KOLKATA, 19th July,2009 : Veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu was discharged from hospital here on Sunday evening, seven days after admission for “transient loss of consciousness.”
The medical board of seven specialists met on Sunday morning, reviewed his condition and decided to discharge him, according to a hospital bulletin. They will visit him at his residence for the next couple of days.
Hospital authorities said Mr. Basu’s condition would be continuously monitored.
A mini- medical unit, comprising an ECG monitor, defibrillator and pulse oximeter, was set up at his residence. A doctor and paramedic staff would be present round-the-clock and blood tests and other investigations conducted.
July 22, 2009
‘MAOIST’ KILLERS MURDER TWO CPI (M) WORKERS IN THE JANGAL MAHAL
JHARGRAM:It was in the feint emitting light of a rain-melted sundown and amidst the caressing whisper of soft breeze of his favourite patch of sal trees that comrade Jaladhar Mahato, a CPI (M) zonal committee member of the Jhargram Gramin (rural) unit, was pitilessly gunned down. The assailants were hired killers on the payroll of the ‘Maoists’ across the border in Jharkhand. This happened on 19 July.
In a macabre development, the ‘news’ of this gruesome misdeed was then quickly text messaged in ugly gloat from across the border to a select group of reporters who the ‘Maoist’ assassins feel are their simpatico partners in their criminal hatred against the Communists. Murder it is not, boasted the message, but a part of ‘annihilation of class enemies.’
DEADLY ATTACK
Comrade Jaladhar (52) was alone and travelling on his trusty if old motorcycle after having led a meeting of the local Gramin unit of the CPI (M) some time back late in the afternoon. The locality is near the Jhargram police station. The attackers struck with deadly precision at a lonely part of the dense forestry.
Whenever a rattle of automatic weapons is heard in the jangal mahal, and this has been the fact for some time now, it usually is the signal and the tragedy of yet another criminal attack on CPI (M) workers. The villagers rushed out after the initial shock. The only sight that confronted them was the martyred remains of comrade Jaladhar who had been shot twice in the head and as many times on his chest.
Comrade Jaladhar leaves behind his much-beloved wife who has been a mentally-retardant for some years now, and who is not quite able to pin-point what has actually gone wrong with the villagers who are in a teary if angry mood. The sight is piteous. The fallen comrade also leaves behind, for the Party and the village to care for and to bring up, a daughter and a son.
‘CLASS ENEMY’
Comrade Jaladhar was a small kisan by calling and farmed a tiny plot of land for vegetables, in a clearing of the jangal mahal. A staunch Party leader, comrade Jaladhar was fond and affectionate in nature, and had a particular soft spot for the wide swathe of sal trees that shaded his hutment for, amidst them he had grown up albeit through a bitterly poverty-ridden childhood. Was he, then the ‘class enemy’ the ‘Maoists’ would be ‘glad to annihilate’?
Elsewhere in Midnapore west in a related development and on the same evening, the ‘Maoists’ with direct help from local Trinamuli killers assassinated a CPI (M) worker, comrade Ashok Ghosh at Goaltore.
Comrade Ashok (35) was a humble shop-keeper. He was closing shop-- and as he was downing his wood-and-tin shamble of a ‘shutter,’ he was pounced upon and shot on the head with countrymade six-shooters, by an unknown number of attackers.
The criminals then proceeded to ransack the shop and made off with whatever they could lay their hands on before the people of the locale rushed in. Bengal CPI (M) has strongly protested the two ‘Maoist’ killings.
In a macabre development, the ‘news’ of this gruesome misdeed was then quickly text messaged in ugly gloat from across the border to a select group of reporters who the ‘Maoist’ assassins feel are their simpatico partners in their criminal hatred against the Communists. Murder it is not, boasted the message, but a part of ‘annihilation of class enemies.’
DEADLY ATTACK
Comrade Jaladhar (52) was alone and travelling on his trusty if old motorcycle after having led a meeting of the local Gramin unit of the CPI (M) some time back late in the afternoon. The locality is near the Jhargram police station. The attackers struck with deadly precision at a lonely part of the dense forestry.
Whenever a rattle of automatic weapons is heard in the jangal mahal, and this has been the fact for some time now, it usually is the signal and the tragedy of yet another criminal attack on CPI (M) workers. The villagers rushed out after the initial shock. The only sight that confronted them was the martyred remains of comrade Jaladhar who had been shot twice in the head and as many times on his chest.
Comrade Jaladhar leaves behind his much-beloved wife who has been a mentally-retardant for some years now, and who is not quite able to pin-point what has actually gone wrong with the villagers who are in a teary if angry mood. The sight is piteous. The fallen comrade also leaves behind, for the Party and the village to care for and to bring up, a daughter and a son.
‘CLASS ENEMY’
Comrade Jaladhar was a small kisan by calling and farmed a tiny plot of land for vegetables, in a clearing of the jangal mahal. A staunch Party leader, comrade Jaladhar was fond and affectionate in nature, and had a particular soft spot for the wide swathe of sal trees that shaded his hutment for, amidst them he had grown up albeit through a bitterly poverty-ridden childhood. Was he, then the ‘class enemy’ the ‘Maoists’ would be ‘glad to annihilate’?
Elsewhere in Midnapore west in a related development and on the same evening, the ‘Maoists’ with direct help from local Trinamuli killers assassinated a CPI (M) worker, comrade Ashok Ghosh at Goaltore.
Comrade Ashok (35) was a humble shop-keeper. He was closing shop-- and as he was downing his wood-and-tin shamble of a ‘shutter,’ he was pounced upon and shot on the head with countrymade six-shooters, by an unknown number of attackers.
The criminals then proceeded to ransack the shop and made off with whatever they could lay their hands on before the people of the locale rushed in. Bengal CPI (M) has strongly protested the two ‘Maoist’ killings.
CONGRESS-RUN NORTH DINAJPUR ZP IN DOLDRUMS, AND WORSE
RAIGANJ: In less than one year, the Pradesh Congress-run Zillah Parishad board of North Dinajpore has stalled every mechanism of development while graft and misuse of funds have become the orders of the day, every day.
The very first step that the new board initiated was to garage the perfectly good vehicles of the ZP as ‘scrap.’ Then, they proceeded to buy luxury sedans and SUVs complete with every kind of creature comfort. No accounting goes for the fuel bills that have soared out of sight. Sources tell us that each car runs up fuel bills of half-a-lakh of rupees or more each month. All the spanking new vehicles in which the worthies of the ZP travel are fitted with revolving red beacons flouting motor vehicles and transport department’s restrictions.
Since the district is predominantly rural, we shall dwell here on the rural development aspect, in putting the present ZP on the dock. Bengal Left Front government has an ongoing plan called rural health development scheme. Every document including government orders (GOs) of this scheme has been blatantly filed away by the present régime and the scheme effectively shelved.
The state government had sanctioned Rs two crore 48 lakh for setting up of subsidiary health centres in the remote rural corners of the district at Daspara, Maharajapara, Surun, and Bangalbari. The funds lie quite unutilised as the rural folks suffer for lack of health care.
The state government had also sanctioned – for the nine blocks that make up the district – Rs 1.50 crore in the current financial year (FY) for upkeep and maintenance of the existing health infrastructure. The funds have met with a similar fate. Indeed, we are informed that the amount of money left unused from the previous FY in the same head, however small, too, has not been utilised in any way.
The ZP has also failed miserably in utilising the large quantum of ‘own funds’ that are made available to the three-tier Panchayat system under the present governance. Non-productive, anti-poor drives abound and the ZP office crawls with staggeringly dishonest people.
The district is also affected by refugee problems for a long time now. The state LF government has sanctioned Rs 1.30 crore for development of the infrastructural facilities of the refugee colonies in the current FY. The amounts lie unused, as the refugees and their families suffer.
A similar lack of pro-people initiative is in fact observed in every department of the ZP. Then again, can one expect the otherwise when the board members hail from the lair of the long-standing anti-people outfit called the Pradesh Congress?
The very first step that the new board initiated was to garage the perfectly good vehicles of the ZP as ‘scrap.’ Then, they proceeded to buy luxury sedans and SUVs complete with every kind of creature comfort. No accounting goes for the fuel bills that have soared out of sight. Sources tell us that each car runs up fuel bills of half-a-lakh of rupees or more each month. All the spanking new vehicles in which the worthies of the ZP travel are fitted with revolving red beacons flouting motor vehicles and transport department’s restrictions.
Since the district is predominantly rural, we shall dwell here on the rural development aspect, in putting the present ZP on the dock. Bengal Left Front government has an ongoing plan called rural health development scheme. Every document including government orders (GOs) of this scheme has been blatantly filed away by the present régime and the scheme effectively shelved.
The state government had sanctioned Rs two crore 48 lakh for setting up of subsidiary health centres in the remote rural corners of the district at Daspara, Maharajapara, Surun, and Bangalbari. The funds lie quite unutilised as the rural folks suffer for lack of health care.
The state government had also sanctioned – for the nine blocks that make up the district – Rs 1.50 crore in the current financial year (FY) for upkeep and maintenance of the existing health infrastructure. The funds have met with a similar fate. Indeed, we are informed that the amount of money left unused from the previous FY in the same head, however small, too, has not been utilised in any way.
The ZP has also failed miserably in utilising the large quantum of ‘own funds’ that are made available to the three-tier Panchayat system under the present governance. Non-productive, anti-poor drives abound and the ZP office crawls with staggeringly dishonest people.
The district is also affected by refugee problems for a long time now. The state LF government has sanctioned Rs 1.30 crore for development of the infrastructural facilities of the refugee colonies in the current FY. The amounts lie unused, as the refugees and their families suffer.
A similar lack of pro-people initiative is in fact observed in every department of the ZP. Then again, can one expect the otherwise when the board members hail from the lair of the long-standing anti-people outfit called the Pradesh Congress?
VANDALISM AND DISORDER AS PRADESH CONGRESS ‘STRIKES’ AT THE PEOPLE
KOLKATA: The Pradesh Congress at the end of two successive days of vandalism with the people as the convenient ‘soft target,’ claimed ‘spontaneous’ success, over and over again, and then once more, on the airwaves, at the press meets.
Biman Basu, senior CPI (M) and Left Front leader has roundly condemned the disorder, chaos, violence and the suffering of the people.
We prefer here to list the misdeeds on 16 and 17 July (the latter was the ‘official’ bandh day) that were borne out of this spontaneity-- to the background noise of bombs bursting, glass panes smashed up, tyres deflated, and above all the deadly crackle of fire as arsonists went to work hard, having to toil that bit harder to ‘make up’ to the level of Trinamuli ‘actions’ of recent yore, and these were desperately attempted to be surpassed.
• More than 500 public vehicles were torched or otherwise damaged beyond repair, and these were the major incidents. An equally large number of privately owned vehicles were attacked and left more than just large dents.
• Post offices were ransacked, and who could be bothered that the postal service falls into the portal of the central government in which the Congress is the majority partner.
• SDOs and BDOs were heckled, in some cases roughly so, including the shameful jostling of a woman BDO in north Bengal.
• Sick and ailing persons including a busful of cancer patients on way to receiving their weekly radiation/chemotherapy were forcefully dragged out from vehicles, left in a bedraggled state wayside, and then made the target of choice invectives of the unprintable kind.
• Zillah Parishad members in western, central, and northern Bengal were made the subject of heckling, abuse, misaddressing, and were prevented from joining work.
• Kolkata was a scene of multi-point disorder as working people were made the target of abuse, shops forced to close down shutters, and all vehicles including, in some instances, ambulances and even the humble cyclerickshaws obstructed until in isolated instances, the police had to intervene.
• All examinations had to be cancelled including all-India service examinations, depriving the aspirants of perhaps what was once-in-a-lifetime chance-- for a better life.
To these must be added misdeeds having a touch of the macabre.
• In several places, in the metropolis, and perhaps elsewhere, small hotels and restaurants were broken into, the employees, crumbling inside with the fear of the worse, forced to cook, the food taken amidst many-a-whoop of joy by the merry men of the urban jungle, and then the establishments left, wrecked
• Stranded Railway and bus passengers were provided with a modicum of food and a gulp or two of water, agreed, and by the ‘strikers.’
• What, however, was the cost involved? We saw one particular incident ourselves at the Naihati station in north 24 Parganas.
• Shops were forced to part with eatables and bottled water, free and in large quantities.
• Of these, a token amount was then sold to the desperately starving long distance passengers at exactly 10 times the normal price.
• Then, the ‘job done,’ the shops were systematically looted with glee and amidst anti-Communist slogans, and then the shopkeepers forced to down shutters once more: bandh must be abided.
• In the laterite zone at Purulia, prisoners accused of heinous crimes were attempted to be snatched away from police custody by attacking the prison van, trying to overcome the successful resistance from the police personnel.
• As we file this report, the Pradesh Congress has not as yet described this particular incident as a case of ‘police brutality,’ small mercies for which we are always thankful.
‘We are coming back,’ rang out the Pradesh Congress leadership in boastful glee. The gradually ominously louder footfalls of the decade of the 1970s are clearly heard across Bengal.
Biman Basu said that the CPI (M) and the Left Front must organise an intense campaign amongst the youth to explain what the 1970s meant for the toiling masses of Bengal.
Biman Basu, senior CPI (M) and Left Front leader has roundly condemned the disorder, chaos, violence and the suffering of the people.
We prefer here to list the misdeeds on 16 and 17 July (the latter was the ‘official’ bandh day) that were borne out of this spontaneity-- to the background noise of bombs bursting, glass panes smashed up, tyres deflated, and above all the deadly crackle of fire as arsonists went to work hard, having to toil that bit harder to ‘make up’ to the level of Trinamuli ‘actions’ of recent yore, and these were desperately attempted to be surpassed.
• More than 500 public vehicles were torched or otherwise damaged beyond repair, and these were the major incidents. An equally large number of privately owned vehicles were attacked and left more than just large dents.
• Post offices were ransacked, and who could be bothered that the postal service falls into the portal of the central government in which the Congress is the majority partner.
• SDOs and BDOs were heckled, in some cases roughly so, including the shameful jostling of a woman BDO in north Bengal.
• Sick and ailing persons including a busful of cancer patients on way to receiving their weekly radiation/chemotherapy were forcefully dragged out from vehicles, left in a bedraggled state wayside, and then made the target of choice invectives of the unprintable kind.
• Zillah Parishad members in western, central, and northern Bengal were made the subject of heckling, abuse, misaddressing, and were prevented from joining work.
• Kolkata was a scene of multi-point disorder as working people were made the target of abuse, shops forced to close down shutters, and all vehicles including, in some instances, ambulances and even the humble cyclerickshaws obstructed until in isolated instances, the police had to intervene.
• All examinations had to be cancelled including all-India service examinations, depriving the aspirants of perhaps what was once-in-a-lifetime chance-- for a better life.
To these must be added misdeeds having a touch of the macabre.
• In several places, in the metropolis, and perhaps elsewhere, small hotels and restaurants were broken into, the employees, crumbling inside with the fear of the worse, forced to cook, the food taken amidst many-a-whoop of joy by the merry men of the urban jungle, and then the establishments left, wrecked
• Stranded Railway and bus passengers were provided with a modicum of food and a gulp or two of water, agreed, and by the ‘strikers.’
• What, however, was the cost involved? We saw one particular incident ourselves at the Naihati station in north 24 Parganas.
• Shops were forced to part with eatables and bottled water, free and in large quantities.
• Of these, a token amount was then sold to the desperately starving long distance passengers at exactly 10 times the normal price.
• Then, the ‘job done,’ the shops were systematically looted with glee and amidst anti-Communist slogans, and then the shopkeepers forced to down shutters once more: bandh must be abided.
• In the laterite zone at Purulia, prisoners accused of heinous crimes were attempted to be snatched away from police custody by attacking the prison van, trying to overcome the successful resistance from the police personnel.
• As we file this report, the Pradesh Congress has not as yet described this particular incident as a case of ‘police brutality,’ small mercies for which we are always thankful.
‘We are coming back,’ rang out the Pradesh Congress leadership in boastful glee. The gradually ominously louder footfalls of the decade of the 1970s are clearly heard across Bengal.
Biman Basu said that the CPI (M) and the Left Front must organise an intense campaign amongst the youth to explain what the 1970s meant for the toiling masses of Bengal.
CPI (M) LOCAL COMMITTEE SECRETARY KILLED
‘MAOIST’ ACTION FOLLOWS TRINAMULI RALLY
PURULIA: Comrade Gangadhar Mahato was a worker in a stone quarry at Beldi in the Burrabazar area of west Purulia. He was 50. He was also the secretary of the Tumrasole CPI (M) local committee, a comrade who was known for his calm disposition and efficacy of leadership.
A LEADING ORGANISER
Comrade Gangadhar was also, and this is relevant here, as we knew him, a redoubtable organiser, working tirelessly amongst the toiling masses, especially khadan (quarry) workers for the propagation of his beloved Communist Party. The recent elections had underwritten this once again. This was no doubt the principle reason the pitiless killers who style themselves as ‘Maoists’ chose comrade Gangadhar as their target.
The locality too suited the remorse-free murderers. The locale is about a stone’s throw away from the lawlessness that is the eastern districts of Jharkhand. Comrade Gangadhar was cycling back to his humble abode after a day of back-breaking work at the deep khadan, when he was waylaid and ambushed by half-a-dozen heavily armed criminals who had been led to the spot by their cohorts in the Trinamulis.
MURDER MOST FOUL
A lonely turn in the bend and a hail of bullets riddled comrade Gangadhar’s weary body. He collapsed and died, perhaps almost instantly, now that we know that he was first shot twice in the head and then had four bullets pumped into his back and chest. The attackers made off into Jharkhand, and they could not be traced, as we file this report. Biman Basu, CPI (M) state secretary has deeply mourned comrade Gangadhar’s death and has called for an early apprehension of heinous assassins.
PURULIA: Comrade Gangadhar Mahato was a worker in a stone quarry at Beldi in the Burrabazar area of west Purulia. He was 50. He was also the secretary of the Tumrasole CPI (M) local committee, a comrade who was known for his calm disposition and efficacy of leadership.
A LEADING ORGANISER
Comrade Gangadhar was also, and this is relevant here, as we knew him, a redoubtable organiser, working tirelessly amongst the toiling masses, especially khadan (quarry) workers for the propagation of his beloved Communist Party. The recent elections had underwritten this once again. This was no doubt the principle reason the pitiless killers who style themselves as ‘Maoists’ chose comrade Gangadhar as their target.
The locality too suited the remorse-free murderers. The locale is about a stone’s throw away from the lawlessness that is the eastern districts of Jharkhand. Comrade Gangadhar was cycling back to his humble abode after a day of back-breaking work at the deep khadan, when he was waylaid and ambushed by half-a-dozen heavily armed criminals who had been led to the spot by their cohorts in the Trinamulis.
MURDER MOST FOUL
A lonely turn in the bend and a hail of bullets riddled comrade Gangadhar’s weary body. He collapsed and died, perhaps almost instantly, now that we know that he was first shot twice in the head and then had four bullets pumped into his back and chest. The attackers made off into Jharkhand, and they could not be traced, as we file this report. Biman Basu, CPI (M) state secretary has deeply mourned comrade Gangadhar’s death and has called for an early apprehension of heinous assassins.
CONGRESS LEADERS FACE THE REALITY OF POPULAR WRATH
BURDWAN: Comrade Falguni Mukhopadhyay, the popular CPI (M) leader of the Burdwan district was brutally murdered a few weeks back at a village near Mangolkote in the district. His murderers, ill-famed anti-socials in the pay and protection of the two Congresses, Pradesh and Trinamul, roam free, incognito, and have been correctly declared as absconding which indeed these criminals are.
It has become a fashion with the Bengal opposition to have accused criminals accompany them as sidekicks in a show of bravado whenever they pay raucous visits to places where CPI (M) workers have been butchered. We recall that this particular affliction, we could indeed call it a disease, had overwhelmed the present generation of the reactionary leadership of the aforementioned outfits when they had ruled the land of Bengal with a law of their own in the decades of the 1960s and 1970s.
WHAT TOOK PLACE AT MANGOLKOTE?
First, a week or so ago, a newly-elected and gloatingly happy for it, Trinamuli MP visited the village. The entourage of the usual suspects were prevented from entering the hamlet for any length of time by the police. The people remained a sullen witness to the show put on by the opposition worthies.
Next, another leader of the opposition, arm-in-friendly-arm with the accused in the comrade Falguni murder case, chose to follow suit – and were similarly, politely asked by the police to kindly make themselves scarce, as the people’s rage had started to fulminate.
The mass of people indeed continued to fret as no arrests could be made thanks to the ill-gotten protection the killers received with a disgusting show of ‘loyalty’ from the opposition leaders some of whom have even chosen irresponsibly to go on record to say that the police could make arrests, if ‘they dared to do so.’ Could we ever conclude from these developments that all this pacified the people, fuming as the masses have been with a raging sea of pent up emotions, about the vicious murder of their beloved leader?
FRESH VISITORS
In line of the visitors now came eight Pradesh Congress MLAs on 15 July. They were in the not-too-august company of two of the accused in the murder case. At least one of the criminals in the team even brandished a revolver or two and waved it around, challenging anyone to harm him.
That broke the dam of passive response. We are told that more than a couple of thousands of villagers came out, rallied round, and sternly told the MLAs and their henchmen to ‘just go away and leave us be.’ That the Congress worthies, never known for their interaction with the masses, chose to panic, stumble on to water-filled rice paddies, fall down, get to wallow in the mud, pick themselves up, and finally have themselves admitted to posh nursing homes back in Kolkata, cannot really be packaged as an ‘organised attack by the CPI (M)’ now, could it?
BIMAN BASU’S STATEMENT
Biman Basu, Bengal CPI (M) secretary went ahead to issue a statement immediately after he was apprised of what had taken place at Mangolkote, and where he said that he ‘sternly condemned’ any attack on the Congress MLAs and said also that whatever ‘has happened ought not to have taken place.’
Biman was clear in pointing out that the CPI (M) ‘has always been in favour of unimpeded movement of the leaders and workers of any political party,’ and that if anyone from the CPI (M) could be found to have been involved in the Mangolkote incident, the district unit of the CPI (M) would initiate appropriate punitive action. Had the police been present, they should have intervened, was how the CPI (M) leader would put it.
Nevertheless, would the evil the two Congresses represent disappear? Buses and trucks have continued to burn, roads are being blocked, railway tracks are sat upon, sporadic bandhs have been called, and a Trinamuli minister up in Delhi has even had the temerity to call for a Constitutional step to be initiated against the elected and popular Left Front government of Bengal. The people remain as yet silent witnesses to these perilous dans macabre being played out with fanfare, the obedient corporate media, obliging as ever.
It has become a fashion with the Bengal opposition to have accused criminals accompany them as sidekicks in a show of bravado whenever they pay raucous visits to places where CPI (M) workers have been butchered. We recall that this particular affliction, we could indeed call it a disease, had overwhelmed the present generation of the reactionary leadership of the aforementioned outfits when they had ruled the land of Bengal with a law of their own in the decades of the 1960s and 1970s.
WHAT TOOK PLACE AT MANGOLKOTE?
First, a week or so ago, a newly-elected and gloatingly happy for it, Trinamuli MP visited the village. The entourage of the usual suspects were prevented from entering the hamlet for any length of time by the police. The people remained a sullen witness to the show put on by the opposition worthies.
Next, another leader of the opposition, arm-in-friendly-arm with the accused in the comrade Falguni murder case, chose to follow suit – and were similarly, politely asked by the police to kindly make themselves scarce, as the people’s rage had started to fulminate.
The mass of people indeed continued to fret as no arrests could be made thanks to the ill-gotten protection the killers received with a disgusting show of ‘loyalty’ from the opposition leaders some of whom have even chosen irresponsibly to go on record to say that the police could make arrests, if ‘they dared to do so.’ Could we ever conclude from these developments that all this pacified the people, fuming as the masses have been with a raging sea of pent up emotions, about the vicious murder of their beloved leader?
FRESH VISITORS
In line of the visitors now came eight Pradesh Congress MLAs on 15 July. They were in the not-too-august company of two of the accused in the murder case. At least one of the criminals in the team even brandished a revolver or two and waved it around, challenging anyone to harm him.
That broke the dam of passive response. We are told that more than a couple of thousands of villagers came out, rallied round, and sternly told the MLAs and their henchmen to ‘just go away and leave us be.’ That the Congress worthies, never known for their interaction with the masses, chose to panic, stumble on to water-filled rice paddies, fall down, get to wallow in the mud, pick themselves up, and finally have themselves admitted to posh nursing homes back in Kolkata, cannot really be packaged as an ‘organised attack by the CPI (M)’ now, could it?
BIMAN BASU’S STATEMENT
Biman Basu, Bengal CPI (M) secretary went ahead to issue a statement immediately after he was apprised of what had taken place at Mangolkote, and where he said that he ‘sternly condemned’ any attack on the Congress MLAs and said also that whatever ‘has happened ought not to have taken place.’
Biman was clear in pointing out that the CPI (M) ‘has always been in favour of unimpeded movement of the leaders and workers of any political party,’ and that if anyone from the CPI (M) could be found to have been involved in the Mangolkote incident, the district unit of the CPI (M) would initiate appropriate punitive action. Had the police been present, they should have intervened, was how the CPI (M) leader would put it.
Nevertheless, would the evil the two Congresses represent disappear? Buses and trucks have continued to burn, roads are being blocked, railway tracks are sat upon, sporadic bandhs have been called, and a Trinamuli minister up in Delhi has even had the temerity to call for a Constitutional step to be initiated against the elected and popular Left Front government of Bengal. The people remain as yet silent witnesses to these perilous dans macabre being played out with fanfare, the obedient corporate media, obliging as ever.
LEFT SECTARIANS ON KILLING SPREE AT LALGARH
LALGARH: Cornered by the pincer tactics of political isolation by the CPI (M) accompanied by police operations, the left sectarian ‘Maoists’ have chosen the desperate way out – to kill innocent villagers who are not even supporters of the Left.
Perhaps as in the 1970s, this is the way these perverted killers prefer to let the democratic masses know of their noxious presence. Deprived of the forced entry they would have had even months earlier into villages of the locale, the criminals have turned to killing as the weapon to threaten people with dire consequences otherwise.
In the latest incident of gruesome proportions, two villagers were dragged out of their hutments in the dead of the night at Madhupur under the Sijua Gram Panchayat near Lalgarh. They were Swapan Deb Singha and Tarini Deb Singha. The marauders, armed with automatic weapons, beat them up thoroughly into bloodied pulps using blunt cudgels, and then dragged the dying duo deep into the desolate Ranja forestry abutting the village cluster.
RUTHLESS MURDER
Shots were heard by the fuming villagers soon after, and they rushed out, daring the ‘Maoists’ to do harm if the cowards could, only to find the two hapless victims of the ‘ongoing peasant revolution,’ (‘Maoist’ phraseology) lying in pools of blood some 30 metres apart, shot twice at close range on the sides of their heads. Biman Basu who was at the Solabagha village away in Howrah, the village that had been virtually razed to the ground, as reported earlier, by the swaggering marauders of the Trinamuli gangsters, expressed his condolences to the twin killings.
SOLABAGHA REBUILT
The Solabagha village has had its 43 houses of differing kind rebuilt since the night of the long knives and livid torches. The leaders of the local Party, the different Left mass organisations, and the Rajasthan-Bengal Maitri Parishad (whose president Sisir Bajoria was among those present) spoke on the occasion following Biman Basu’s address where the CPI (M) called for organisational fortitude and political staunchness rather than revanchist behaviour from everybody concerned, in the task of growth as opposed to destruction.
Perhaps as in the 1970s, this is the way these perverted killers prefer to let the democratic masses know of their noxious presence. Deprived of the forced entry they would have had even months earlier into villages of the locale, the criminals have turned to killing as the weapon to threaten people with dire consequences otherwise.
In the latest incident of gruesome proportions, two villagers were dragged out of their hutments in the dead of the night at Madhupur under the Sijua Gram Panchayat near Lalgarh. They were Swapan Deb Singha and Tarini Deb Singha. The marauders, armed with automatic weapons, beat them up thoroughly into bloodied pulps using blunt cudgels, and then dragged the dying duo deep into the desolate Ranja forestry abutting the village cluster.
RUTHLESS MURDER
Shots were heard by the fuming villagers soon after, and they rushed out, daring the ‘Maoists’ to do harm if the cowards could, only to find the two hapless victims of the ‘ongoing peasant revolution,’ (‘Maoist’ phraseology) lying in pools of blood some 30 metres apart, shot twice at close range on the sides of their heads. Biman Basu who was at the Solabagha village away in Howrah, the village that had been virtually razed to the ground, as reported earlier, by the swaggering marauders of the Trinamuli gangsters, expressed his condolences to the twin killings.
SOLABAGHA REBUILT
The Solabagha village has had its 43 houses of differing kind rebuilt since the night of the long knives and livid torches. The leaders of the local Party, the different Left mass organisations, and the Rajasthan-Bengal Maitri Parishad (whose president Sisir Bajoria was among those present) spoke on the occasion following Biman Basu’s address where the CPI (M) called for organisational fortitude and political staunchness rather than revanchist behaviour from everybody concerned, in the task of growth as opposed to destruction.
TRINAMULI BOARD MAKES A MESS OF DEVELOPMENT ON MIDNAPORE EAST
KOLKATA: Coming to office with the slogan of a ‘change for the better,’ the Trinamuli Zillah Parishad (ZP) ha substantially proved the road to ‘change for the worse in the one year they have run the ZP. A brief run through the state-of-affairs of the various developmental schemes will leave no doubt about the clear non-performance of the new ZP.
The first instalment of the Indira Awas Yojana could not be utilised. No utilisation certificate could be submitted. Thus, the district has been, in addition, been deprived of the Rs 40 crore due to it in the second instalment.
The report states that in the past one year 8% of the houses could be set up, depriving the poor of residential structure. A total of fewer than 350 houses in c could be constructed in the ‘winds of change.’
Not even 50% of the funds allotted for the NREGA scheme could be utilised by the Trinamulis. The ZP was allotted Rs 22 core 55 lakh for NREGA out of which the ZP could utilise just under Rs 11 crore 11 lakh.
Thus, the available man-days have gone concomitantly down depriving the poor of livelihood. It work out that one person could work for just 16 days on an average per annum. There is a widespread allegation that thousands of rupees are being siphoned off through creation of bogus job cards.
The road network has been the subject of sad neglect. A mere four work orders have been issued for road construction in place of the expected 100-odd. The water supply project has halted depriving thousands of potable water. The stoppage of the water supply project also affects the irrigation work substantially negatively. All 32 schemes have been sent to the cold storage and a fund of Rs 3.5 crore lie idle.
The inaction of the ZP has concomitantly affected the Panchayat Samities (PS) and the Gram Panchayats (GP). Without proper monitoring the district is about to lose the honorific of ‘clean district’ or ‘Nirmal Zillah’ awarded to it by the central and state government. The work of constructing sanitary toilets has ceased to function. There is also wide manipulation in the preparation of the BPL list in this district under the new, anti-people dispensation of the Trinamulis.
The first instalment of the Indira Awas Yojana could not be utilised. No utilisation certificate could be submitted. Thus, the district has been, in addition, been deprived of the Rs 40 crore due to it in the second instalment.
The report states that in the past one year 8% of the houses could be set up, depriving the poor of residential structure. A total of fewer than 350 houses in c could be constructed in the ‘winds of change.’
Not even 50% of the funds allotted for the NREGA scheme could be utilised by the Trinamulis. The ZP was allotted Rs 22 core 55 lakh for NREGA out of which the ZP could utilise just under Rs 11 crore 11 lakh.
Thus, the available man-days have gone concomitantly down depriving the poor of livelihood. It work out that one person could work for just 16 days on an average per annum. There is a widespread allegation that thousands of rupees are being siphoned off through creation of bogus job cards.
The road network has been the subject of sad neglect. A mere four work orders have been issued for road construction in place of the expected 100-odd. The water supply project has halted depriving thousands of potable water. The stoppage of the water supply project also affects the irrigation work substantially negatively. All 32 schemes have been sent to the cold storage and a fund of Rs 3.5 crore lie idle.
The inaction of the ZP has concomitantly affected the Panchayat Samities (PS) and the Gram Panchayats (GP). Without proper monitoring the district is about to lose the honorific of ‘clean district’ or ‘Nirmal Zillah’ awarded to it by the central and state government. The work of constructing sanitary toilets has ceased to function. There is also wide manipulation in the preparation of the BPL list in this district under the new, anti-people dispensation of the Trinamulis.
TRINAMUL-‘MAOISTS’ ALLIANCE FOUND AGAIN IN WRITTEN EVIDENCE
KOLKATA: Even as the Trinamulis in solicitous help of the Pradesh Congress continues to run rampage across Bengal, evidence of the written kind has been unearthed about the link that very much exists between the left sectarians and the Trinamulis.
Three Trinamuli history-sheeters by the name of Radheyshyam Giri, Gourhari Mondal, and Prakash Munian, all in jail for a variety of grim crimes, wrote a missive to the left extremists from a state of incarceration – how they smuggled the out is a question the administration shall have to ponder over – and it was published ad verbatim in the Matangini, a mouthpiece of the ‘Maoists’ in its June issue.
The letter states that the ‘movement going on in the western region of Bengal must be carried forward and we hope that you [the Maoists] shall take the correct responsibility in this regard.’ The letter ends with a formal salutation of ‘Bandé Mataram.’ They have in situ, also accused and ruefully, didi & co of having ‘forgotten those rotting in jail,’ after having ‘tasted power.’ ‘United movement’ has been identified by these criminals as the weapon of choice against the CPI (M) and the Left Front government in Bengal.
Earlier, the ‘people’s committee’ leader and Trinamuli ‘activist’ (and we use the term quite literally given his record of inchoate violence), Chhatradhar Mahato detailed out his cosy association of more than two decades with the Congress and then the Trinamul Congress. In an odd twist, the Bengal BJP, a political nonentity in this state if ever there was one, has now put forward a sonorous claim that the person concerned is their party activist and not of the Trinamul Congress. At any rate, the man’s political position, amidst all this, on the far right of reaction, remains unquestioned in his functional existence.
Elsewhere in a related development, four ‘Maoists’ were arrested by the police on charges of murder. The criminals taken into custody include the notorious gunman of the left sectarians, Panchu Soren involved in the recent killings of CPI (M) workers as well as a ‘Maoist’ ‘squad’ member Biswanath Mahato. Interestingly, both Soren and Mahato are members of the ‘people’s committee’ that Chhatradhar heads.
In reprisal, the ‘Maoists’ killed two CPI (M) workers at Dhurua in the red clay zone of Midnapore. This happened on 11 July. Those killed were comrades Baren Mahato and Gurucharan Mahato. The local Party offices were set in fire, the villagers terrorised, and warnings issued that anyone found supporting the CPI (M) shall be killed after a ‘public hearing.
In the meanwhile, on 13 July, there was an attack on the police camp at Dharampur. There was an hour-long gunfight after which the ‘Maoists’ disappeared across the border into Jharkhand. This was the first organised assault with automatic firearms in the jangal mahal since the police and para-military forces have entered the area to bring back normalcy and end the reign of terror by the left sectarians. At Uluberia on the same day, a young student of class VI succumbed to the injuries that the Trinamulis had inflicted on his body back on 9 July for his support to the CPI (M) a stand from which the young lad would not move even when threatened with weapons. Biman Basu, secretary of the Bengal CPI (M) has condoled the killings by the ‘Maoists’ and the Trinamulis.
In the hill areas of the Darjeeling district, during the same period that we report on, the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJM) has called for an indefinite ‘bandh’ and has threatened to cause bodily harm to those who stand opposed to this bare anti-people gesture. In Darjeeling town, government offices as well as educational institutions have been forced to close down, as have been shops and establishments. The Darjeeling unit of the CPI (M) has condemned the bandh and has said that this would negatively affect all prospects of development of the hill areas.
Three Trinamuli history-sheeters by the name of Radheyshyam Giri, Gourhari Mondal, and Prakash Munian, all in jail for a variety of grim crimes, wrote a missive to the left extremists from a state of incarceration – how they smuggled the out is a question the administration shall have to ponder over – and it was published ad verbatim in the Matangini, a mouthpiece of the ‘Maoists’ in its June issue.
The letter states that the ‘movement going on in the western region of Bengal must be carried forward and we hope that you [the Maoists] shall take the correct responsibility in this regard.’ The letter ends with a formal salutation of ‘Bandé Mataram.’ They have in situ, also accused and ruefully, didi & co of having ‘forgotten those rotting in jail,’ after having ‘tasted power.’ ‘United movement’ has been identified by these criminals as the weapon of choice against the CPI (M) and the Left Front government in Bengal.
Earlier, the ‘people’s committee’ leader and Trinamuli ‘activist’ (and we use the term quite literally given his record of inchoate violence), Chhatradhar Mahato detailed out his cosy association of more than two decades with the Congress and then the Trinamul Congress. In an odd twist, the Bengal BJP, a political nonentity in this state if ever there was one, has now put forward a sonorous claim that the person concerned is their party activist and not of the Trinamul Congress. At any rate, the man’s political position, amidst all this, on the far right of reaction, remains unquestioned in his functional existence.
Elsewhere in a related development, four ‘Maoists’ were arrested by the police on charges of murder. The criminals taken into custody include the notorious gunman of the left sectarians, Panchu Soren involved in the recent killings of CPI (M) workers as well as a ‘Maoist’ ‘squad’ member Biswanath Mahato. Interestingly, both Soren and Mahato are members of the ‘people’s committee’ that Chhatradhar heads.
In reprisal, the ‘Maoists’ killed two CPI (M) workers at Dhurua in the red clay zone of Midnapore. This happened on 11 July. Those killed were comrades Baren Mahato and Gurucharan Mahato. The local Party offices were set in fire, the villagers terrorised, and warnings issued that anyone found supporting the CPI (M) shall be killed after a ‘public hearing.
In the meanwhile, on 13 July, there was an attack on the police camp at Dharampur. There was an hour-long gunfight after which the ‘Maoists’ disappeared across the border into Jharkhand. This was the first organised assault with automatic firearms in the jangal mahal since the police and para-military forces have entered the area to bring back normalcy and end the reign of terror by the left sectarians. At Uluberia on the same day, a young student of class VI succumbed to the injuries that the Trinamulis had inflicted on his body back on 9 July for his support to the CPI (M) a stand from which the young lad would not move even when threatened with weapons. Biman Basu, secretary of the Bengal CPI (M) has condoled the killings by the ‘Maoists’ and the Trinamulis.
In the hill areas of the Darjeeling district, during the same period that we report on, the Gorkha Jan Mukti Morcha (GJM) has called for an indefinite ‘bandh’ and has threatened to cause bodily harm to those who stand opposed to this bare anti-people gesture. In Darjeeling town, government offices as well as educational institutions have been forced to close down, as have been shops and establishments. The Darjeeling unit of the CPI (M) has condemned the bandh and has said that this would negatively affect all prospects of development of the hill areas.
Locals reveal Maoist terror tales
RAMGARH: Her son and daughter-in-law had fled to Midnapore town on June 15, the day when Maoists torched Ramgarh police station. But septuagenarian Renu Ray refused to leave her homestead land at Amladanga. Since then, the old woman is living by herself, with hardly anything to eat.
Her eyes glistened with hope as security forces marched past Alamdanga, the village close to Ramgarh. She welcomed the forces, but at the same time, was afraid of the consequences after they withdrew from the area. "I am cut off from my family, and the world outside. My landphone is dead and BSNL employees don't tread to this dreaded place. I am here taking care of the cattle that my son has left behind. The Maoists have been a curse upon us. Grocers won't open the shops lest PCPA men charge them hefty amounts. Some upped the shutters only today, when news spread that the central forces were coming to the area. But that was only for half an hour. They were closed as soon as the Maoists arrived at the market. I walked all the way from home to buy rations and didn't get any," Ray said.
This seems to be the other facet of the Maoist-dominated People's Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCPA), that had unleashed a reign of fear in the area to counter police terror. The disgruntled opened up only after the security forces marched into the area.
Another retired government employee, living in the area, grumbled over the extortions going on for all these months. "I am a retired government employee and survive on pension. These men would not spare me even. I had to give Rs 500 every month to these people who came to my house with guns. It's good that the forces have come to our rescue. They will come back again when forces leave the place," the retired employee said.
This was the common refrain among the womenfolk who were left at the mercy of PCPA, while the youths in the families fled from the villages. Jharna Das of Amladanga recounted how PCPA men forced them to join their meetings. "They won't allow us to venture out after sundown. The PCPA took control of the villages in the evening and asked us to join their meetings. They rebuked us if we didn't turn up in the meeting. Such was the rule. Our relatives stopped coming to our place," said Das.
Meet Sukumar Soren of Mohultol. A jawan of the state armed police posted at Barrackpore, Sukumar is now under cover. "I have not disclosed my identity here. What do I do? I have sent my wife and children to Sarenga. I am living here alone to protect my home and cattle. I don't want any confrontation with PCPA," said Soren.
There is no one to care for elderly residents such as Lakshmi Tudu (70) of Shiertola village, left to fate with her ailing husband for the last fortnight. "We are surviving on forest roots and kalmi sag. Buses have stopped plying since a fortnight. I can't take my husband to Goaltore, 10 km from here. Two days ago I pleaded with the local grocers to give me some rice. They refused, out of fear," Lakshmi said.
Her eyes glistened with hope as security forces marched past Alamdanga, the village close to Ramgarh. She welcomed the forces, but at the same time, was afraid of the consequences after they withdrew from the area. "I am cut off from my family, and the world outside. My landphone is dead and BSNL employees don't tread to this dreaded place. I am here taking care of the cattle that my son has left behind. The Maoists have been a curse upon us. Grocers won't open the shops lest PCPA men charge them hefty amounts. Some upped the shutters only today, when news spread that the central forces were coming to the area. But that was only for half an hour. They were closed as soon as the Maoists arrived at the market. I walked all the way from home to buy rations and didn't get any," Ray said.
This seems to be the other facet of the Maoist-dominated People's Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCPA), that had unleashed a reign of fear in the area to counter police terror. The disgruntled opened up only after the security forces marched into the area.
Another retired government employee, living in the area, grumbled over the extortions going on for all these months. "I am a retired government employee and survive on pension. These men would not spare me even. I had to give Rs 500 every month to these people who came to my house with guns. It's good that the forces have come to our rescue. They will come back again when forces leave the place," the retired employee said.
This was the common refrain among the womenfolk who were left at the mercy of PCPA, while the youths in the families fled from the villages. Jharna Das of Amladanga recounted how PCPA men forced them to join their meetings. "They won't allow us to venture out after sundown. The PCPA took control of the villages in the evening and asked us to join their meetings. They rebuked us if we didn't turn up in the meeting. Such was the rule. Our relatives stopped coming to our place," said Das.
Meet Sukumar Soren of Mohultol. A jawan of the state armed police posted at Barrackpore, Sukumar is now under cover. "I have not disclosed my identity here. What do I do? I have sent my wife and children to Sarenga. I am living here alone to protect my home and cattle. I don't want any confrontation with PCPA," said Soren.
There is no one to care for elderly residents such as Lakshmi Tudu (70) of Shiertola village, left to fate with her ailing husband for the last fortnight. "We are surviving on forest roots and kalmi sag. Buses have stopped plying since a fortnight. I can't take my husband to Goaltore, 10 km from here. Two days ago I pleaded with the local grocers to give me some rice. They refused, out of fear," Lakshmi said.
Joint forces wrest control of Ramgarh
Heavy gun battle with Maoists on tenth day of operation
RAMGARH (WEST MEDINIPUR): Amid heavy gun battle, the Central paramilitary forces and the West Bengal police on Saturday took control of the Maoist-dominated Ramgarh, 7 km from Lalgarh. The forces recaptured Lalgarh a week ago.
This victory for the joint forces, 10 days into the operation against the Maoists and the Maoist-backed Police Santrash Birodhi Janashadharaner Committee (PSBJC), will enable the forces to clear the 7-km stretch between Ramgarh and Lalgarh of Maoist domination soon.
Saturday was also marked by violence as armed Maoists stormed and torched an office of the All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) here, barely half hour before the joint forces arrived.
The operation began at 8 a.m. when three companies of the Central Reserve Police Force along with the State police fanned out in several directions within a three-km radius of the road leading to Ramgarh.
IED blast
Soon after the operation began, the Maoists triggered an improvised explosive device at Mahultol village, one km from Kadashol. Another IED was defused by the police.
The heavy exchange of fire between the security forces and the Maoists could be heard from the dense forest nearby. Several rounds of mortar shells were also fired at the Maoists.
“Security personnel retaliated when the Maoists opened fire at Saluka and Napitpara villages near Sijua. Six mortars were also fired at the Maoists,” Siddh Nath Gupta, Deputy Inspector-General (operations), told journalists.
When the joint forces entered Ramgarh at 3 p.m., hundreds of people, gathered along the road, cheered them. Holding a press conference, after the recapture, at the Ramgarh police outpost, which had been destroyed in arson by the Maoists and PSBJC supporters a month ago, Superintendent of Police Manoj Kumar Verma said: “We have come here to restore law and order. We hope to get public support for this purpose. The operation will continue until the situation goes back to normal.”
No arrest was made, nor was anyone injured during Saturday’s operation, he said.
Meanwhile, joint forces personnel came under heavy fire at Amdanga village, two km from Lalgarh.
“The personnel retaliated after the Maoists started firing at them during a routine movement of the forces. The jawans also recovered an IED from the village. None was injured in the incident,” Raj Kanojia, Inspector-General (Law and Order), told The Hindu.
RAMGARH (WEST MEDINIPUR): Amid heavy gun battle, the Central paramilitary forces and the West Bengal police on Saturday took control of the Maoist-dominated Ramgarh, 7 km from Lalgarh. The forces recaptured Lalgarh a week ago.
This victory for the joint forces, 10 days into the operation against the Maoists and the Maoist-backed Police Santrash Birodhi Janashadharaner Committee (PSBJC), will enable the forces to clear the 7-km stretch between Ramgarh and Lalgarh of Maoist domination soon.
Saturday was also marked by violence as armed Maoists stormed and torched an office of the All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) here, barely half hour before the joint forces arrived.
The operation began at 8 a.m. when three companies of the Central Reserve Police Force along with the State police fanned out in several directions within a three-km radius of the road leading to Ramgarh.
IED blast
Soon after the operation began, the Maoists triggered an improvised explosive device at Mahultol village, one km from Kadashol. Another IED was defused by the police.
The heavy exchange of fire between the security forces and the Maoists could be heard from the dense forest nearby. Several rounds of mortar shells were also fired at the Maoists.
“Security personnel retaliated when the Maoists opened fire at Saluka and Napitpara villages near Sijua. Six mortars were also fired at the Maoists,” Siddh Nath Gupta, Deputy Inspector-General (operations), told journalists.
When the joint forces entered Ramgarh at 3 p.m., hundreds of people, gathered along the road, cheered them. Holding a press conference, after the recapture, at the Ramgarh police outpost, which had been destroyed in arson by the Maoists and PSBJC supporters a month ago, Superintendent of Police Manoj Kumar Verma said: “We have come here to restore law and order. We hope to get public support for this purpose. The operation will continue until the situation goes back to normal.”
No arrest was made, nor was anyone injured during Saturday’s operation, he said.
Meanwhile, joint forces personnel came under heavy fire at Amdanga village, two km from Lalgarh.
“The personnel retaliated after the Maoists started firing at them during a routine movement of the forces. The jawans also recovered an IED from the village. None was injured in the incident,” Raj Kanojia, Inspector-General (Law and Order), told The Hindu.
Sweets & smiles for jawans
RAMGARH: As the security forces approached Ramgarh after fighting off Maoist ambushes, they saw hordes of villagers mostly women gathering at the
outskirts. The jawans tensed for another human shield. When they marched closer, however, they saw smiles on the villagers' faces, and tumblers of water in their hands.
A cheer went up as the forces entered the rain swept lanes of the village. Every policeman was served a glass of water, food and sweets by villagers. And, there was no trace of the PCPA.
It was the huge number of women gathering in the fields that set the forces on the edge as they approached Ramgarh. Resistance with the use of human shields was, after all, too fresh on their minds, having encountered such situations during operations in Kadashole, Amladanga and Shiartola. Not liking the prospect of fighting villagers yet again, they advanced cautiously for the last 1 km, with an obvious show of strength, hoping to scare the mob' into retreating.
Only when they came to within 200 metres did the security forces realize that none in the waiting crowd was armed. Instead of resisting them, the villagers welcomed them with open arms. People lined rooftops, waving and cheering at the forces. The water, food and smiles were a welcome relief for the weary and hungry police and paramilitary personnel.
They were surprised because the people of Ramgarh were initially with the PCPA. Its leaders lured them to their cause with the promise to fight against lack of development. Chhatradhar Mahato and other PCPA leaders rallied the villagers with the call to liberate Ramgarh from government's control'.
"When the PCPA first asked us to fight against economic deprivation, many in Ramgarh voluntarily participated in their movement," said a villager. But the people soon realized that there was no difference between the Maoists and the PCPA. They even accused PCPA of unleashing the Maoists on them.
People are now very angry and disillusioned with PCPA, but none would divulge their names while speaking to TOI, fearing that Maoists would target them. Seventy-year-old Satya Ray, the lone villager who spoke on record, accused Chhatradhar Mahato of amassing money. "He (Mahato) extorted huge sums of money from traders, government officials and even poor villagers and helped Maoists get a foothold in Ramgarh. We have been living in fear for eight months. Many PCPA activists moved around with arms," said Ray.
The people PCPA allegedly targeted for extortion were given handwritten notes Rs 10,000 for government employees and Rs 50,000 for traders. When the owner of a fertilizer shop at Barapelia refused to pay up, he was brought to a meeting at Sarasbedia where he was forced to hand over the money.
Now, villagers have stopped paying money to PCPA voluntarily, though its leaders continue with their extortion activities, Ray added.
What turned the tide against PCPA were the murders of two tribal youths in Kharanutu village in mid-May. The incident created panic across Ramgarh and no one would venture out for over a month. Even schools and markets rarely opened. Ramgarh was completely cut off after Maoists captured the phari on June 15. Teachers of Ramgarh College were threatened not to report to work.
The arrival of the forces has been a huge relief.
outskirts. The jawans tensed for another human shield. When they marched closer, however, they saw smiles on the villagers' faces, and tumblers of water in their hands.
A cheer went up as the forces entered the rain swept lanes of the village. Every policeman was served a glass of water, food and sweets by villagers. And, there was no trace of the PCPA.
It was the huge number of women gathering in the fields that set the forces on the edge as they approached Ramgarh. Resistance with the use of human shields was, after all, too fresh on their minds, having encountered such situations during operations in Kadashole, Amladanga and Shiartola. Not liking the prospect of fighting villagers yet again, they advanced cautiously for the last 1 km, with an obvious show of strength, hoping to scare the mob' into retreating.
Only when they came to within 200 metres did the security forces realize that none in the waiting crowd was armed. Instead of resisting them, the villagers welcomed them with open arms. People lined rooftops, waving and cheering at the forces. The water, food and smiles were a welcome relief for the weary and hungry police and paramilitary personnel.
They were surprised because the people of Ramgarh were initially with the PCPA. Its leaders lured them to their cause with the promise to fight against lack of development. Chhatradhar Mahato and other PCPA leaders rallied the villagers with the call to liberate Ramgarh from government's control'.
"When the PCPA first asked us to fight against economic deprivation, many in Ramgarh voluntarily participated in their movement," said a villager. But the people soon realized that there was no difference between the Maoists and the PCPA. They even accused PCPA of unleashing the Maoists on them.
People are now very angry and disillusioned with PCPA, but none would divulge their names while speaking to TOI, fearing that Maoists would target them. Seventy-year-old Satya Ray, the lone villager who spoke on record, accused Chhatradhar Mahato of amassing money. "He (Mahato) extorted huge sums of money from traders, government officials and even poor villagers and helped Maoists get a foothold in Ramgarh. We have been living in fear for eight months. Many PCPA activists moved around with arms," said Ray.
The people PCPA allegedly targeted for extortion were given handwritten notes Rs 10,000 for government employees and Rs 50,000 for traders. When the owner of a fertilizer shop at Barapelia refused to pay up, he was brought to a meeting at Sarasbedia where he was forced to hand over the money.
Now, villagers have stopped paying money to PCPA voluntarily, though its leaders continue with their extortion activities, Ray added.
What turned the tide against PCPA were the murders of two tribal youths in Kharanutu village in mid-May. The incident created panic across Ramgarh and no one would venture out for over a month. Even schools and markets rarely opened. Ramgarh was completely cut off after Maoists captured the phari on June 15. Teachers of Ramgarh College were threatened not to report to work.
The arrival of the forces has been a huge relief.
Sitaram Yechury flays Rahul Gandhi’s remark on Bengal development
Press Trust of India
NEW DELHI: Taking on Mr Rahul Gandhi for his criticism of developmental activities in tribal areas of West Bengal, CPI-M leader Mr Sitaram Yechury today hit back saying tribal-dominated Bankura and Purulia districts had better socio-economic indicators than Amethi or Rae Bareli.
Observing that much was being said about the neglect of the tribal areas of the state, he said “during the election campaign, Gandhi (had) stated that many tribal areas in Bengal were more backward than the most backward regions of Orissa.“We had then shown that the areas of Bankura and Purulia, in fact, had better socio-economic indicators than Amethi or Rae Bareli. That apart, both the tribal reserved Lok Sabha seats in the state have been retained by the Left Front notwithstanding defeats elsewhere.”
In an editorial in the forthcoming issue of CPI-M mouthpiece **People's Democracy, Mr Yechury also took on the Trinamul Congress saying the ban on Maoists has put it in an “untenable” situation as they were “unable to defend or deny their collaboration with the Maoists and the fact that they had utilised the Maoist terror for their electoral advantage”.
Maintaining that there was “increasing evidence” of support extended to the extremists by the Trinamul, he said “it is now becoming increasingly clear to the common people that the Trinamul Congress had forged a grand alliance of all reactionary elements including the Maoists against the CPI-M and the Left Front in the recent elections.”
The consequence has been “unnecessary and unprecedented harassment and terrorisation of the common people,” Mr Yechury said, adding that the Trinamul had “put the people at the mercy of the Maoists for electoral gains”.
Observing that there was a “virtual exodus” of terrorised tribals from the Lalgarh area, he quoted local media reports to say that the people, especially women and children, wanted to escape from being used as human shields by the Maoists to face the police.
The CPI-M leader said it was now getting “increasingly clear that such cynical use of terror for electoral gains only jeopardises civil society mounting untoward misery on the people. It is such politics that need to be defeated while firmly meeting the challenge mounted by the Maoists and restoring normalcy and civic order.”
NEW DELHI: Taking on Mr Rahul Gandhi for his criticism of developmental activities in tribal areas of West Bengal, CPI-M leader Mr Sitaram Yechury today hit back saying tribal-dominated Bankura and Purulia districts had better socio-economic indicators than Amethi or Rae Bareli.
Observing that much was being said about the neglect of the tribal areas of the state, he said “during the election campaign, Gandhi (had) stated that many tribal areas in Bengal were more backward than the most backward regions of Orissa.“We had then shown that the areas of Bankura and Purulia, in fact, had better socio-economic indicators than Amethi or Rae Bareli. That apart, both the tribal reserved Lok Sabha seats in the state have been retained by the Left Front notwithstanding defeats elsewhere.”
In an editorial in the forthcoming issue of CPI-M mouthpiece **People's Democracy, Mr Yechury also took on the Trinamul Congress saying the ban on Maoists has put it in an “untenable” situation as they were “unable to defend or deny their collaboration with the Maoists and the fact that they had utilised the Maoist terror for their electoral advantage”.
Maintaining that there was “increasing evidence” of support extended to the extremists by the Trinamul, he said “it is now becoming increasingly clear to the common people that the Trinamul Congress had forged a grand alliance of all reactionary elements including the Maoists against the CPI-M and the Left Front in the recent elections.”
The consequence has been “unnecessary and unprecedented harassment and terrorisation of the common people,” Mr Yechury said, adding that the Trinamul had “put the people at the mercy of the Maoists for electoral gains”.
Observing that there was a “virtual exodus” of terrorised tribals from the Lalgarh area, he quoted local media reports to say that the people, especially women and children, wanted to escape from being used as human shields by the Maoists to face the police.
The CPI-M leader said it was now getting “increasingly clear that such cynical use of terror for electoral gains only jeopardises civil society mounting untoward misery on the people. It is such politics that need to be defeated while firmly meeting the challenge mounted by the Maoists and restoring normalcy and civic order.”
JYOTI BASU CONVALESCING - ON WAY TO RECOVERY
KOLKATA: Elderly Communist leader Jyoti Basu, who has just turned 96 years of age, was taken ill on the morning of 12 July and he was shifted forthwith from his Salt Lake residence to a nearby medical institution.
The usual run of medical tests found nothing substantially wrong with the leader after he was admitted for observation and further tests.
A day later, he has partaken of meals of semi-solid food and is recovering well. As a convalescent, he has been kept in the ICCU unit and will in due course be shifted to a cabin.
A marvellous feature that the medical board discovered while going through the report of his latest CT scan that the small haematoma that Jyoti Basu had developed back in October last year has gone on the recession, remarkable for person of his age.
Among others, Bengal state secretary of the CPI (M) Biman Basu and Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee dropped in for a view of the ailing CPI (M) Polit Bureau member.
The usual run of medical tests found nothing substantially wrong with the leader after he was admitted for observation and further tests.
A day later, he has partaken of meals of semi-solid food and is recovering well. As a convalescent, he has been kept in the ICCU unit and will in due course be shifted to a cabin.
A marvellous feature that the medical board discovered while going through the report of his latest CT scan that the small haematoma that Jyoti Basu had developed back in October last year has gone on the recession, remarkable for person of his age.
Among others, Bengal state secretary of the CPI (M) Biman Basu and Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee dropped in for a view of the ailing CPI (M) Polit Bureau member.
July 5, 2009
Two Maoists arrested near Lalgarh
Kolkata (PTI): Security forces arrested two Maoists while they were planting landmines at Sarenga in Bankura district near Lalgarh and recovered arms from them on Sunday.
"The two Maoists were caught red handed while they were fitting mines," Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen told reporters after attending a meeting convened by Chief Secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarty to review the Lalgarh situation.
He, however, did not give details about the arms recovered from them.
In reply to a question, he said the joint forces were consolidating their presence at Ramgarh, where sanitisation operations were on along with Lalgarh and Kadasole.
A total 17 companies of central forces were in the area for the operations to flush out the Maoists, Sen said and hoped the Centre would comply with the state government's request for more forces.
"The two Maoists were caught red handed while they were fitting mines," Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen told reporters after attending a meeting convened by Chief Secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarty to review the Lalgarh situation.
He, however, did not give details about the arms recovered from them.
In reply to a question, he said the joint forces were consolidating their presence at Ramgarh, where sanitisation operations were on along with Lalgarh and Kadasole.
A total 17 companies of central forces were in the area for the operations to flush out the Maoists, Sen said and hoped the Centre would comply with the state government's request for more forces.
June 30, 2009
Nilotpal Basu on poll debacle, Lalgarh
Nilotpal Basu, central secretariat member, CPI(M), reacts to NDTV's questions about Lalgarh siege and the CPI(M)'s poll debacle.
www.ndtv.com/news/videos/video_player.php?id=1127971
Time: 2 min 01 sec
Attatck to the Democracy in WB
It is now proved that TMC got linked up with the Maoists. Kishenji and Bikash , two top leaders of Maoists, claimed that they helped Mamta in Nandigram, in the name of "Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh committee" and they asked Central railway minister Mamata Banerjee to persue central govt to stop the flush out operation against them. Mamata, who is so vociferous in anything under the Sun, has maintained a silence in this issue. She also skipped important cabinet committee meetings.She is now scared and apprehending what may happen if proofs of Moist-TMC link up comes up in public। What will happen if any of Kisheji, Bikash, Chatrodhar is arrested.
Hence she fielded in a few news channels like 'STAR ANANDA' who are telecasting Maoist voice and trying to create sympathy for these anti state, anti India elements। She also fielded in TMC's B team , the so called intellectual. They claim to stop the operation against Maoists.During the election time, these intellectuals stood by the Maoists and its mask - 'The Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee'. When left supporters were killed in Lalgarh, some of them like Tarun (Ex. IAS officer) and Sunanda Sanyal (Retd. Professor) even supported them saying 'Besh koreche' (Did the correct thing) on press and electronic media. One of them, now MP, Kabir Suman wanted to have good news(?) of killings of left supporters everyday. It seems, these people are very scared now if their proof of linkup with Maoist comes up. Hence they want to start peace keeping dialog to begin , so that the proofs can be destroyed. Actually they want these poor and misguided people to be the pawn of politics. They want them to remain poor, jobless so that Left opposition can cash in their sufferings. This is why they instigated Nandigram incident, Singur incident and doing the same in Nayachar where PCPIR to come up. Had they have so much fellow feeling for the rural people, why they did not do any thing when cyclone Aila struck West Bengal? Why did TMC tried to stop central govt from helping the state? These elements should be condemned in public.By supporting Maoists, they are destroying the moral of the police and para military forces who are trying to reestablish the rule of law in Bengal, extrapolating the same, they are helping Anti India elements.We should, one one hand, identify these anti India, anti people elements and ostracize them. On the other hand stand by these poor and misguided people, help and support all the efforts made by government to bring them back in the main course of life.Lets provide unconditional support to the peace keeping forces... congratulate them for doing this smooth operation in the difficult terrain of Lalgarh...
Rule of law must prevail in Lalgarh॥
Long live Indian Democracy... Jai Ho॥
TMC is really scared now... how public will react if proofs of Mao-TMC linkup are made public... The only way to divert attention is to start a fresh chaos, which she is so adept at...So, TMC did not even hesitate to scape goat its oldest MP, minister Sisir Adhikary... and asked him to visit the battleground LALGARH... Who else could have been a better choice?..Mr Adhikary lead the violence in Nandigram where Maoists helped TMC (As claimed by Kishenji and Bikash) and he knows these maoists very well.His presence in LALGARH would revitalize these Anti India elements... He may reestablish the supply line for maoists... Or,in the worst case, he could have made himself hostage by the maoists, so that this operation stops and proofs of TMC-MAO linkup does not comeup in Public... Even if he dies, mamta would play the 'Shahid' (Martyr) politics...But, state officials did not allow him... evidently TMC is very upset and furious, as its game plan did not materialize..TMC also tried to be ignorant on "Operation Lalgarh" claiming that they didn't have the information... It is only trying to send message to appease Kishenji/Bikash.. because (1) Mamta's life could be in danger if Maoists declare her traitor... (2) TMC-MAO game-plan may not work in future as it has been chalked out... (3) Some member of Team TMC-B (Swajon) may well be in trouble...She also said, CM. Buddhadeb Bhattacharya is Maoist... Can she give any proof?... All should condemn it...Before election(Kalyan) and after election(Mamta), TMC is doing the same... These elements should not be spared anymore... Legal steps are required against them...Condemn TMC for stabbing democracy in West Bengal... Condemn all the attempts it makes to misguide people...TMC's plan to turn "Gram Bangla" into "Burnt Bangla" should not be allowed.
June 29, 2009
Declaring victory, Maoists begin retreat
By Praveen Swami
Under-staffed West Bengal police will face serious post-operation challenges
LALGARH,27th JUNE: Early on Friday, a big blast shattered the stillness of the forests around Lalgarh. It appeared to be the first sign of a major battle Maoists have long been threatening to launch as the police inch forward into their forest strongholds.
But by evening, Kadasol village was firmly under the control of the security forces. The Maoist cadre had melted into the adjoining forests, abandoning their positions. The landmine blast, it turned out, was set off by a bomb-detection team.
For days, media had been reporting that the counter-Maoist operations in Lalgarh have ground to a halt. The appearance is deceptive. Police have been conducting metre-by-metre sweeps to clear roads and forest paths of dozens of improvised explosive devices.
Judging by the insurgents’ reluctance to engage the advancing forces, the Maoist presence in Lalgarh is now mainly propagandistic: having declared victory, their forces have little interest in fighting.
Less than 250 armed men, police sources say, are now believed to be present in the so-called liberated zone: a thin arc running along the road east of Lalgarh, through Bara Pelia, Kantapahari and on to Ramgarh. Most of them are local sympathisers, with only rudimentary weapons training.
Key insurgent commanders like M. Koteshwar Rao are believed to have long ago retreated to the safety of Jharkhand’s un-policed hills.
At its peak, the Maoist presence was concentrated in just 17 villages and hamlets in four of West Medinipur’s 31 administrative blocks along West Bengal’s border with Jharkhand.
Even this presence was established not by guerrilla war, but under the cover of a political movement. In November, a Maoist-led organisation, the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities, initiated an agitation calling for the withdrawal of police pickets from 15 locations. To avert a bloody confrontation, the government agreed and the Maoists took control.
Evicting Maoists from Lalgarh will, more likely than not, prove to be the easy part of the counter-terrorism operation.
The real challenge will be to prevent their regrouping once the special forces are pulled out. Most propagandists often describe West Bengal as a police State. Like other States in India, West Bengal in fact has a police force, which can at best be described as anaemic.
Responsible for the safety of a population, which stood at 80,221,171 in 2001, the State police have a sanctioned strength of 106,340 personnel. That means 92 personnel are in theory available for protecting every 100,000 population, compared to an all-India ratio of 121:100,000.
Figures released by the United Nations Division for Policy Analysis and Public Affairs in March, 2005 show that these levels are amongst the lowest in the world.
Mexico, home to narcotics problem and low- grade insurgency, has 491.8 police personnel for every 100,000 residents; Italy, which faces only an organised crime threat, has 559; even peaceful Belgium has 357.5.
Moreover, the West Bengal police are chronically short-staffed. The State police’s civil police component, responsible for the maintenance of law and order, should have 70,328 personnel at its disposal. It has only 50,381.
The worst deficiencies are at the officer level. The police’s civil component is 35 per cent short of Senior Superintendents of Police, Superintendents of Police, Additional Superintendents of Police and Deputy Superintendents of Police. At the cutting-edge level of Inspectors, Sub-Inspectors and Assistant Sub-Inspectors, the deficiency is even worse: 27 per cent.
Staffing of the armed police, charged with dealing with violent activities like terrorism and communal violence, is also below the sanctioned levels. The State Police should have 36,012 personnel available for duty, but only has 26,290 on its rolls. Like the civil police, the State’s armed police are grossly short of officers: 35 per cent in the SSP-DSP band, and 37 per cent below that.
Factoring in the gap between sanctioned strength and actual strength, the police have just 70 police personnel for every 100,000 residents.
Why has this happened? Policing simply wasn’t a priority and with good reason. Speaking at the City College of New York in 2007, eminent economist Amartya Sen pointed out that Kolkata “has an exceptionally low crime rate — indeed absolutely the lowest crime rate among all the Indian cities.”
Dr. Sen pointed, in particular, to the “the incidence of murder.” “The average incidence of murder in Indian cities,” he noted, was 2.7 per 100,000 people, 2.9 for Delhi.” The rate is 0.3 in Calcutta [Kolkata].” By way of contrast, in 2005, Paris had a homicide rate of 2.3, Dhaka 3.6, Los Angeles 8.8, Johannesburg 21.5 and Rio de Janeiro an astonishing 34.9.
Like other States, though, West Bengal could now be compelled to divert funds from development to securing its residents.
THE HINDU,27th JUNE,2009
BENGAL LEFT FRONT CALLS FOR STATEWIDE POLITICAL CAMPAIGN AGAINST ANARCHY, DISCORD
By B PRASANT
KOLKATA: Bengal Left Front met on 25 June at the Muzaffar Ahmad Bhavan in Kolkata. Biman Basu, Chairman, led the discussion. Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was present. The meeting conversed in discursive detail the outline of a political campaign across Bengal touching the issues that concerned the mass of the people. The meeting as usual specified the details of the campaign. Biman Basu later briefed the media in some detail.
The LF leadership in attendance at the Front meeting earlier took up the issue of violence committed with impunity on the people by the goons and professional hoods in the pay and protection of the Bengal opposition, especially the Trinamul Congress, the Pradesh Congress, and the self-styled ‘Maoists.’ The attacks and assaults have been an unpleasant if ongoing feature of opposition ‘politics’ from the time of the parliament election. The aggression intensified following the publication of the Lok Sabha results.
CAMPAIGN-MOVEMENTS
Political programmes have already taken place at the initiative of the LF in major cities and townships of Bengal, and this programme has to be made situation specific and with increased and intense mass contact. Biman recalled that the Front meeting after the election results had been announced called for an intensification of people-oriented political campaign work. The bond with the masses must be further improved, the Front had then already decided.
The present meeting dwelled on the mapping out of a precise scenario where the political campaign had the participatory presence of the people themselves, irrespective of their electoral inclination. ‘Common people,’ or ‘sadharan manush,’ were the two important words in the resolve that the experienced Front leadership chose to focus the political highlight on, in the meeting and later at the proscenium of the masses.
COMMON PEOPLE TO THE FORE
The Front chose to stress on such particular programmes touching the sadharan manush in the townships as amongst the hamlets as the rectification of anomalies in the BPL listings; the extended implementation of the NREGA, the work of furnishing of fertilisers (the Front had always particularised bio-fertilisers, one recalls), supply-side qualitative and quantitative improvements in pesticides, higher-yield and pest-resistant seeds-seedlings and so on. The district-specific issue again touching the people are to be identified and implemented appropriately at the level of the district LF.
Taking up the BPL issue the LF leadership felt that the factor of correct identification of people eligible to be brought in the purview of BPL contained lacunae. A section of the impoverished faced problems of livelihoods-- and of lives because of the anomalous situation. Inclusion in the BPL list, Biman pointed out, entailed the cascading benefits of free healthcare as well as of PDS-supplied essential goods of daily consumption at a lower array of prices.
BPL, NREGA ANOMALIES
There was an associated problem to which Biman drew the attention of the media. There remained a plethora of districts in Bengal where the number of counterfeit ration cards proliferated and continued to do so. There are districts where the number of ration cards exceeded the estimated population. A vice versa has prevailed in some other districts. In such staringly anomalous cases as these, the Front’s suggestion to the administration was the cancellation of the ration card and an issuance de novo of such cards to the people. This could be done after the BPL list has been made to stand corrected.
Dwelling on the NREGA, the Left Front thought that weaknesses persisted in the implementation of the programme. Biman would mention ‘various difficulties,’ that would seem to have set the programme back a while. The LF leadership agreed that it must be probed how newer projects could be included in the NREGA programme without flouting or causing anomalies to occur in the concerned central government act. Citing examples, Biman mentioned the task of erecting bunds, earthen or otherwise, in the districts affected by the recent and devastation-causing cyclonic storm.
Bengal must rise above the national average of employment rate of people under this scheme, which is at 60% at the all-India level. The LF leader pointed out that in invoking newer schemes, the evolving situational reality of the Bengal countryside and the principal rural characteristics of the state must be recalled. During the ‘off’ season in the agricultural belts when work is hard to come by for the khet mazdoors and the itinerant farm workers, the NREGA projects could come in very handy for this section of the rural poor. The NREGA could also be used to employ gainfully those of the agri-labour who found it tough going even in the ‘on’ season of sowing, growth, and harvest.
FARM WORK TO BE ACCELERATED
Noting specifically the shortcomings in the supply of farm ‘productive collaterals’ like seeds, pesticides and fertilisers, Biman noted a few precise points in this connection. The senior CPI (M) leader noted that supplies often failed to turn up in good time. In the case of seeds and seedlings, errors of choice have turned up again -- and then once again. Citing instances Biman said that to the astonishment and often dismay of the farmer, the seeds purchased proved to produce crops of a variety different from that anticipated.
The district units of the Left Front have been asked to meet and put on motion a wide-ranging political campaign on all the issues. The campaign-movements will take place in seriatim, at the levels of the blocks, the sub-divisions, and the districts, with each tier of movement climaxing with organisation of deputation to the concomitant levels of state administration. The matters touching the people’s peace and security would be placed before the various levels of the police administration at the same time. Rallies would be organised in a lengthy schedule all over Bengal-- on the developmental and people’s security-related issues, Biman Basu assured the media.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE LATERITE ZONE
Biman also dwelled on the issue of development of the western part of Bengal, an issue that the Front leadership had taken up. Earlier, chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee reported on the recent developments taking place at Lalgarh and adjoining blocks of Midnapore west. The report made it clear that with 30, 000-odd people ejected out of home-and-hearth in the jangal mahals by the aggression of the ‘Maoists,’ the façade has been ripped away and the real anti-people face of the marauders exposed in the pitiless light of facts, hard facts. The forcible push forward of the innocent women and children to form human barricades to daunt the security forces has been another example of the barbarity perpetrated by the ‘Maoists’ and their allies, the Trinamul Congress.
LF leadership focussed on the need to speed up development further in the laterite zone of Bengal where most of the poor villages of the state are located. The majority of the Gram Panchayats and the Panchayat Samities of the blocks affected with ‘Maoist’ depredations, e.g., Binpur I and Binpur II, are controlled for some time now by an ally of the ‘Maoists,’ the Jharkhandis. The decentralised plans and programmes were deliberately not implemented in these blocks by the forces of division.
ANTI-PEOPLE JHARKHANDIS, ‘MAOISTS’
Biman mentioned a case that he knew of to exemplify the anti-poor behaviour of the Jharkhandis. At the village of Amlasole, there is an acute water crisis, especially of potable water, come the cruel and unproductive summer months. The need is to dig a large pond where rainwater and sub-soil water will accumulate and filtrate to create a perennial source of water. Since the excavation will endanger the anti-Communist propaganda of both the Bengal opposition and their belligerent cohorts in the big media, the pond never materialised. Finally, it was Dr Pulin Behari Baskey, the present MP and then Zillah Parishad chairman, utilised ZP funds to have the pond dug.
Much in a similar vein, the ‘Maoists’ have indulged in acts of commission including blasting of land mines to destroy both roads and road-making machines. Government offices and tourist bungalows, one recalls in this connection, have been blown up, repeatedly. Road rollers have been set a-fire, and cement mixers have been dragged off into forests and systematically dismantled. Communication network has been torn down for communication is something of which ‘Maoist’ is always afraid. The LF urged upon the state government to add a further and fresh impetus to the ongoing developmental work in the laterite zone of Bengal in particular.(INN)
June 28, 2009
Lalgarh: is it liberated or ruled by fear?
By Praveen Swami
Is the violence in West Medinipur district really an adivasi uprising?
Land reform has given adivasis a high level of freedom and security
Poll results in the area showed no resentment against CPI(M)
LALGARH,26th JUNE: Early this month, as police marched into the forests around Lalgarh, the adivasi residents of Salboni were told, by Maoists, to start building barricades. Insurgents armed with rifles and side-arms watched over the villagers as they felled trees and dug trenches. Not surprisingly, no one disputed their orders.
But on Monday, Bongaram Lohar summoned courage to speak up on behalf of the dozens of local residents who had been press-ganged into the building work. For his defiance, Mr. Lohar was brutally beaten up and forced to flee the village.
Most commentary has cast the violence in Lalgarh as an expression of primal adivasi rage: rage against being denied development and justice. One critic even claimed the Lalgarh region had, for the past three decades, been “untouched by development.”
But Mr. Lohar’s story — and a mass of empirical evidence — give reason to doubt this telling of the story.
No development?
Back in 1977, after the first Left Front government took power in West Bengal, entire villages were freed from the control of jotdars, or landlords, by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) workers.
Data from West Bengal’s Department of Land and Land reforms shows that till 2002-03, land measuring 16,280 hectares was redistributed to peasants in the blocks of Jhargram, Binpur and Salboni — the areas now under Maoist assault. “In the Jhargram block village where I conduct research”, says Aparajita Bakshi, Senior Research Fellow at the Indian Statistical Institute in Kolkata, “75 per cent of all households are land reform beneficiaries. Of Scheduled Tribe households, no less than 70 per cent gained agricultural land and 90 per cent gained homestead land as a result of land reform.”
Income poverty and deprivation continue to exist throughout the region — but land reform has given adivasis a level of freedom and security their counterparts in the rest of India do not enjoy.
Marketed as the liberation of Lalgarh, Maoist rule, in fact, made the life of most adivasis worse. Income from forest produce, on which most local residents are dependent, dried up. Government programmes intended to mitigate hardship collapsed altogether.
“In November,” says Bhumidhansola resident Manek Singh, “the Maoists forbade us to enter the forests to cut wood. The Forest Department used to pay us Rs.70 a day for this work. Now, no one even enters this area to purchase the leaf-plates we make. We have been left with nothing.”
Extortion and attacks
Faced with extortion and attacks by Maoists, government staff also fled the area. Lalgarh residents told The Hindu that the Integrated Child Development Scheme workers were ordered to pay Rs.1,000 each month; school teachers and staff at the Block Development Office said they were compelled to part with twice as much to local Maoists.
Following the assassination of government doctor Honiran Murmu and staff nurse Bharati Majhi in October, the Lalgarh area has had almost no access to health care.
Politics and power
Election data debunks the idea that there is a popular rebellion against the CPI(M) under way in Lalgarh.
In the 2006 elections to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, the CPI(M) had won six of the seven Assembly seats which together make up the Jhargram Lok Sabha seat: Garhbeta East, Garhbeta West (SC), Salbani, Nayagram (ST), Gopiballavpur and Jhargram. The CPI(M) has held the Jhargram Lok Sabha seat, of which Lalgarh is a part, ever since 1977.
Police raids
Last year, the West Bengal Police carried out raids across the Lalgarh area, following a November 2 attempt to assassinate Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. Fighting between police and Maoist supporters broke out during the raids; several people were injured.
Backed by the Maoists, Trinamool Congress leader Chhatradar Mahato — the brother of the principal accused in the November 2 bombing — set up the Police Santras Birodhi Janaganer Committee (PSBJC), or People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities.
The PSBJC activists blocked roads, shut off police access to the area, and attacked CPI(M) workers.
Prior to this year’s Lok Sabha elections, the Maoists even initiated protests insisting that the police not enter the villages of Boro Pelia, Chhoto Pelia, Dalilpur Chowk and Khas Jungle — all areas where they had a substantial armed presence.
Had the PSBJC represented widespread resentment against the CPI(M), it ought to have showed up in this year’s Lok Sabha elections. But Jhargram constituency swam against the anti-CPI(M) tide. The CPI(M) candidate, Pulin Bihar Baske, polled 5,45,231 votes, giving him a respectable lead over the 2,52,886 claimed by the Congress’ Amrit Hansda. Mr. Baske even won in the Binpur Assembly segment, of which Lalgarh is a part.
Rule of fear
How, then, have the Maoists gained so much influence in Lalgarh? Jharkhand Party candidate Chunibala Hansda had this simple answer for one journalist reporting on the Lok Sabha elections: “People are scared of them”.
Last year, even as the PSBJC was mobilising people against the West Bengal government, the Bharat Jakat Majhi Marwa — an organisation of traditional adivasi community leaders, which is opposed to the CPI(M) — organised a rally to protest Maoist violence. More than 10,000 adivasis gathered in Bhulabheda area of Belpahari on December 9.
Sudhir Mandal, the adivasi leader who organised the rally, was shot dead less than 48 hours later.
The Hindu,26th June,2009
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