Stranglehold of Maoists and Muslims on Mamata regime
By Asim Kumar Mitra
Peace initiative of Mamata Banerjee, Chief Minister of West Bengal has received a big jolt by the consecutive murders that have been taken place in Jangalmahal area. The Maoists wanted to convey a definite message to the new chief minister of the state that they were not ready to tolerate the presence of Joint Forces who, of late, had taken certain successful actions against Maoists. In those actions some important Maoist activists were either killed or arrested. Apart from this the state cabinet on September 26, approved a plan to form 20 training camps to make youths eligible to join the police wings. Mamata had earlier said in Jangalmahal that 10,000 youths would be inducted into the police. Minister Partha Chatterjee said the camps would be set up to fulfill that promise. The recruitment plan had angered the Maoists who smelt an attempt to build a vigilante force.
In fact, the new government had virtually suspended raids by the joint forces, using the window of the unofficial ceasefire to launch development initiatives in Jangalmahal and extend talks offers to the rebels. However a series of political murders by the Maoists and reports of divisions within the rebel ranks have prompted the government to add some steel to its avowed policy of development and talks. On September 25, when Rabindranath (alias Babu) Basu, secretary, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha was murdered and the needle of suspicion was fixed at Maoists, Mamata warned them saying, “Enough is enough. No more peace talks. Even she can be murdered by Maoists at any moment they like. Central Minister Mukul Roy is also on their hit list”.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has openly alleged that many of the ‘Harmad Vahini’ (One should not forget that this ‘Vahini’ was the arms-wing of CPM whose job was to terrorise people through indiscriminate tortures and murders) members have joined Maoists with all arms and ammunitions accumulated by them. With the help of these arms they have started killing innocent people just to intimidate them.
It is a fact that CPM ‘Harmads’ have taken shelter in Maoists camps. Many CPM cadres have joined Maoists party. Before Lok Sabha elections in 2009, CPM had an understanding with the Maoists. But Mamata was successful in whisking away a considerable portion of Maoists into its own fold before the last Lok Sabha elections. But their expectations of Maoists from Mamata were soaring like anything. Mamata had pin-pointed her policy on the overall development of areas influenced by Maoists elements. Perhaps Maoists wanted to liberate the whole area they dominate to establish dictatorship of proletariat. But, being a nationalist, Mamata was not ready to allow this.
Now Mamata is determined to take stern action against the Maoists. She had made it clear that she is not going to compromise with the national interest. In a speech delivered at Singur on September 26, the Chief Minister has warned the Maoists saying, “They must make a choice. Negotiations and killings cannot to together … I am in favour of negotiations and have given them enough time. I can give more time but they must make clear what they want. They don’t want development in Jangalmahal”.
She further said, “Do not try to give an impression that ‘Human Rights’ are allocated for you only, those innocent people whom you are killing mercilessly, they also enjoy the same rights and I am responsible to protect their rights as well. Human Rights cannot be a one-way traffic”.
In an interview given to a non-government channel the Chief Minister said, “I have information that some people with international connection has appointed ‘Jungle Mafia’ to create trouble in the Maoists influenced area so that the peace process started by the administration could be fizzled out. I know there are some teachers in Jadavpur University and Calcutta University and in some colleges also, who are bringing money and arms from their international connections and supplying them to Maoists influenced areas clandestinely to unsettle the situation. I shall not allow them to sabotage the peace proces pursued by the administration in Jangalmahal and other areas of the state”.
Binayak Sen, a practicing doctor and ‘helping hand’ to naxalites was arrested in Chhattisgarh and put in jail. To get him released on bail even international pressure was there and ultimately he was released on bail by the Apex Court. A section of so called national press had publicised him like a ‘national hero’ and gave an impression as if he was free from all allegations levelled against him. But the fact remains that his case is still pending before the court. This Binayak Sen while writing a regular column in “The Week” said that Mamata Banerjee has taken steps to introduce ‘Salwa Zudum’ in her state which is fraught with danger. But Mamata very much determined to raise a force of 10,000 youths from Maoists influenced areas of West Bengal and the process has been started.
So Mamata has been put up in a very critical situation. On the one hand, Muslims are showing their ‘claws’ to get their interest served by threatening Mamata and on the other CPM and Maoists have joined hands and started armed struggle against the people and the administration.
