NAXAL/ MAOISTS- 2010 - Indian Social Institute

movement, failing which she said her party supporters would reclaim the Jangalmahal (the common
name for the forested southwestern parts of the State) and give it back to the tribal people. Questioning
the “utility” of the joint operation by the Central and State forces when people were being killed regularly,
she reiterated her demand to deploy the Army in the three districts and initiate a “combing operation” to
flush out Maoists. “I have repeatedly apprised the Prime Minister, the Union Home Minister and the Union
Finance Minister about the serious situation there [in the Jangalmahal]. But nobody took any action.
Being misled by the State, the Centre is supporting it,” Ms. Banerjee said at a press conference. Calling
the Maoists “demons of Lalgarh” and “friends of the Communist Party of India (Marxist),” she accused the
State government of providing the ultras with arms from the State armoury and at the same time “staging
a drama” of trying to eradicate them. She also warned the Centre that it would not be able to shirk
responsibility if the situation in the State worsened. Sending out a clear signal to the Centre, the State
government and the Maoists to not misinterpret her party’s courteousness as cowardice or weakness, Ms.
Banerjee said: “We need no support from either the Centre or the State government to face the Maoists,
since appealing is of no use. The Centre might surrender to the CPI(M), but the Trinamool Congress will
not…I will personally go to Lalgarh myself to see whether the power of guns is mightier than public
support or not.” Speaking about the Maoists, she said: “Who is Kishen? Who is Bikash? Who is
Chhatradhar? How could they become so powerful unless the State government supplied them arms and
abundant foreign funds flowed in?...Who are the Maoists to punish corrupted people when they are the
biggest corrupts ever? Their masks will be torn apart.” (The Hindu 10/1/10)
Maoists issue diktat to thwart Mamata’s rally (12)
The Maoists are ready to take on Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee at
their own turf in the Jungalmahal area and have issued a diktat to the locals against participating in the
much-hyped Trinamool Congress rally in Jhargram. Even as the state government granted permission for
holding the rally in Jhargram under special provisions where Section 144 has been imposed, it will be a
challenge for Banerjee to conduct a successful rally in the Maoist den. The People’s Committee Against
Police Atrocities (PCAPA) will boycott the rally on January 15. The PCAPA has already started a
campaign against Banerjee and her party in the entire Jungalmahal and Lalgarh areas and asked
villagers not to attend the rally. Banerjee is an opportunist politician. She is coming here only to get
political mileage before the Assembly elections. She is demanding deployment of the Army against the
poor tribals in Lalgarh and Jungalmahal. No one will attend her rally,” PCAPA leader Asit Mahato told The
Indian Express. Mahato, who is leading the PCAPA after the arrest of tribal leader Chhatradhar Mahato
last year, also said: “Banerjee may hold the rally at Jhargram. But there will be nobody to listen to her,
except her own party leaders. We don’t want to hear her. She did nothing to protect the tribal women in
Lalgarh and Jhargram who are being tortured everyday by the jawans of the paramilitary forces.”
Recently, Banerjee had slammed the Maoists saying that they had no moral right to kill people and even
hold courts of law to punish innocent tribals. “Who are the Maoists to judge people and convict them and
kill them,” she asked, adding that the Indian Constitution provides everything and it is only the Indian
judiciary which is entitled to hear criminal proceedings against anyone and pass verdict. The Railway
Minister had also challenged the Maoists and asked them to face her politically instead of carrying out
subversive activities on railway tracks and killing innocent railway passengers. (Indian Express 13/1/10)
Soren to discuss anti-Maoist operation with PM (12)
Ranchi, Jan 18: Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren, who is in New Delhi, is likely to discuss with Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh a proposed operation against Maoist guerrillas apart from development issues.
'First there is a need to identify who the Maoist guerrillas are. We will talk many issues with the prime
minister, including the proposed Maoist operation,' Soren had told reporters before leaving for New Delhi
Sunday evening. When Soren took charge of Jharkhand for the third time Dec 30, he had said that the
proposed offensive against Maoists, which had been labelled Green hunt operation, would not be
launched without the state government's nod. 'We will talk to the central government. Such an operation
cannot take place without the consent of the state government,' he had said. Soren had even invited the
rebels for dialogue. Maoist leader Kisanji, through local media, had responded to the dialogue offer but
demanded that no offensive be launched, arrested rebels be released and that security forces vacate
schools. Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram had in November labelled the anti-Maoist operation a
media invention and said that the central government was only assisting states in counter-insurgency
measures. Police officials, however, have called on the government to have a clear-cut policy on tackling
Maoists. 'The government should have clear-cut policy on Maoist operations. If the government wants
dialogue, then it should move ahead with that policy, otherwise there should be an offensive against
Maoists,' a police official involved in anti-Maoist operations said. 'Our chief minister's statement is a clear