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Former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel has said Congress leaders lost their lives in a Maoist attack and yet the BJP accuses it of association with “urban Naxals”.
The Congress leader was responding to Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis claiming that “ultra-Left” elements were part of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra and asking what message Gandhi wanted to give by showing a `red’ copy of the Indian Constitution.
No party has suffered because of Naxalite violence as much as the Congress has, said Baghel, speaking to the media here as part of his party’s campaign for the Maharashtra assembly elections.
What problem Fadnavis has with colour red, he asked, adding that the BJP leader was talking about “non-issues” in his frustration over having become a deputy chief minister after being the chief minister.
“In Chhattisgarh, our frontline leaders lost their lives in a Naxal attack. Twenty-nine leaders including former Union minister Vidya Charan Shukla were killed by Naxalites, and they (BJP) are calling us Naxals,” he said, referring to the May 2013 attack on a Congress convoy in Jhiram valley in Sukma district.
While the Naxalites do not accept the Indian Constitution, the BJP wants to change the Constitution, said Baghel.
“In Maharashtra, democracy was attacked and two political parties were split. So, even the BJP wants to finish off the Constitution and the Naxalites do not accept the Constitution, which indicates a similarity between BJP and Naxalites,” the Congress leader said.
