Kolkata:
Top Maoist leader Kishenji has named possible mediators for talks with government.
The mediators among others include author Arundhati Roy and Trinamool leader Kabir Suman.
Speaking to a Bangla channel, Kishenji said that joint operations against Maoists have to stop for talks and the Prime Minister should announce halt of operations.
The Maoist leader also said that he is not directly involved in the kidnapping of Bankura school teacher, Ranjit Duley, and that "people" have kidnapped him to protest torture by joint forces. (Read & Watch: Time running out for Bengal teacher)
Duley was kidnapped on Friday night. The Maoists have issued a 48-hour ultimatum. They want the release of six men arrested for the murder of a police officer in Bankura on February 24. If they aren't freed, then the school teacher will be executed, they say. The deadline expires around 9 pm on Sunday.
On Friday, Union Home Secretary Gopal Krishna Pillai had said the Maoists were not serious about talks because they weren't under enough pressure to do so. He added that their objective was to overthrow the Indian state by 2050, possibly with the help of ex-armymen.
It was a virtual face-off between the Home Secretary and writer-activist Arundhati Roy who challenged Pillai's statement that Maoists are virtually building an army to overthrow the state of India. (Read & Watch: Maoist want to overthrow Indian state: Home Secretary)
Arundhati Roy said that the Maoists would take Home Secretary's suggestion that they were a formal army as a compliment.
Arundhati Roy said that Naxals today are a guerrilla force, not an army. She also said that she does not justify the Maoist violence.
She told BBC that she is ready to be an independent observer if the government agrees to peace talks with Maoists but she can't act as a representative for the Maoists.
"I am a writer, I don't have the skills of a mediator."
Roy said she supported the offer of talks made by the Maoists.
The mediators among others include author Arundhati Roy and Trinamool leader Kabir Suman.
Speaking to a Bangla channel, Kishenji said that joint operations against Maoists have to stop for talks and the Prime Minister should announce halt of operations.
The Maoist leader also said that he is not directly involved in the kidnapping of Bankura school teacher, Ranjit Duley, and that "people" have kidnapped him to protest torture by joint forces. (Read & Watch: Time running out for Bengal teacher)
Duley was kidnapped on Friday night. The Maoists have issued a 48-hour ultimatum. They want the release of six men arrested for the murder of a police officer in Bankura on February 24. If they aren't freed, then the school teacher will be executed, they say. The deadline expires around 9 pm on Sunday.
On Friday, Union Home Secretary Gopal Krishna Pillai had said the Maoists were not serious about talks because they weren't under enough pressure to do so. He added that their objective was to overthrow the Indian state by 2050, possibly with the help of ex-armymen.
It was a virtual face-off between the Home Secretary and writer-activist Arundhati Roy who challenged Pillai's statement that Maoists are virtually building an army to overthrow the state of India. (Read & Watch: Maoist want to overthrow Indian state: Home Secretary)
Arundhati Roy said that the Maoists would take Home Secretary's suggestion that they were a formal army as a compliment.
Arundhati Roy said that Naxals today are a guerrilla force, not an army. She also said that she does not justify the Maoist violence.
She told BBC that she is ready to be an independent observer if the government agrees to peace talks with Maoists but she can't act as a representative for the Maoists.
"I am a writer, I don't have the skills of a mediator."
Roy said she supported the offer of talks made by the Maoists.
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