The lines between reality, facts and opinions are blurred in Lalgarh, which remains trapped in a vicious circle of oppression and retribution, finds Sanchari Bhattacharya
The Calcutta high court on Tuesday refused to order a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the Lalgarh killing case and directed the state CID to continue to probe the matter.
After laying siege over Lalgarh in West Midnapore district of West Bengal, Maoists have now targeted Orissa's Narayanpatna region.
Four Communist Party of India-Marxist supporters and a party worker were shot dead by Maoists on Friday after they suspected them to be police informers and their bodies dumped on the highway at West Midnapore and Purulia districts, the police said.
Voters in 30 assembly constituencies of West Bengal and 47 of Assam exercised their franchise on Saturday.
After being ousted by the security forces, Maoists struck again -- the second attack in the past seven days -- killing a supporter of People's Committee against Police Atrocities and a Trinamool Congress member on Tuesday morning.
Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday unveiled a 'development-oriented' manifesto for the upcoming assembly polls in West Bengal, promising an income scheme for all families, a student credit card and constitution of a task force to examine the inclusion of several communities under the OBC category.
Taking a pro-active stand on the law and order situation in the state, West Bengal Governor M K Narayanan is likely to visit Netai village in strife-torn Lalgrah area, where seven unarmed villagers were killed recently.On Thursday, Narayanan had reviewed the overall situation arising out of the spurt in political violence in the state with the top brass of the administration at Raj Bhavan. He had summoned Chief Secretary Samar Ghosh, Home Secretary G D Goutama.
Maoists in West Bengal have apparently been shifting base from their strongholds in Lalgarh and Belpahari in the last two months, with killings and violence increasingly taking place in Jhargram subdivision, 40 km away in restive West Midnapore district. Police sources attribute this to the strong security presence in Belpahari and Lalgarh.There are seven camps of the joint security forces in Lalgarh and nine in Belpahari while there are only three camps in Jhargram.
Sporadic incidents of violence were reported from various places that went to polls on Saturday during the first phase of the West Bengal assembly election, even as the overall poll situation was largely peaceful with 79.79 per cent turnout recorded till the end of voting, an official said.
In the North Western Railway (NWR) zone, rail traffic was affected in some sections in Rajasthan and Haryana with 18 trains cancelled, 10 partially cancelled and one diverted due to the protest.
Hours after the deadly Naxal attack left 73 CRPF personnel dead in Chhattisgarh, Maoists on Tuesday claimed for the first time that their top leader Kishenji was alive and well.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist Leninist), a Naxalite outfit, on Thursday slammed the Maoists for destroying the communist movement by indulging in individual annihilation and facilitating the despatch of para-military forces and commandos to Lalgarh.
Ahead of Home Minister P Chidambaram's visit to Naxal-hit Lalgarh area of West Midnapore district on Sunday, Maoists exploded a landmine there on Saturday, injuring a Central Reserve Police Force personnel. The landmine was planted alongside a road in Bamal area and when the CRPF jawan stepped on it, the explosive went off, said the police. Security has been beefed up in Lalgarh, where Chidambaram is expected to visit on Sunday.
Normal life was affected for the second day on Tuesday in West Bengal's Maoist-infested districts of West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura during the 48-hour bandh called by the ultras in five states to protest the offensive by security forces against Naxalites in Lalgarh.
'We are ready for talks with the Centre and West Bengal Government if the intellectuals, who visited the troubled Lalgarh area last Sunday, arrange for a meeting,' CPI-Maoist leader Sagar said in a statement.
'We are orchestrating a revolution at Lalgarh. Can you cite an instance where a revolution took place without bloodshed?'An exclusive interview with Gour Chakraborty, the CPI (Maoist)'s spokesman.
Tribal leader Chhatradhar Mahato, who went underground after the anti-Maoist operation began in Lalgarh, on Wednesday dared the government to arrest him and said the administration was scared to do it. "I have not fled anywhere. I am at Lalgarh only and if the administration wants to arrest me, let them come and arrest me," Mahato, the chief of People's Committee against Police Atrocities, which is widely believed to have links with the Maoists, said over phone.
Security forces on Tuesday worked to further consolidate their grip over Maoist-held areas in West Mindapore district in West Bengal and launched combing operations in 22 villages of Lalgarh. With Kantapahari recaptured, all borders of Lalgarh have been sealed, a senior police officer said. "Now we want to ensure that the extremists do not come back to the area. We are consolidating the position we have gained so far," the police officer told PTI.
Nearly 600 Central Reserve Police Force personnel arrived in the district on Thursday as reinforcements for the existing security personnel.
Top Maoist leader Koteshwar Rao, who was believed to have camped in Lalgarh and provided leadership to the tribal agitation in West Midnapore district, has possibly left the country for Bangladesh.
In a unique protest against fuel price hike, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday rode pillion on an electric scooter to state secretariat Nabanna.
The Maoist-backed People's Committee against Police Atrocities has called a 24-hour bandh in Jangalmahal in West Bengal on September 19 to protest against alleged torture of its workers by the joint forces and Trinamool Congress workers amidst reports that the extremists are reviving their moribund squads.
Top Maoist leader Kishenji has again become active in West Bengal's Jungle Mahal area, according to intelligence reports. "Kishenji was present in more than one meeting held in Lalgarh and adjacent areas in West Midnapore district in the last half of June, in all probability on June 22 and 23," said the reports. Joint operations in the area have come to a virtual standstill and six teams of the elite CoBRA force have moved to neighbouring Jharkhand.
At the Trinamool Congress rally in Lalgarh on Monday Union Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee condemned Maoist leader Azad's death in a police encounter, embarrassing her government which has resisted calls for an investigation into the incident. Some questions
"Why is the Prime Minister silent? Will the Centre continue operations against Maoists after the Railway Minister's statement that Operation Greenhunt will be stopped," BJP Deputy Leader Gopinath Munde said in Lok Sabha.
The Indian Railways will launch special trains for defence personnel, women and common people.
'Operation Green Hunt has been a total failure. What have the joint forces achieved? Nothing!' says former Union revenue secretary and Trinamool adviser Debabrata Bandyopadhyay.
In a blow to the Naxals, top Maoist leader Kanchan has been arrested along with two others from the outskirts of Kolkata. Kanchan, one of the top Maoist leaders after Kishenji, had planned and implemented the Lalgarh movement in November 2008. The Maoist Central committee member, who was wanted in several cases of sedition, was arrested by the Special Task force of the police on Friday. "Yes, we have arrested Kanchan from Kolkata," said a police official.
West Bengal Governor M K Narayanan, who had earlier expressed anger at the state's law and order situation following the Lalgarh killings on January 7, on Wednesday visited Netai village and also Maoist-hit Baghbinda village in Jhalda in neighbouring Purulia to assess the situation. The former national security adviser said he was aware of the Maoist problem in this region.
A fresh gunbattle broke out between the Maoists and the joint forces in Salboni area on Saturday, while the police remained tightlipped over reports that top leader Kishenji was injured in Thursday's encounter at Hatiloth forest in West Midnapore district.
Alleging there was a "conspiracy by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) to kill Mamata Banerjee after her Lalgarh rally, Trinamool Congress on Thursday wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister P Chidambaram seeking their intervention in the matter.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has alleged that Maoists and organisations backed by them were mobilising people for the August 9 rally of the Trinamool Congress at Lalgarh in West Bengal, which would again lead to tension in the area.
Arrested Maoist-backed tribal leader Chhatradhar Mahato has been charged with sedition and booked under various sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act for raising funds for a terrorist outfit and attempting to murder police personnel.
Nirmal Mahato, the CPM branch committee secretary of Amdanga, was shot dead by Maoists, who claimed he was killed for exploiting poor villagers, police said. The Maoists then blocked the Amdanga-Lalgarh road felling boulders preventing security forces from raiding the area.
Launching their final offensive to reclaim the areas held by the Maoists in West Midnapore district, security forces started marching towards Kantapahari -- the last stronghold of the Maoists -- from both Lalgarh and Ramgarh on Monday.The forces, comprising 1600 men of the Central Reserve Police Force, Border Security Force, State Armed Police and India Reserve Battalion, set out at approximately 7 am from Lalgarh and Ramgarh in a pincer movement.
Maoists shot dead two Trinamool Congress workers at Bandhghora village near Lalgarh in West Midnapore district, the police said on Saturday. The Left-wing extremists chopped the limbs of Paban Mahato, 38, and Kaushik Dutta, 35, and fired 11 bullets at them from a close range on Friday, they said. They were casual workers in the electricity department. Police said Maoist posters were recovered from the spot claiming that Dutta and Mahato were police informers.
'We have to strive to bring these people into the democratic system,' says civil rights activist Sujato Bhadro.
In a late evening development on Tuesday, Magsasay award winner writer and social activist Mahashweta Devi told singer-turned-politician Kabir Suman to 'hold' his 'written resignation from the Trinamool Congress and the Lok Sabha for two days, for the sake of Lalgarh -- we want to discuss with you.'
Maoist leader Koteshwar Rao on Thursday asked both the West Bengal and the Union governments to halt police action or risk harm to kidnapped police officer Attendranath Dutta.
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