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In another sign of a rift between the Central Reserve Police Force and the Chhattisgarh police over the handling of Naxal problem, the central force's Special Director General Vijay Raman has slammed the state police chief Vishwaranjan for not "listening".
Raman also said "personality issue" was behind Chhattisgarh becoming the most challenging state in the fight against left-wing extremists.
"The director general of police is not listening... The point is when you are given an assignment the first thing you need to do is become a part of the solution. The illegal killings have contributed to the problem. So if you are party to it then you become a part of the problem," Raman told The Week magazine in its upcoming issue.
Asked if the 'Operation Green Hunt' sent wrong signals to the common people, he said, "This operation is a creation of Chhattisgarh's director-general of police. I don't subscribe to it. As far as the Government of India is concerned, it does not exist."
Replying to a query on why he called Chhattisgarh as the most challenging state, Raman, who is in-charge of the anti-Naxal task force comprising of over 67,000 personnel, said, "I think it is a personality issue."
He said the challenges being faced by him is to make the state governments take the lead.
"We will provide them full support like it is happening in Maharashtra, where the police take action and we provide support. Andhra Pradesh, for instance, doesn't even need our help," Raman, an Indian Police Service officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre said.
He said the key to defeat any armed insurgency is information.
"The police play a key role in information gathering. If we have information, even a big leader like Kishanji could be tracked.
"He is the top man. The aim of the security agencies should be to identify such people and remove them," he said.
On the issue of deploying army to fight the Naxals, Raman said, "Any battalion that is inducted into Naxal-affected area undergoes six weeks of training with the army. But we don't think it will be right to have them in the forefront."
He said the Naxals are ahead of security forces when it comes to training and commitment to achieve their objective.
Raman also said the "battle' against Naxals cannot be won by force alone. "Our strategy is very clear. Force and development should go hand-in-hand."
Last month, Vishwaranjan had slammed the CRPF saying the police can't teach the CRPF to walk, a statement which came soon after 27 CRPF personnel were killed in an ambush on June 29 in Narayanpur district.