Mamata taking a detailed review of offer
By Ashis Biswas
West Bengal chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, for all her limitations, is a fast learner.
Now that she has assumed power, her goodwill for the Maoists operating in the four southwest Bengal districts — East and West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia, described conveniently as Jangalmahal areas — seems to be reducing by the day. Talking to the Maoists, or even initiating a dialogue, she now realises, is akin to crossing a minefield unassisted.
It is not surprising that the West Bengal government has not yet responded to the recent message from the Maoists, demanding an immediate halt to joint police operations. This was delivered some days ago through the two facilitators trying to arrange a meeting, HR activists Sujata Bhadra and Choton Das. If the “ops” were suspended, Maoists would not use arms for a month, to pave the way for the long-awaited talks.
Ms Banerjee, wiser than she was before the Assembly elections about the Maoists and their mysterious ways, has avoided comments in the press, saying only that it was being ascertained whether the communication was serious. There had been similar messages from the Maoists earlier, which were later contradicted and not lived up to. The Maoists have several leaders and it is not uncommon for one leader to negate a peace offer or similar gesture made by another. If the intention is to keep the administration off- balance and confused, it certainly succeeds.
Immediately after her election victory, Ms Banerjee had visited the Jangalmahal and promised the tribal villagers everything from police jobs to schools, from cultural academies to drinking water. It is another matter that not much work has actually taken place on the ground.
More importantly, she had instructed the state police not to go hard against the Maoists, even while maintaining law and order. The joint ops carried out by the state and central police forces were all but called off, much to the annoyance of the Union Home Ministry and other state Governments in the region.
The gesture was intended to signal to the Maoists the new government’s sincere desire to bridge the tribal-non-tribal divide through the twin strategy of development and dialogue.
In return the Maoists conceded nothing. Their tactics of scaring away all other political parties including the Trinamool Congress (TMC) continued. They used the lull in violence to extend their network more effectively into and closer to the urban centres in the affected districts. Illegal arms continued to flow in, roads were still being mined. They did not cease attacks on RPF positions, or stop sheltering activists sneaking in from Jharkhand or Chhattisgarh after their operations. Worse, they killed at least six people, including two TMC leaders during this period, In posters put up in villages, they denounced the TMC as being “just as bad as the CPI(M).”
“It seemed that the Chief Minister was sincere in extending her hand of friendship to the Maoists, inviting the wrath of the centre. In return, they landed a tight slap on the collective face of Bengal officialdom,” said a senior scribe.
Ms Banerjee is never more aroused than when she is slighted, whether actually or in her imagination. She saw red and lost no time to tell the two intermediaries, whose level of influence with the Maoists seemed to be at a very low level anyway, that if such things went on, there was no point in trying to go for talks. She would wait for some days, but not indefinitely, before she would order the law enforcing agencies to resume their work. The intermediaries scurried away for another meeting and then returned with the so-called Maoist “offer” to stop their operations for a month.
Intriguingly, this offer was written on a piece of plain white paper, sans letterhead and logo, purportedly signed typically by a code-named “leader” who could be a prominent Maoist, or not. Naturally neither the Chief Minister, nor senior police officials were impressed. They desisted from reacting officially.
Meanwhile Union Home Ministry circles asked for details from the state regarding the status of present efforts to bring about a Maoist-Government dialogue, with particular reference to the latest Maoist “offer” of a cease- fire — if it was one! Chief Minister is taking a review of the situation regarding Maoists before leaving for his tour of affected districts on Saturday. Much depends on what comes out of her latest assessment. (IPA Service)