Govt serious on tackling separatism, says Rajnath

Union Home minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said that his government will come up with a comprehensive integrated action plan to tackle the menace of separatism, naxalism and terrorism.

‘The central government is sincere towards the internal security of the country, hence my ministry will soon come up with a comprehensive integrated action plan,’ Singh, who was on a visit to his parliamentary constituency for the first time after becoming the union minister, said.

Problems like naxalism, extremism, separatism and terrorism need to be attended to on urgent basis, he noted.

On being questioned about the deteriorating law and order in UP, the Union Home minister said that the central government has all the details about the crime rate of each and every 

state. ‘I have all the information, but will not like to comment on the growing crime rate of any particular state,’ he said. 

The Union Home ministry has all the details about the Badaun gang rape and double murder case and necessary directions have been passed to the state government into the matter, Singh said.

He claimed that the image of the country has improved since Narendra Modi became the prime minister. ‘The presence of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries during the swearing-in ceremony of Modi clearly give the message of a good beginning... usually the process starts after one year,’ the BJP MP stated.

Also it was for the first time after independence that the heads of the SAARC countries were invited for such a ceremony, he claimed.

Adding to it, he said that former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee used to say that ‘friends can be changed, but not the neighbours. Hence, the party is trying to follow his thinking.’

Sensing that development is the only way to deal with the Maoists issue in the country, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who met the heads of Central Armed Police Forces or CAPFs on Friday, has decided that development projects in Naxal-affected areas will be started only after full sanitization.

It was also decided to rename the government’s Naxal Management Division as Left Wing Extremism Division and an official notification in this regard is likely to be issued within a few days.

In the meeting it was decided to revert the earlier ‘security first’ approach of the forces and agencies while dealing with Maoist insurgency. As per the new policy, development projects in Naxal-affected areas will be started only after fully securing an area in order to ensure the safety of agencies involved in the relevant projects.