Rabi Shankar ready to negotiate with Maoists, one group welcomes the move

Even as the state government is gearing up for armed showdown with Maoists, who have declared not to shun violence to achieve their goal of getting justice to the underprivileged, particularly tirbals and dalits, Art of Living guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has once offered to mediate on behalf of the Government to hold talks with the Maoists to resolve their problem and work for peace and prosperity.

The spiritual guru, who met chief minister Naveen Patnaik at the Naveen Niwas, later told media persons that he was willing to talk to the Maoists. “I am appealing to the Maoists to shun the path of violence and come forward for peace talks. I am ready to hold peace negotiations anywhere in the world. We would work together for social justice and development of the State,” Sri Sri said.

In fact, appreciating the move, the south Chotnagpur Zonal committee secretary of one of the Maosist groups, Samarjee has told media that the organization did not believe in violence. “We want progress in the villages, particularly the tribals who have been deprived of their rights to land, forest and water in the name of development projects. Let the Government restore their rights. We don’t believe in violence, but the Government is forcing us to resort to violence. Let Rabi Shankar also talk to the authorities on their move to suppress us through brute force”, he said.

The guru, who is on a five-day visit to the State, said, “If the Maoists have any differences with the Government, they must come to the negotiating table and discuss how to resolve those peacefully instead of resorting to violence.”

However, Mr Patnaik declined to hold any talks with the Maoists. “The Maoists should first give up their arms before the talk,” Mr Patnaik said.