Naxals plotting Rajiv-type strike on Modi, says Devendra Fadnavis

Mumbai/Pune: Naxalites may be planning to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi the way former PM Rajiv Gandhi was killed, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis quoted the Maharashtra police as saying on Friday. The police had cited a letter allegedly seized from one of five activists in Mumbai, Nagpur and Delhi arrested two days earlier for having links with the outlawed CPI (Maoist) organisation.

The letter, said to have been seized from the house of activist Rona Wilson from New Delhi, talks of Naxalites mulling over “another Rajiv Gandhi incident” as part of “concrete steps to end the Modi raj”, was submitted before the sessions court in Pune on Thursday. The letter by an extremist thought to be a Maoist commander also talks about “the requirement of Rs 8 crores for an annual supply of M-4 carbines and four lakh rounds”.

The security for Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis and his family members was also stepped up after a death threat was received from Maoist organisations over the Gadchiroli encounter, in which 40 Maoists were killed by the security forces in April. Official sources said on Friday that two letters threatening the CM and his family had been received.  The Maharashtra CM added: “Many such communications have been seized during the raids” and that “the intelligence agencies are at work and the investigations are probing more links in this connection”.

Assassination plots and conspiracy theories may appear bizarre, but the government is not taking any threats lightly. However, defence lawyers in the Pune court were claiming that the documents submitted were “fabricated by the authorities, and their contents and authorship are yet to be proven”.

The Centre too is taking no chances on security. Union home minister Rajnath Singh, speaking in J&K, said the government takes the security of the Prime Minister very seriously. “The Maoists are fighting a losing battle. They are now active only in 10 districts in the country,” he told a press conference in Srinagar on Friday after a two-day tour of the state.

On Wednesday, police teams had arrested Sudhir Dhawale, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Shoma Sen and activist Rona Wilson. The arrests were made over their alleged links with Naxalism, their role in organising the “Elgaar Parishad” on December 31, 2017 and the subsequent Bhima-Koregaon violence the next day, news agency reports said.

Crucial parts of the sinister-sounding letter by a Maoist named “R” reads: “Defeating Hindu fascism has been our core agenda and a major concern for the party. Several leaders from secret cells as well as open organisations have raised this issue very
strongly.” It goes on to say: “Modi-led Hindu fascist regime is bulldozing its way into the lives of indigenous adivasis. In spite of big defeats like Bihar and West Bengal, Modi has successful established BJP governments in more than 15 states.”

“If this pace continues, then it would mean immense trouble for the party on all the fronts. Comrade Kisan and few other senior comrades have proposed concrete steps to end Modi-Raj. We are thinking along the line of another Rajiv Gandhi type incident,” the letter goes on to say in a crucial part.

Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was killed by a woman suicide bomber during a public event in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu on May 21, 1991 by an assassin sent as part of a LTTE hit squad of killers from Sri Lanka.