Fears of resurging Maoism in western Bengal after 11-year hiatus
KOLKATA: The reappearance of handwritten posters bearing the name of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) in the western districts of West Bengal bordering Jharkhand in the past three weeks, and the arrest of four people for suspected links with the banned guerilla outfit, have forced the state administration to be on high alert.
The development comes 11 years after the region’s Maoist commander Mallojula Koteswara Rao, alias Kishenji, 55, was killed in a gunfight with police in November 2011, months after chief minister Mamata Banerjee formed the first Trinamool Congress (TMC) government, which is now in its third term.
The death of the CPI(Maoist)’s politburo and central military commission member was believed to have ended the armed movement in West Bengal, which started during the last decade of the Left Front’s 34-year-long rule.
The state government sounded a high alert in five districts after a landline was found in the Belpahari jungles of Jhargram district on April 7. Director general of state police, Manoj Malaviya, toured the region to oversee security arrangements. A few days later, Maoist posters with threatening messages for local TMC leaders and the government were found in Jhargram and Bankura districts.
The hideout of the Maoists in the last years of the Left Front regime and home to a sizeable tribal population, the rough terrains of Jangalmahal – an arid region spread across parts of West Midnapore, Purulia, Bankura, Jhargram and Birbhum districts – are possibly witnessing a silent resurgence of the Maoists, a section of police and intelligence branch officials say.
Coal mine at Deocha Pachami
One possible reason behind this, officials say, could be the state government’s upcoming coal mining project at Birbhum’s Deocha Pachami, which has a sizeable tribal population, spread across the 3,400 acres that the administration wants to acquire. Although Banerjee has promised jobs for 100,000 local youth alongside rehabilitation and compensation for land, tribal bodies and rights groups have opposed the ₹35,000 crore coal project, which is said to be the nation’s biggest.
Jangalmahal was tagged as a backward area for decades since Independence. Promising better governance, Banerjee created the Jhargram district in April 2017 by splitting West Midnapore.
“Suspected Maoist activities are being noticed in the other districts of Jangalmahal since police surveillance was heightened in Birbhum district months ago in view of the Deocha Pachami project,” said an intelligence branch officer who did not want to be quoted.
On April 24, Tipu Sultan, alias Mustafa Kamal, a former student of Visva Bharati university in Birbhum district, and his associate, Arkadeep Goswami, were arrested by Bankura district police from Birbhum’s Bolpur town. Several Maoist posters were allegedly found in their possession. The youths were arrested in 2018 on charges of having Maoist links and subsequently released on bail, police said.
On April 25, Jhargram police arrested Raju Singh, a 30-yearold villager, and his wife Puja, for allegedly putting up some posters.
“The suspects pleaded that they were asked by some people to put up the posters. The police want to interrogate them in custody,” said Anil Mondal, the government lawyer who successfully opposed the couple’s bail petition in court.
A poster, claiming the guerillas will avenge Kishenji’s death, appeared in Bankura district on April 26.
While addressing the top brass of district police units on April 27, chief minister Banerjee alleged that the state’s principal opposition force, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is instigating the Maoists.
“I have received specific information that seven (Maoist functionaries) have entered Bengal from Jharkhand. Has the Belpahari border been sealed?” Banerjee asked at the administrative meeting that was aired live on several television channels.
“Three important people have been nabbed. Security arrangements have been tightened,” Malaviya said, replying to her question.
On April 28, some posters appeared again at Taldangra in Bankura district.
“Our assumption that Kishenji’s death ended the Maoist problem was based on people’s response to infrastructure development. Moreover, almost all the young armed cadres surrendered and were given jobs by the TMC government. A couple of senior leaders, who are suspected to be in hiding, are quite old,” a second intelligence branch officer told HT on condition of anonymity.
“Although the BJP made inroads into the region in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls and the 2018 panchayat elections, the TMC retained its control and won most of the seats in all elections,” he added.
“Recent developments indicate that Maoists are trying to capitalize on grievances arising out of unemployment, a problem that cannot be solved in a day. It is also possible that some workers of local political parties are trying to create unrest since the panchayat polls are due in 2023,” the officer pointed out.
West Bengal’s scheduled tribe (ST) population stood at 5.29 million in the 2011 census, accounting for about 5.8% of the state’s total population. Over the past few years, Banerjee created separate welfare boards for tribal communities such as the Santhals, Lodhas and Kurmis. She also gave official recognition to the Ol Chiki language, the most spoken in Jangalmahal. The districts have also seen new roads, hospitals, schools and polytechnic colleges.
Widespread joblessness
Yet, the 2019 Lok Sabha polls turned the tide against the ruling party. The reason is widely believed to be the perennial lack of employment opportunities, especially government jobs.
The BJP won five Lok Sabha seats in the four Jangalmahal districts in 2019, when it wrested 18 of the state’s 42 Lok Sabha seats and stayed ahead of the ruling party in more than 120 of 294 assembly segments in West Bengal. As many as 87 of these 120 segments are located in the south Bengal region, where Jangalmahal is located.
Since the Deocha Pachami project is now in focus, Birbhum police administration is not taking any chances.
“Two companies of Central Reserve Police Force are already deployed in Birbhum. They are regularly carrying out area domination exercises. Areas such as Pakur, Shikaripara and Maheshpur in Jharkhand are known to have Maoist bases,” Nagendra Nath Tripathi, superintendent of Birbhum district police, told HT on Friday. “We have set up 15 interstate border check points and the district intelligence branch has been activated.”
“The former Visva Bharati student and his associate recently attended a Maoist meeting in Bankura. Both are Maoist sympathizers,” Tripathi said. “They are being interrogated by Bankura police.”
Jhargram district police superintendent Biswajit Ghosh refused to share details of the preventive steps being taken. “We are maintaining surveillance and working on the statements given by the couple arrested on April 25,” Ghosh said.
Citing a few examples, police said although West Bengal did not witness any Maoist attack since 2011, the state was never free of the insurgency.
On January 19, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested Mahesh Agarwal, a West Bengal-based businessman, from Salt Lake township on the northeastern outskirts of Kolkata on charges of funding Maoists in Jharkhand.
In September 2020, four posters were found inside a government complex at Sarenga in Bankura district, where the Maoists had a strong base till 2011.
The posters appeared on September 21, the foundation day of the CPI (Maoist) when, in 2004, the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) People’s War (CPI-ML PW) and the Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCCI) merged into one organisation. On the eve of Independence Day in 2020, around a dozen posters were recovered from three villages in Bhulaveda area of Jhargram district. The posters urged local people to observe August 15 as kala divas (black day).
Opposition BJP divided
Though accused by the chief minister of instigating the Maoists, top state BJP leaders seem to be divided on recent developments.
Former state BJP president Dilip Ghosh, who is now a national vice-president, has claimed in public that there are no Maoists in West Bengal and a security crisis is being portrayed by the TMC government to secure special grants from the Centre.
Ghosh’s successor, Sukanta Majumdar, opposes the allegation. “Resurgence of the Maoists is an indicator of Mamata Banerjee’s failure as an administrator,” Majumdar said. “Poverty and unemployment in Jangalmahal have touched a new high during her regime.”
Leader of the opposition in the West Bengal legislative assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, visited Deocha Pachami on April 20 and opposed the mining project, alleging that tribal families were being served illegal eviction notices by the state administration. “We will not let this happen. Deocha Pachami is a closed chapter for Mamata Banerjee,” Adhikari said.