The Centre has banned the CPI-Maoist under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, calling it a terrorist organisation.
With Left Front partners vetoing West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya’s proposal for a formal ban on Maoist groups in the state, union home minister P Chidambaram stepped in to help him on Monday by invoking the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act to outlaw these groups countrywide.
The Communist Party of India (Maoist), the banner under which the Maoists have been operating since 2004, now joins the home ministry’s list of 30-odd banned organisations that include United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Student’s Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT).
It means that Maoist activists anywhere in the country can be held without bail for a minimum of 30 days, extendable upto one year after approval from a tribunal.
The home ministry’s intervention is loaded with political dynamite. It bails Buddhadeb out of a tight spot after he was overruled from within on banning the Maoists but it could spark off an explosion in the UPA. Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee is already on the warpath because of the decision to send central forces to Lalgarh.
Monday’s ban will incense her further because of fears that the state government may use it to crack down on TMC workers who are supporting agitating tribals in the area.
Although the CPI(M)’s official position is against a ban, the party privately is thrilled by the home ministry’s move.
A leader who spoke on the condition of anonymity said they will not oppose the order and will use it to take “firm administrative action” in the trouble spots. In fact, the CPI(M) is examining whether the central government ban needs complementary action by the state government.
There was a hint of the party’s internal thinking in CPI(M) MP Sitaram Yechury’s comments after he met Chidambaram on Monday evening following the announcement of the ban. He said the union government’s decision was taken in national interest, based on intelligence reports. The CPI(M) also believes that any threat to internal security must be tackled firmly, he added.
According to a senior CPI(M) leader, the state government has intelligence reports about the presence of some 200 trained Maoist guerillas in Lalgarh, with about 100 of them armed with AK-47s. The Bengal administration hopes to use the fig leaf provided by the home ministry to flush these people out.
Mamata has been consistently rubbishing the state government’s assessment. She insists that the trouble in Lalgarh is a people’s war against the tyranny of CPI(M) cadres and for good measure, she sent two TMC ministers in the central government to the area on Sunday to lend support to the agitation. Chidambaram’s decision to go by the state government’s assessment threatens to undermine her efforts to dislodge the Left in Bengal.
Although Monday’s development seems to suggest that there is political dissonance between the Congress and the TMC, the home ministry is apparently quite worried about the escalating trouble in Lalgarh. There are intelligence reports that some Maoist activists from Nepal have entered Lalgarh and are fanning the flames there.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}