Calling 29 Maoists Killed in Bastar Encounter 'Martyrs'

New Delhi: After Congress called for an investigation in the killing of 29 maoists by the security forces in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday, April 18, slammed the Congress party over its stance. 

National spokesperson Shehzad Poonwalla, leading the charge for BJP, slammed Congress leader Supriya Shrinate for calling the killed maoists “martyrs”. Poonawalla said that instead of appreciating the security personnel for eliminating the maoists, the Congress is sympathising with the maoists. He questioned Congress' silence over Shrinate's remarks. 

“When we have seen a very important operation that has taken place in Chhattisgarh, where 29 Naxalites were eliminated by the security personnel and this was indeed a big achievement for the security personnel, instead of coming out and welcoming the security forces, their action, today the Congress party, has done what is expected of them but unthinkable. They come out and claim that the Naxalites are essentially martyrs and they raise question marks on the bravery of the security personnel,” said Shehzad Poonawalla slamming Congress on Kanker encounter. 

29 Maoists From Banned Outfit Gunned Down in Kanker Encounter 

Border Security Force (BSF) and the Chhattisgarh police's District Reserve Guard (DRG) on Tuesday gunned down 29 Maoists in Kanker district n a 4 hour long operation. This has been termed as state's biggest encounter of the state carried out by the forces till date. 

“Yesterday, an encounter broke out between security forces and Maoists which lasted for around 4 hours. Teams of DRG and BSF cordoned off the area and as a result, 29 CPI Maoist bodies were recovered, out of which 15 were female and 14 were male,” said Bastar Range IGP Sundarraj Pattilingam. 

IG said that arms and ammunition were recovered in large quantities from the spot. “Arms and ammunition were recovered in large quantities from the spot. AK-47, SLR, Insas and .303 rifles, were recovered from the spot,” said the IG Police. “All the Maoists are members of a banned outfit. I would request the remaining members of the outfit to surrender themselves and join the mainstream of society,” he added. 

Suprita Shrinate Calls Maoists ‘Martyrs' 

Congress National Spokesperson Supriya Shrinate while addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters on Wednesday, demanded a probe into the operation, even as she addressed the deceased Maoists as ‘Shaheed’ (martyrs) while extending her sympathies to them. 

Responding to a question on the unprecedented encounter in the violence-torn region, the Congress leader said, “Iski gehri jaach honi chahiye…aur sab log jo shaheed hue aur humaare Suraksha Karmi bhi kuch ghaayal hue… un sabko humaari samvednaaye hain [A thorough investigation should be launched into this operation… We extend our heartfelt condolences and sympathies to the martyrs who laid down their lives, as well as the security personnel who were left injured in the last night's encounter]”.

Amit Shah Hails Security Forces 

Soon after the encounter, Union Home Minister Amit Shah hailed the security forces for the encounter. "Yesterday, security forces achieved great success in Chhattisgarh. Ever since Modi ji became the Prime Minister, the BJP government has launched a continuous campaign against Naxalism and terrorism. After the formation of the BJP government in Chhattisgarh, that campaign gained further momentum. We started setting up camps since 2014. After 2019, at least 250 camps have been set up.” 

“After the formation of the government, in a period of about 3 months, more than 80 Naxalites have been killed in Chhattisgarh, more than 125 have been arrested and more than 150 Naxalites have surrendered. I have full confidence that it will continue in future also and within a very short time, under the leadership of Modi ji, we will uproot Naxalism from the country,” Shah added.