Finally the question arises why not to ban Maoist in West Bengal. The Centre on Friday told to WB to ban Maoist in the state. This has been for long time told by security and intelligence agencies.

When asked for not banning CPI (Maoists) in WB, home minister P Chidambaram said, “I believe there are voices in West Bengal which have raised this issue. We think they should be banned in West Bengal as in other states.”

In the span of five years, this is the first time that a home minister openly stated the requirement of banning Maoists in the state when the outfit is already banned by the central government and all naxal-affected states.

For long the security and intelligence agencies have been saying that the state has become a shelter for Red ultras. The agencies said that the Maoists take refuge in WB after committing violence in neighbouring Jharkhand, Bihar and Orissa and also in faraway states like Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.