Maoists reorganising in Bengal

Caesar Mandal, TNN

Jun 17, 2011, 06.44pm IST

KOLKATA: Maoist once again in a reorganisation bid in West Bengal following the formation of new government. Weeks ago, Maoist leader Bikash and Bikram on behalf of outfit's west Bengal state committee announced that the outfit is ready for talks with Mamata Banerjee led Bengal government if the state create a conducive atmosphere for talks.

Sources said, responding the Maoist feeler, state government has already slowed down the pace of anti-Maoist operation in Jangalmahal for past few weeks. Even in the formation of policing the state has brought some visible change which indicate that government is want to send a positive message to the red rebels.

Earlier in West Midnapore district, where Lalgarh is situated on of the most Maoist hit district in Bengal had two SP ranked officers to curb down Maoist 'menace'. But the new government has changed it and now only one SP rank officer is managing the entire district. Similarly since June 2009, to intensify the Maoist operation and for a better coordination with central forces a deputy Superintendent ranked officer was assigned to head each Maoist hit police stations of the district. In past few weeks DSP's who were on deputation were called back to their original posting.

" Practically anti-Maoist operation has been suspended,' said a police officer. CRPF officers posted in the trouble zone have also corroborated the fact.

Taking advantage of the situation, several senior Maoist leaders reportedly came down to the forested plains of Lalgarh and adjoining area. " Even once again, one of their central committee member is active in an around Jhargram area along with ther state leadership like Akash and Bikash,' said an intelligence officer who pointed out the Thursday incident in Jahrgram. On Thursday afternoon, a mob of Peoples Committee Against Police Atrocities(PCPA) beleived to be the mass outfit of the Maoists ransacked houses of five CPM leaders at Sapdhara and Aguiboni village of Jhargram. " It is significant because since police operation was started, PCPA never tried to do such daring attack in broad day light. Such happened when the entire area was under Maoist seize for eight months since november 2008," said an intelligence officer, who confirmed that some armed Maoist cadres had led the mob on Thursday.

Maoist insiders however hinted that they are now trying to expand their political activities for further recruitment and to recover the initial set back during recent police operation. Maoist are not in a mood to intensify their military operation rather they are trying to reorganise.

Trinamul-Maoist Nexus Endangers National Security

THROUGH these columns, we had been repeatedly exposing the diabolic nexus between the Trinamul Congress and the Maoists in West Bengal. If any reconfirmation was ever necessary, it has now come in a resounding manner through voluntary declarations by leaders of both the Trinamul and the Maoists that have appeared in the media.

Trinamul Congress MP from the Jadavpur Lok Sabha constituency, Shri Kabir Suman, has recently launched his autobiographical narrative named `Nishner nam Taposhi Malik’ (the name of the flag is Taposhi Malik). The book, significantly, has been dedicated to Kishenji, the Polit Bureau member of CPI(Maoist) operating in West Bengal. In the book, Mr Suman has given an eye witness account of a meeting held in Trinamul Congress headquarters in Kolkata attended by two individuals – Raja Sarkhel and Prasun Chattopadhyaya – who are at present in judicial custody booked under certain provisions of the UAPA for their links with the Maoists. The concerned meeting, Shri Suman informs, was also attended by Ms Mamata Banerjee and Shri Sougata Roy who are currently ministers of the UPA government. The meeting discussed the possibilities of intervention in Nandigram in which implicitly the Maoists would also be involved.

The Maoists have earlier given detailed accounts of their involvement in Nandigram with the Trinamul Congress through public statements which have never been contradicted. The media reported on January 8, 2009 the following: “To wipe out CPI(M) from West Bengal, we must work together with all parties of the ruling class like, Trinamool Congress, Congress, BJP etc. The CPI(Maoist) document, titled `Some important problems and its solutions’ was circulated to the members after the incidents of Shalboni and Lalgarh. We must get all ruling parties associated as long they desire to be. We call CPI(M) as a Social Fascist organisation. Relations with Trinamool Congress and railway minister Mamata Banerjee must be strengthened.”

Such reports appeared periodically in various sections of the media all through the year. More exposures came in 2010. The Bengali daily, Aaj Kal, reported under the heading “Maoist leader detained from TMC leaders car” on November 10, 2010, the following: “Maoist leader Kanchan Deb Singh was arrested from Trinamool block president Nepal Singh’s car in Shalbani. Police stopped the car for checking and recognised Kanchan inside the car. Nepal Singh as well as Kanchan was taken to the police station though the block president was released within no time. Kanchan was associated with the PSBJC arms training in 2008. He was charged with various landmine blasts, looting of police van etc.”

The Delhi edition of The Hindustan Times has reported on January 5, 2011 a media statement : “purportedly signed by CPI(Maoist) West Bengal state committee member Vikram said: `We want our movement-oriented alliance with Mamata Banerjee to flourish…”. Further: “The declaration said both Maoists and TMC were silent on their alliance because of political compulsions, but they are coming out in the open as there is nothing more to hide. `We fought together during the struggles in Singur, Nandigram….”

It is now, clearly, beyond doubt that the Trinamul Congress had provided and continues to provide both the political cover and all assistance for the Maoists to penetrate into West Bengal in order to be used to mount terror attacks against the CPI(M) cadre and the common people aiming at extracting electoral benefit in the forthcoming elections.

We had drawn attention earlier to an irreconcilable contradiction within the UPA. On the one hand, the prime minister describes the Maoists as “posing the single gravest threat to India’s internal security”. On the other, in the union cabinet led by this very prime minister, there are members of the Trinamul Congress who are collaborating with the Maoists in order to achieve electoral gains at the expense of jeopardising India’s internal security.

Can this be allowed? Can such crass political opportunism (to retain a majority for the government) that endangers our country’s unity and integrity be permissible? Further, can such diabolic and cynical politics, for the sake of electoral gains that destroys democracy, peace and development so crucially required for creating better livelihood conditions for our people be tolerated?

Such politics, for the sake of not only Bengal and its people but for the sake of India and its people, needs to be defeated if the struggle for building a better India has to be carried forward.

 

PEOPLE’S DEMOCRACY,

Editorial

January 5, 2011

MAOISTS GHASTARDLY KILLED SEVEN FB MEMBERS IN PURULIA

By SUHRID SANKAR CHATTOPADHYAY

FRONTLINE, JAN 01-14, 2011

The Maoists strike again, this time in Purulia, killing seven Forward Bloc members on a single night.

A paramilitary soldier stands guard beside the bodies of four residents of Bagbandi village in Purulia district who were abducted from their homes and killed by the Maoists in a nearby forest on the night of December 16.

THE cold-blooded killing of seven All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) members, including a woman and a 75-year-old man, in West Bengal's Purulia district by extremists belonging to the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) betrays a sense of desperation in the organisation as it faces the heat from not only the State police and Central forces but also sections of the local population. On the night of December 16, four teams of militants raided four villages in the district's Jalda-I block near Ayodhya Hill, where joint security forces operations were under way. They dragged the seven victims out of their houses and gunned them down.

The first to get killed was Tapan Singh Sardar of Gutilowa village. Armed extremists entered the house of his brother Chandicharan Singh Sardar, president of the village panchayat samiti. Not finding Chandicharan there, they settled for Tapan, a local AIFB leader, and killed him near the house. The next attack was on Bagbandi village where Kinkar Singh, Gobardhan Singh, 75-year-old Gopeswar Mahato and Chapala Garai, president of the village panchayat, were abducted from their homes, taken to a nearby forest and killed.

The other two victims were Ananta Mahato of Chirutar village and Aju Singh Sardar of Naugarh village. The entire operation took place between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. The posters the Maoists left behind as a signature threatened the Left parties and the Congress over the joint police operations.

In the past few months, the rebels have suffered severe setbacks at the hands of the joint forces of the Central and State police and, for the first time, faced resistance from sections of the local population. With the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) recently regaining control of its stronghold of Lalgarh in Pashchim Medinipur, the Maoists have been on the run from some of their earlier bases and have been forced to try forming new bases.

But, according to police sources, even in these “new” areas where the presence of police and Central forces is not so strong, they are meeting with opposition from the local people.

Inspector General of Police, Western Zone, Zulfiquar Hasan told Frontline: “One thing is absolutely clear, that they have totally alienated the local people with their terror tactics. The seven people they killed were not police informers. They realised there was growing resistance against them and this was an attempt to scare the local people into subjugation. We have seen that whenever operations against them succeed, their killings also increase.”

The Jalda block is a strong base of the AIFB, a constituent of the ruling Left Front in the State. “By targeting AIFB members here, the Maoists are following an old tactic of creating a political vacuum, just as they have been doing in parts of Pashchim Medinipur and Bankura. To gain control of this region, they realise they will have to break the political backbone of the Forward Bloc,” said an intelligence source. A statement issued by the AIFB central committee said that the increasing popularity of the party had eroded the Maoist support base, provoking the recent killings.

The killings took place less than two weeks after the rebels suffered a major setback. On December 3, Sudip Chongdar alias Kanchan, secretary of the CPI (Maoist)'s West Bengal Committee, was arrested in Kolkata along with three associates. Kanchan has been the biggest catch for the police since the arrest in March of Venkatesh Reddy alias Telugu Deepak, the chief of the State Military Commission of the Maoists in West Bengal.

Kanchan, who has been the State secretary since 2008, was one of the main organisers of the Lalgarh movement and was engaged in extending the Maoist influence to places beyond the Jangalmahal (the forested area comprising parts of the three adjoining districts of Pashchim Medinipur, Bankura and Purulia, largely inhabited by tribal people) to other districts in the State.

Although a resident of Garbeta in Pashchim Medinipur, Kanchan often came to Kolkata to liaise with supporters, recruit new members and collect consignments. The police had apparently been tracing his movement through tapped phone conversations and came to know that Kanchan, along with three top aides, would be coming to Kolkata to pick up a consignment of ammunition and gadgets.

Late in the evening of December 3, all four were arrested from the Maidan area of central Kolkata. Along with Kanchan were Anil Ghosh and Barun Sur – both top Maoist operatives and State committee members – and Shankar Mallick alias Buchu, a Maoist linkman. Interrogation of those arrested also enabled the police to secure Kalpana Maity alias Anu, an influential woman Maoist leader.

Sophisticated equipment

Raids on Maoist hideouts in and around Kolkata have led to the seizure of a huge amount of sophisticated electronic equipment along with arms and ammunition. Very high frequency (VHF) and ultra high frequency (UHF) wireless communication sets, remote-operated timers, hi-tech explosive devices and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) found during the raids point to an ominous shift in the operating style and strategy of the Maoists.

According to Rajiv Kumar, chief of the Special Task Force (STF) of the Kolkata Police, the Maoists appear to be trying to develop activated devices that can be used from a distance – a departure from their earlier method of using wired devices that necessitated closer proximity to the target.

“It is clear that the Maoists have studied the operations of the joint forces and identified certain weaknesses in their own mode of operations that allow the security forces to reach them. They are now trying to counter this with the help of technology. If they are successful, it can make things a little difficult for us,” a police source in the region told Frontline.

 

According to him, such gadgets are easily available in the border areas of India and Nepal and Bangladesh, if not in the markets. “We have documentary evidence of the great importance the Maoists attach to the strengthening of their technology wing. Moreover, they also have a lot of educated sympathisers such as engineering students, even engineering teachers, who help them develop and use new technology,” a police source said.

Link with other militants

Police interrogation of the arrested extremists has also brought to light a nexus between the CPI (Maoist) and the insurgent People's Revolutionary Party of Kangleipak (Prepak) of Manipur. Kanchan apparently revealed that the Maoists' deal with Prepak was sealed six to eight months ago. Under the deal, the two groups will exchange arms and ammunition, and Prepak will train Maoist cadres. Apparently such training has already taken place in the forested areas of Jharkhand.

“The Maoists are also in contact with other organisations in Manipur, but with Prepak these links are not limited to ideological sympathies; they have reached a practical level,” said Rajiv Kumar.

The police have not ruled out the Maoists having links with other militant groups of the north-eastern region, including the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the National Socialist Council of Nagalim – Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM).

Recent developments have also indicated that the Maoists have been spreading their tentacles to regions other than the Jangalmahal. On December 9, they struck in Birbhum district, killing CPI(M) leader Sasti Bawri inside the district party office. This was the second time this year that the region witnessed Maoist killings. Earlier there have been instances of attempted sabotage of public property. The State government has, in fact, sent a proposal to the Centre to declare three more districts – Birbhum, Nadia and Murshidabad – as Maoist affected.

In spite of the Maoists' diminishing influence, however, it would not be correct to assume that the Lalgarh region is returning to normalcy. On December 20, suspected Maoists gunned down Kalipada Mahato, a schoolteacher, in Nayagram, not far from Lalgarh.

“Though incidents of violence have been greatly reduced in the last couple of months, there is still the potential for danger here. Lalgarh holds such a central place in their movement in the State that the Maoists really cannot afford to leave it. There is still the threat of their regrouping and regaining control of the region,” said Manoj Verma, Superintendent of Police, Pashchim Medinipur.

While killings continue to take place in the region, it is unlikely that there will be any Maoist action in the immediate future on the scale of the Silda massacre in February this year when 25 jawans of the Eastern Frontier Rifles were mowed down in their camp. “After the recent setbacks, the mode of operations of the Maoists has changed. They now move in smaller groups and cause isolated incidents in places where security is not strong. Their manpower is greatly reduced and, as of now, their potential for large-scale action has diminished in Pashchim Medinipur,” said Verma.

Maoist key result area: Destruction of 33 schools, 105 roads, 13 rly properties

12 Nov, 2010, 03.50AM IST, Bharti Jain, ET Bureau

NEW DELHI: Maoists continue to hit at symbols of welfare and development while carrying on with their rhetoric about neglect of tribal areas by the state. Over the last 10 months, the Left-wing extremists unleashed 278 attacks on government buildings and infrastructure works across seven states, destroying 33 schools, 20 panchayat offices, 105 roads/culverts and 38 communication towers.

Railways continue to be a favoured target, having recorded 22 Naxal attacks until October 31, 2010. Of these, Chhattisgarh witnessed 13 attacks on railway properties, Maharashtra 12, West Bengal 7 and Jharkhand 6.

Majority of Naxalite attacks in 2010 focused on forest roads and culverts. As many as 105 forest roads and culverts were destroyed by Maoists, as compared 126 in the whole of 2009, in an apparent bid to instill a sense of fear in contractors to meet extortion demands.

Public sector units and works in Maoist-infested areas witnessed 22 attacks, up from 17 through 2009. NMDC’s premises in Chhattisgarh were targeted in 11 different incidents in the first 10 months of 2010. Eight attacks were directed at the Gramin Sadak Nirman Yojana in three states. Essar Pipelines, which faced 6 attacks last year, saw only one attack in 2010.

There was also some respite from Naxalites’ targeting of communication towers, with attacks coming down from 67 last year to 38 in the first ten months of 2010. Of these, Jharkhand accounted for 14 attacks and Bihar for 12 attacks.

Government’s psychological warfare highlighting “mindless” attacks on schools by Maoists appears to have had some positive effect. Such incidents were down from 67 in 2009 to 38 until October 31 this year. However, panchayat offices and buildings continued to bear the brunt, with 20 of them coming under Maoist fire as compared to 23 in the whole of last year.

Mining units saw nine attacks in the first 10 months of 2010, a three-fold rise from 3 attacks witnessed through 2009. Six of the nine incidents of mines being targeted this year were reported from Jharkhand.

Power plants were not spared either. Maoists attacked 3 power plants, one each in Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Orissa. Last year, two attacks on power plants were reported, both in Maharashtra. Maoists also destroyed pole/transmission towers in two different incidents in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

Maoists’ targeting of key infrastructure and development works stands in direct conflict with their so-called struggle against neglect and deprivation by the state. “It only proves that the Left-wing extremism is nothing more than red terror, devoid of any reasoning or ideology,” noted a senior official of the security establishment.

As many as 577 civilians and 264 security forces have been killed in a total of 1842 incidents of Maoist violence in the first 10 months of 2010.

Unite in fight against Maoists: Buddhadeb

Balarampur(Purulia),Nov14(IANS): West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee Sunday urged the people to unite in the fight against the Maoists and uproot them from the state.

'Maoist activity is the biggest problem in our state. They are creating hindrance in development work. They are also obstructing the schools and panchayats from running smoothly, besides killing innocent people,' Bhattacharjee said at a rally organised by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).

'It's high time we all come together to fight against the Maoists. People will not forgive them for their politics of killings,' he said in this Maoist-affected belt of Purulia district.

Bhattacharjee said the Left-wing ultras have shifted their base to the Ayodhya Hills area after finding the going tough in West Midnapore's Lalgarh in the face of strong action by security forces.

'They are now committing atrocities in Arsa, Balarampur, Jhalda, Bandwan and Bagmundi areas during the night. They have killed several of our party supporters and leaders.

'The Maoists think that by killing innocent people, they will come to power in Bengal or they will be able to rule in Delhi, but we will not let them carry out their activities,' he said.

Despite repeated denials from the rebels, the chief minister maintained that Intelligence Branch officer Partha Biswas and school teacher Soumyajit Basu had been abducted by the Maoists.

'Both of them came here to teach the tribal people the usage of furnace, but they were abducted by the Maoists. I am trying my best to free them,' Bhattacharjee said.

The chief minister's meeting at Purulia was part of his tour to win back the support of rural population prior to the assembly elections - scheduled to be held in the first half of 2011.

Maoist Leadership is Divided: Buddhadeb

Kolkata: Nov 12, 2010- Amid speculation whether top Maoist leader Kisheji was dead, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee tonight stated he has heard about the same and that the Maoist leadership was now divided.

"I also heard about it (Kishenji is dead). The Maoist leadership is now divided. They (Maoists) are now cornered," he said.

Posters alluding to 'martyrdom' of Kishenji found by the police have intensified speculation over whether the Maoist top leader, who has not made any public appearance for eight months, is dead.

"Change has taken place in some areas of West Midnapore and Bankura where people are resisting the ultras, but recently in Purulia the Maoist problem has aggravated. They have kidnapped two persons. We are trying to free them although we have not yet succeeded", Bhattacharjee told a TV channel here.

"Politically we have achieved some success but the situation is still tough," he said.

He also rubbished Trinamool Congress' charge that CPI (M) 'harmads' (goons) were killing people in the guise of joint forces.

Bhattacharjee said that his party indirectly benefited from the operation of the joint forces but "it is wrong to say that joint force were sent to give benefit to us".

Not only in West Bengal, central force was sent to Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh to combat the Maoists, he said.

On Union Home Minister P Chidambaram's assurance to TC leaders that the role of the joint force would be inquired, Bhattacharjee quipped, "what will he say? They don't have time to listen to all these bogus things. Those who are directing the joint force are not so foolish".(PTI)

OUTLOOK, Filed On: Nov 12, 2010 23:17 IST

WHY THIS SO-CALLED 'MAOIST'S' ARE SILENT AGAINST US IMPERIALISM?

A protest michil agaist 'Maoist's' in Salboni (in junglemahal area of West Midnapore District)