Ready to mediate with Maoists, says Suman

Kabir Suman, the Trinamool Congress MP who is not always known to toe the party line and a hugely popular poet-singer in West Bengal, says he is willing to mediate between the central government and Maoists.

Elected from the Jadavpur constituency last year, Suman believes tribals have "a very strong reason" to raise their voice against the ongoing state offensive against rebels.

"I am absolutely ready to mediate the process of dialogue if both the parties come forward and talk it out. I have no moral scruples being middleman between the Maoists and the centre," Suman, 60, said. Criticising the government's decision to carry out Operation Green Hunt against Maoists, he said a section of people was trying to eradicate the backward tribal population from their own land with muscle power.

Full report here Times of India