Lalgarh still cut off: Cops sit and watch

KOLKATA: The Lalgarh-Jhargram region continues to be cut off from the rest of West Bengal as the police and administration are wary of using force with Nandigram still fresh in their memory.

The area has been on the boil since the November 2 landmine blast at Salboni that narrowly missed chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Union steel and fertiliser minister Ram Vilas Paswan.

Alleging that the police were unnecessarily harassing tribal villagers in the name of investigating the blasts, armed Maoists supported by some local tribal leaders laid siege to the place. They dug trenches, cutting Lalgarh-Jhargram off from the rest of the state.
Not a single approach road to Lalgarh-Jhargram region remains intact. Post sunset the entire region plunges into darkness as all overhead power transmission wires have been cut off. Food and water supply to the region too has virtually stopped. All one sees everywhere are Madhwa activists and all one hears is the constant beating of tribal ‘Dhamsha-Madal’ war beats.

But the CPI(M) has made it quite clear that neither would it encourage direct political retaliation nor would it allow the state machinery to take strong action. According to political analysts, the ghost of Nandigram stops the party and government from going all out in Lalgarh-Jhargram.

“The Nandigram firing (March 14, 2007) cost CPI(M) the entire East Midnapore district in the last panchayat elections. So, naturally they cannot dare to be over-active in Lalgarh-Jhargram before the coming Lok Sabha elections, especially in view of the fact that tribal communities were ardent CPI(M) supporters since 1977,” a senior political analyst said.

Trinamool Congress, on the other hand, views the developments as an opportunity to make a dent in the red fort of West Midnapore. Instead of making an attempt to convince tribal leaders to refrain from such suicidal destructions, party chief Mamata Banerjee is constantly issuing provocative statements fuelling tribal rage against the administration.

The Congress is doing its bit. State home secretary Ashoke Mohan Chakrabarty said the Centre has rejected the state government’s appeal for additional CRPF deployment at Lalgarh.

“This means, the state government wanted to defuse the problem by using central forces so that it will not have to take any blame should things go out of hand. But the Centre passed on the buck to the state government,” the political analyst said.

Bharat Jakat Majhi Madhwa (Disham Majhi) leader Nityananda Hembram is adamant on continuing the indefinite deadlock until district SP Rakesh Kumar Singh publicly apologises and does sit-ups.
r_sumanta@dnaindia.net