The state government on Thursday extended the ban on the Communist Party of India (Maoist) and its seven frontal organisations for one more year. The government issued eight separate orders extending the ban one week before the official expiry of the ban on August 16. The extension of the ban was done under sub-sections (1) and (4) of section 3 of the Andhra Pradesh Public Security Act, 1992.
According to the orders, the government had reviewed the activities of the Maoists and was of the opinion that the Maoists were continuing to indulge in unlawful activities which, if not stopped, would pose a serious threat to the peace and tranquility of the country in general and state in particular.
Along with the parent organisation, the government also extended the ban on seven of the Maoists’ frontal organisations_the Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF), All India Revolutionary Students Federation (AIRSF), Viplava Karmika Samakhya (VIKASA), Singareni Karmika Samakhya (SIKASA), Radical Students Union (RSU), Rythu Coolie Sangham (RCS) and the Radical Youth League (RYL).
The CPI (Maoist) was first banned on August 17, 2005 by the YS Rajasekhara Reddy government after the failure of talks between them and the state government. Since then, the state government has been extending the ban every year.