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Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has been unable to bring around the People’s War Group to give up their ways of violence. Though there had been two rounds of talks between the Andhra Pradesh Government and People’s War Group (PWG) there is no sign of any meeting ground. Both the sides, at their separate media briefings, admitted that the discussions could not break any ice and were limited to confidence building measures. The discussions were held in the chambers of Commercial Taxes Minister K Vijayarama Rao, one of the two government representatives, with the two PWG emissaries, revolutionary writer Varavara Rao and Balladeer Gaddar.

It is extremely difficult to find a solution to this vexed issue as the PWG is making demands that the government can’t meet. The PWG representatives had laid down eight demands. These included continuation of the armed struggle, even while the dialogue process was on, and lifting of the ban on the outfit. As both the demands are contradictory in nature, the government was adamant that the issue of lifting the ban on the PWG could be considered during the main course of discussions between the two parties.

But the PWG representatives insisted that lifting the ban and removing the list of names of those who carry rewards on their heads would facilitate a conducive atmosphere for further discussions. They added that the armed struggle was a part of the PWG policy and the issue could not be a hindrance for considering lifting of the ban on the outfit. "Armed struggle is only a part of the political principles of the People’s War, which is a national party. It could not be shown as a pretext for imposing a ban on the organisation," Varavara Rao said.

The government has made it clear that as long as armed squads continued to move around in the rural areas terrorising people and no declaration came forth from the PWG on giving up the armed struggle, lifting the ban on the outfit would be difficult.

Varavara Rao insisted that the Sri Lankan Government decided to lift the ban on LTTE though the latter continued to swear by armed struggle. But the argument was rejected by Rao and Sitaram. The ministers contended that lifting of the ban was not possible unless the PWG laid down arms.

Analysts feel that the ban would mean nothing if both the sides exercise restraint and desisted from violence. Though the scale of operations by the PWG and the police has come down significantly in recent weeks, a sort of war of words is going on between the two sides with mutual tirade assuming nastier proportions.. Certainly, the two warring sides cannot adopt belligerent posturing and, at the same time, hope to carry on with a dialogue to find a lasting solution to a protracted issue. Both the government and the PWG claim to work for the people’s welfare, the State’s all-round development and peace and order in society.

Moreover, the PWG does not trust the government and the police. Mutual trust and confidence are important factors to make the talk fruitful. The discussions held between the party were totally confined to the PWG’s ‘‘protest’’ against the exchange of fire at Inaole village in Mahaboobnagar on June 5, and the killing of a Jana Shakti extremist and a dacoit in Guntur district in the past two days by the police. ‘‘A power group, consisting of police officials and encouraged by the political leadership, is out to thwart the negotiations,’’ said Varavara Rao. He, along with Gaddar, accused the police of trying to vitiate the atmosphere while the PWG had kept its word of ‘‘ceasefire’’ since January 10. The PWG representatives shouted slogans against the encounters, while entering the secretariat, the venue of the discussions.

The government, however, defended the police action claiming that the talks were initiated to find a permanent solution to the issue but at the same time, it had to maintain law and order. Observers feel that the Andhra Pradesh government’s decision to hold talks with the Naxalite group without involving the Centre and other Naxal-affected State governments, may end up as a futile exercise. If the Andhra government is really sincere in bringing an end to the Naxalite problem and wants peace, it should bring both the Centre and all the extremist-affected states and the joint coordination committee, formed to tackle the vexatious problem, on a single platform and begin talks with the PWG.