Villagers turn against Maoists

31 August 2011

Locals set PCPA activists’ bikes on fire for forcing them to attend rally
biswabrata goswami 
LALGARH, 31 AUG: After suffering severe losses at the hands of the Central forces, the Communist Party of India (Maoist) appears to be losing its influence on the people of Junglemahal in West Midnapore.
The rule of terror that the Maoists had established in the region since November 2008 may well be facing its strongest challenge, this time from the local people whose cause the Maoists profess to espouse.
This was evident today when activists of Peoples’ Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA) went to Dhanguri village in Sankrail to bring in the villagers to a rally organised at Ramkrishna Vidyalaya ground in Lalgarh for the first time to raise voice against the new government.
Hundreds of villagers who refused to attend the rally clashed with the PCPA activists when the latter beat them up. The angry villagers set two motorbikes of the PCPA activists on fire and vandalised a Tata Sumo before pushing it into a pond. “Two villagers were injured during the clash, but the PCPA activists fled the scene after facing strong resistance," said Mr Alok Rajoria, additional superintendent of police.
Not only this, the PCPA activists but also faced resistance at other villages in Binpur, Belpahari, Gopiballavpur, Salboni and Nayagram where many villagers declined to attend the rally, a senior police officer said.
To protest against the government’s policies with regards to the development issues in Junglemahal, the Democratic Forum against Terror, Corruption and Imperialistic Aggression organised a rally at the venue where Miss Mamata Banerjee had addressed a gathering last year. Chhatradhar Mahato, the jailed leader of PCPA, had contested the Assembly poll under its banner.
Several frontal outfits of Maoists and sympathisers attended the rally, but the gathering was not up to the expectation of the organisers, a police officer said. “They expected a gathering of 50,000 people, but it was hardly 10 to 15,000," a senior police officer posted at the venue said.
While criticising Miss Banerjee for skipping “major issues” and talked of their “apprehension” about her decision to recruit 10,000 special police constables, Mr Nabarun Bhattacherjee, secretary of the  Association for Protection of Democratic Rights (APDR), said: “She is failing to keep her promises made before the Assembly poll. The Central forces have not been withdrawn till today while she had promised the withdrawal of security forces from Junglemahal. No political prisoners have also been released as yet."
“Mamata had conveyed her inclination not to use the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) freshly and be lenient to those already booked under the Central law during the Left Front rule. But, at least 90 people in the state have been booked under the law, including Maoist leader Sushil Roy and PCPA leaders Chhatradhar Mahato and Sukhshanti Baske. But no steps have been taken to release them," a PCPA leader said.
“There will be no talk with the state government before the promises which Miss Banerjee made are not fulfilled," said Joydev Mahato, a PCPA spokesperson.
More tribal cops to be recruited
KOLKATA, 31 AUG: The state government will undertake a special drive to recruit tribals from Junglemahal and the Hills to fill up 1,000 vacant posts of constables reserved for Scheduled Tribes. The vacancies in the reserved category has come as a boon to the new government to fulfil its job promise for the residents of the two areas rocked by agitation and extremism. The proposal, which will be placed before the Cabinet soon, states that 700 out of the 1,000 posts will be filled by STs from Junglemahal and tribal youths of the Darjeeling Hills will be recruited in the rest 300 posts.
This recruitment will be over and above the 10,000 junior police constables, home guards and national volunteer force (NVF). Since these are regular posts there will be no lowering of the standard unlike the recruitment of junior police constables. According to sources, there are huge accumulated vacancies in SC and ST categories in various departments and police, apparently, because suitable candidates are often not found. “Any department can undertake a special drive to fill up its vacant posts reserved for SCs and STs at any point of time,” said an official of backward classes welfare department. As chief minister Miss Mamata Banerjee has already promised several employment opportunities for the backward regions in Junglemahal and Darjeeling, the huge backlog of ST reservation has come handy to the state government. sns