Author: Fakir Mohan Pradhan
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: January 3, 2011
URL: http://www.dailypioneer.com/307761/Maoist-terror-in-West-Bengal.html
Counter-insurgency operations have yielded
significant results but it has been a terrible year with West Bengal topping
the list of Red terror-hit States
Replying to a question in the State Assembly
on December 23, 2010, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee claimed,
"Because of sustained joint operations (against Maoists) by 35 companies
of Central Reserve Police Force, six companies of Nagaland Police and 51 companies
of State Police, the situation ... has greatly improved... The situation has
changed in the past three months. Some of the blocks (in Jangalmahal) are
terror free... (But) till the situation improves in Jharkhand and Odisha,
it would be difficult to keep West Bengal unaffected. Till such time, the
paramilitary forces should be there."
Earlier, in an interview to a TV Channel in
Kolkata on November 13, the Chief Minister asserted, "The Maoist leadership
is now divided. They are now cornered." Ironically, on December 17, cadre
of the CPI(Maoist) had shot dead seven workers of the All-India Forward Block,
a party belonging to the ruling Left Front, in Purulia district.
In fact, West Bengal has witnessed a dramatic
spurt in Maoist-related fatalities in 2010. According to available data, 425
people, including 328 civilians, 36 security forces personnel and 61 Maoists,
including cadre of the Maoist-backed People's Committee Against Police Atrocities,
were killed in West Bengal in 2010 till December 26, as against 158 people,
including 134 civilians, 15 security forces personnel and nine Maoists killed
in the State in 2009.
With this, West Bengal has now earned the
dubious distinction of recording the highest Maoist-related fatalities in
2010, dislodging Chhattisgarh which had topped the list since 2006. The intervening
years have seen an extraordinary rise in Maoist-related fatalities in West
Bengal, from just six in 2005, through 24 in 2008, and up to 158 and 418 people,
respectively, in 2009 and 2010.
Significantly, the civilian casualty figure
of 328, which includes 148 fatalities in the Gyaneswari Express derailment
of May 28, is by far the highest among the Maoist affected States for any
past years, followed distantly by Chhattisgarh in 2006 with 189 civilian fatalities.
In 2010, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand each recorded 71 civilian fatalities.
Civilian fatalities in West Bengal have recorded a 145 per cent increase over
the elevated base level of 134 for 2009.
The principal cause for this dramatic escalation
is the rapid expansion of the Maoists in the State and their focussed infiltration
of the tribal movement in Lalgarh, as a result of which they have taken control
of wide areas despite mounting pressure from the security forces. The movement
in Lalgarh snowballed after a failed assassination attempt targeting the Chief
Minister and then Union Minister for Steel Ram Vilas Paswan at nearby Salboni
on November 2, 2008, and the clumsy police responses that followed.
Unlike other States, the expanding Maoist
sway is confronted by the organised (and often armed) cadre of the ruling
CPI(M) in West Bengal. In order to hold the area under their control, the
Maoists have neutralised the CPI(M) cadre base and terrorised the masses -
tactics that explain the large number of Marxists and 'sympathisers' among
the civilian fatalities in the State. Indeed, of the 328 civilians killed
in 2010, CPI(M) leaders and cadre account for as many as 116.
Security forces fatalities have also risen
to 36 in 2010, from 15 in 2009, even as 61 Maoists were killed, as against
nine in 2009, reflecting increasing direct confrontation between the forces
and the Maoists.The State witnessed 14 major incidents (involving three or
more casualties) through 2010. The Maoists were also involved in at least
25 cases of landmine explosions, 18 incidents of arson, and two incidents
of abduction (an overwhelming majority of abduction cases go unreported because
of fear of the Maoists). The Maoists also executed seven 'swarming attacks'
involving a large number of their armed cadre in 2010, as against eight such
attacks in 2009.
There were, however, major successes scored
by the security forces in 2010, including the killing of six Maoists, along
with Sidhu Soren, the founding 'commander-in-chief' of Sidhu Kanu Gana Militia,
in an encounter on July 26; the Ranja forest encounter of June 16 in which
at least 12 Maoists were killed; and, the Hathilot forest encounter of March
25 in which Maoist Politburo member Koteswar Rao alias Kishanji was injured.
Most significantly, the PCPA founder-president, Lalmohan Tudu, was killed
by the forces on February 22, along with at least two other PCPA cadre.
These operational successes were compounded
by key arrests. Four members of the Maoists' West Bengal State Committee,
including 'State secretary' Sudip Chongdar alias Kanchan alias Batas, Anil
Ghosh alias Ajoyda, Barun Sur alias Bidyut, and Kalpana Maity, wife of Ashim
Mondal alias Akash, were arrested from Kolkata on December 3 and 4. A day
after these arrests, Asim Mondal alias Akash, a senior member of the State
Committee, admitted that "The arrest is unfortunate and no doubt it is
a jolt for our organisation."
Earlier, on March 2, 2010, Venkateswar Reddy
alias Telugu Dipak, another State Committee member, was arrested near Kolkata.
Dipak was the suspected mastermind of the February 15 attack on the EFR camp
at Sildah. Indeed, there seems to be an abrupt leadership vacuum among the
Maoists in West Bengal with seven of the 11 State Committee members either
behind bars or killed.
Further, Bapi Mahato, a prime accused in the
Gyaneswari Express derailment as well as a senior member of the Maoist-backed
PCPA, was arrested by a joint team of the West Bengal and Jharkhand Police
from Jamshedpur in Jharkhand on June 20. At least 245 arrests have been made
in 2010 in connection with Maoist activities. On June 18, however, State Chief
Secretary Ardhendu Sen claimed that security forces operating in the Jangalmahal
area, which includes Bankura, Purulia and West Midnapore districts, had arrested
"about 400 to 500 Maoists". Nevertheless, the mastermind behind
almost all the Maoist attacks in the region, Koteswar Rao alias Kishanji,
CPI(Maoist) Politburo member in charge of West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and
Odisha, remains elusive.
Expecting that the pressure mounted by the
security forces would induce some Maoists to lay down arms, the State Government
announced its new surrender policy on June 15. The 'package' followed the
Union Government guidelines, with a one-off payment of Rs 1,50,000, vocational
training for three months, and Rs 2,000 in a monthly stipend for each surrendering
cadre. If arms were also surrendered, they would receive, in addition, Rs
15,000 for an AK-47 rifle, Rs 25,000 for a machine gun, and Rs 3,000 for a
pistol or revolver. On June 17, West Bengal Director-General of Police Bhupinder
Singh said, "We have received feelers that a number of people are willing
to surrender." By December 26, however, only five Maoists had surrendered
after the announcement of the 'package'.
Despite these successes, however, there is
little reason for any great optimism. The Chief Minister's claim that "the
situation has changed in the past three months", while not altogether
incorrect, nevertheless glosses over the reality of continuing killings in
the Jangalmahal area.
- The writer is associated with the Institute
for Peace and Conflict Management. Visual shows CPI-M's anti-Maoist posters.
