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Summary
Palaniappan Chidambaram, India's home (interior) minister on Wednesday said there is no evidence of any foreign covert support being offered to Maoist rebels in India. Answering queries about the modes of funding for Maoists during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament in New Delhi, Chidambaram informed the house that the rebels are able to generate money within the country. The CPM (Maoist) is able to raise money within India. They raise money by looting banks; they raised money by leaving amounts on business in their area. For example, only a few days ago, in Orissa, a vehicle carrying 49 Lakhs of rupees of the State Bank of India was waylaid commandeered and money was looted. The matter is under investigation. They are able to raise money within India. We have no evidence so far that CPI (Maoist) is getting money from abroad, said Chidambaram. During the Question Hour, He reiterated that there is no evidence of any links between China or any other foreign country or organisation with the Maoists ultras in India. Sir, there is no evidence that CPI-Maoist gets any covert support from any international terrorist organizations or international militant organizations. There was a report about a contact between an organization in Nepal and CPI (Maoist), but that has not been confirmed either. There is no evidence that they receive money or weapons from China, China as country or China as an entity, said Chidambaram. Reacting to a question by an opposition lawmaker about the government's stand on Maoist supporters, Chidambaram said the government certainly does not encourage anybody to support the Maoists. No one should support the CPI (Maoist), and the government certainly will not encourage any one to support CPI (Maoist)., said Chidambaram. The Maoists are spread out in 20 of India's 28 states. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has termed Maoists as the country's biggest internal security threat. On their part, the Maoists say they are crusading against the prevailing political system, and upholding the cause of the poor, marginal farmers and landless labourers.
