National
Opposition targets ban on outfits under POTO
By Our Special Correspondent
NEW DELHI, DEC. 6. The Centre's decision to ban the People's War Group (PWG) and the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) under the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance (POTO) has been questioned by the Opposition parties while radical Left outfits demanded its withdrawal.
The Congress said the decision was aimed at creating an illusion of radical action under POTO and that it was nothing but a ``pathetic attempt to provide justification for the controversial Ordinance.'' The party spokesperson, Mr. S. Jaipal Reddy, said the Centre had banned organisations that were already banned before and it was done to justify POTO.
The Communist Party of India charged the Vajpayee Government with ``baring its fangs against Left movements''. The CPI central secretariat said that though it was opposed to the PWG's methods, ``bracketing them with the Jaish-e-Mohammad or the Lashkar-e-Taiba shows that the Government is out to curb any dissent and attack all movements.''
A party release said the Government had started using POTO selectively against some organisations while turning a blind eye to outfits such as the Bajrang Dal and the VHP which were ``openly challenging the rule of law and democracy in the country and intimidating the minorities.''
The Revolutionary Socialist Party leader, Mr. Abani Roy, said the Centre had applied POTO on the MCC and the PWG to justify the Ordinance. It appeared to be in response to queries from Opposition MPs during an all-party meet last week as to why the Government had not put POTO to use if the current situation demanded such laws.
The two factions of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) _ Liberation and New Democracy _ also spoke against the ban, demanding its revocation.
The Liberation group issued a release stating that the decision was an ``insult to the basic conventions of parliamentary democracy.'' While underground outfits such as the PWG and the MCC were already banned in some States, the ``loaded reference to all their formations and front organisation is mischievous and arbitrary and is liable to be used indiscriminately to harass and persecute the oppressed rural poor fighting for basic rights and human dignity.'' The party general secretary, Mr. Dipankar Bhattacharya, said that while his outfit did not subscribe to or even condone the ``anarchist activities'' of the PWG and the MCC, they opposed the ban.
The New Democracy group said the decision showed the Centre's desperation in view of the coming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh where it was trying to whip up communalism. It also condemned the ``fulminations'' of the Union Home Minister, Mr. L.K. Advani, against the revolutionary Left in India and Nepal. ``It is clear that the Government's real targets are the revolutionary struggles and the people's movements which it wants to crush in the name of terrorism,'' a release from the party's central committee said.
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