'Never ride a tiger, you may be its first victim': Arun Jaitley warns Opposition against using Maoist forces

New Delhi: In a veiled attack, Union Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday warned the Opposition parties against using Maoist forces in their anti-NDA campaign and said the ultras are not just against the government but the Constitution itself. [caption id=“attachment_4334135” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. PTI[/caption] “Unfortunately, some political parties see the Maoists as their instrument in the anti-NDA cause. The history of terrorism and extremism teaches us one basic fact: never ride a tiger, you may be its first victim,” Jaitley said in an article posted on Facebook. The Maoists believe in the violent overthrow of constitutional system and not just the government, said the senior BJP leader, adding that in their perceived system, there are no fundamental rights, no rule of law, no Parliament and no free speech. “But to expand their political base, their sympathisers make full use of the democratic idioms,” the Union Finance Minister said. Jaitley further expressed his concern over the increased Maoist activities, particularly in unexpected areas. The past few days have witnessed evidence of increased Maoist activities in areas other than usual extremism-affected regions, he said. “This is a dangerous tendency which all political parties must realise and react to,” he said in the Facebook post.

  His comments come after police in Pune, while investigating the Maoist links to the Koregaon-Bhima caste riots, stumbled upon letters pointing to plans to assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Reminding of a definition of Maoists that he gave in the Rajya Sabha when he was in the opposition during UPA rule, Jaitley said first category are those who ideologically indoctrinate, second is the weaponised Maoist who carry out the operations and the third category is the innocent tribals who have been misled to believe that Maoists will get them relief. “We seriously need to address this section,” he said. “The fourth category is what I have always called ‘half Maoist’. Willingly or otherwise, they become over-ground face of the underground. They are a part of the democratic system. They masquerade as activist; they speak the language of democracy; they have captured the human rights movement in several parts of the country but always lend support to the Maoist cause. They are unwilling to condemn,” he said. On Wednesday, five activists were arrested — including Delhi-based activist Rona Wilson from whose house one of the incriminating letters was recovered — from different parts of India as part of the probe into the Koregaon-Bhima riots conspiracy and “urban Maoist sympathisers”.