PC vs Kishenji

the Union Home Minister vs the Naxal chief.
their interviews are the cover stories in this week's tehelka.

PC is (as usual), extremely articulate and lucid and is saying a lot of things which are positive indicators. such as:

1. There is no Operation Green Hunt. Name me an officer who has said this and I will take action.
2. I am totally opposed to staged encounters. It’s possible that in a gun battle between the police and those who take to the gun, people could get killed, but that’s unfortunately a battle. But if you arrest a person, he must be produced before a magistrate.
3. If any civil rights group or tribal representative will organise it, I am ready to come (to the affected areas).
4. I am prepared to request the Prime Minister to freeze all these MOUs and order a comprehensive review of all the MOUs that have been signed in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and South Bihar, and then decide which MOU should be implemented, with or without modification. I am prepared to request the PM to do that.

but he continually draws a line between centre and state, which i found jarring and a deliberate 'washing off hands' tactic.
also his response to the conflict on interests issues (he represent several mining companies as a lawyer) is quite tepid.

kishenji's interview in comparison is aggressive, unyielding, self-deluding and loaded with ungrounded idealism.

1. The PM should apologise to the tribals and withdraw all the troops deployed in these areas.
2. (long term vision is to)...is to gain political power, to establish new democracy, socialism and then communism.
3. (on fund raising)...There are no extortions. We collect taxes from the corporates and big bourgeoisie, but it’s not any different from the corporate sector funding the political parties.

guess that after one spends over 30 years fighting, one gets caught up in distrust and animosity.

parallely, arundhati roy is scathing in her last outlook cover story - Mr Chidambaram's War.

praying that these tentative feelers get stronger in the coming months and we see a full scale de-escalation of violence.