Left-wing extremism most formidable challenge: Chidambaram

New Delhi: Union Home Minister P Chidambaram today said left-wing extremism was the most formidable challenge to governance in the country and the real challenge lies in not restoring peace or development but winning the minds and hearts of villagers.
More people had been killed in Maoist violence this year than in incidents of terrorism, Mr Chidambaram said at the inaugural session of a ‘national workshop on appropriate development strategies for effective implementation of rural development schemes in integrated action plan (IAP) districts’.
He said left-wing extremism was driven by brutal ideology and its goal was to overthrow established parliamentary democracy and replace it with dictatorship of proletariat.
He said 26 civilians had been killed in the first eight months this year in incidents of terrorism, 46 in insurgency-related incidents in the northeast and 27 in violence in Jammu and Kashmir – the corresponding figure for civilians killed in left wing extremism violence was 297.
Mr Chidambaram added that 109 security personnel had been killed in Maoist violence this year while 50 had been killed in insurgency related incidents in the northeast and violence in Jammu and Kashmir.