Red Star Rising
A little known Naxal outfit leads anti-power plant protests in Bhangar
Bhangar, comprising 35 densely populated villages in West Bengal’s 24 Parganas district, is the scene of a brand new revolution. Some 150,000 residents are up in revolt against the Mamata Banerjee government’s plans to set up a new electricity sub-station to trade power with neighbouring Bihar. The sub-station was built at Machibhanga village amid reports of coercion and forcible acquisition of land, but all of Bhangar turned out to block the installation of a high-voltage transmission line needed to complete the project. Residents fear the crisscrossing lines above their homes and farms could become a health hazard.
For close to a month now, five villages closest to the substation have been declared a ‘liberated zone’, out of bounds, for police and ruling Trinamool Congress politicians. On January 17, 20,000 protesters screaming anti-TMC slogans forced anti-riot policemen to retreat after torching a police jeep. For the moment, the authorities have deployed drones to try and keep an eye on things.
The Bhangar uprising, showing shades of Singur and Nandigram (the land agitations in 2006-07 that Mamata used to wrest the state from the Left Front in 2011), is being spearheaded by a hitherto unknown Naxalite faction—the CPI(ML) Red Star. An amalgam of three existing Naxal factions that came together after 2010, the members of Red Star were, ironically, key to Mamata’s success in Singur. “It was 2006. Mamata was reduced to a
SINCE RED STAR LEADER CHOUDHURY’S ARREST, THE WOMENFOLK HAVE TURNED MORE PROACTIVE
single MP in the Lok Sabha. She sought our help in organising the movement,” Shankar Das, a central committee member of Red Star, confirms.
The present agitation is headed by Red Star politburo members Alik Chakrabarty and Sharmistha Choudhury. Analysts say the absence of a credible opposition—a weakened Left Front and Congress—has created the political legroom for Red Star to thrive.
The group appeared in Bhangar in November 2016 following reports of forcible land acquisition for the sub-station. Residents accuse local TMC strongman Arabul Islam of coercing them at gunpoint. Harassed villagers sought help from various political parties, but without any success. “No one came to help,” a Red Star activist says, “when 400 people were falsely charged and six villagers arrested.” The five villages were devoid of male members, he says, describing how they won the people’s confidence by securing bail for the victims.
Today, heading the Jami Jibika Vastutantra o Poribesh Raksha Committee (Save the Land, Livelihood and Environment Committee), Chakrabarty is more popular than any politician has ever been in Bhangar. And since Choudhury’s arrest on January 25 on charges of inciting violence, residents, the womenfolk in particular, have turned more pro-active. They say they are even prepared to face police bullets for their leader.
At least in the 35 villages of Bhangar, Red Star is now the party of the moment, leading from the front and being courted by all the major political parties including the CPI(M). The fledgling outfit is also making for some very red faces in the Mamata Banerjee government.