Lies, Deception and Neglect - The Lalgarh Story

There has been a lot of noise being made about the present situation in Lalgarh and the so-called increase in influence of the Maoists in present-day West Bengal. There has been many discussions about the Left Government’s ‘reluctance’ to ban the Maoist organization even as they are declared as ‘class enemy’ Numero Uno by the Maoists. But sadly the hypocrisy and the shadow-wars being fought over and over again are just covered up.

The Lalgarh situation has elevating since the last year, with the tribal inhabitants of the area creating a so-called ‘Liberated Zone’ with the ‘People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities’ a hitherto unknown Organization assuming control, with a so-called army and kangaroo court to boot. The government, unwilling to create another PR fiasco on the lines of Nandigram, just let it happen. The eternal blame-game between Mamata Banerjee and Buddhadeb Bhattacharya started afresh, with the age-old rhetoric in press conferences.

The most brutal irony of the situation is even as the politicians battle over the ‘who?’, the more fundamental question of ‘why?’ was just left out. On closer observation, Lalgarh, which has a tribal dominated population, has been long known as the home of the human ‘ant-eaters’. The starving population of the region have the one of the worst living conditions in the country with no basic civic amenities, not least of which is the complete absence of medical facilities for miles around.

Another very recurring image in this fiasco is that of a rather palatial home being broken down by a raging mob several hundred strong. The building, which belongs to the regional CPM strongman, Anuj Pandey, is the only private brick house for several villages. This setup, very much akin to Ceauşescu's Centrul Civic* project, had for long been a symbol of the unfairness of the world to the tribals, many of whom still stay in the forests and have no substantial property or education to speak of. The destruction of the house was symbolical of freedom to the tribals, very much like the destruction of Saddam’s statue in Baghdad was for the Iraqis.

And finally, the sealing off of the area to outsiders and the creation of the parallel government of the region. The comparisons with the Nandigram situation which this action brought could not be farther from the truth. While the Nandigram and the Singur situations were more for the Right of the residents to the profession of their choice, Lalgarh, has been just about the Right to Survival with dignity. Nothing but that one final right can perhaps push the emaciated and haggard faces we see on television to take up arms against a seemingly insurmountable enemy. There were several debates on Singur and Nandigram and two strong opposing views on the matter. But Lalgarh never deserved these debates; Lalgarh deserved and wanted a solution.

But then, everyone wanted to know who PCPA were, instead of why they were doing it. The Trinamool Congress said it was an extension of their movements elsewhere in the state, even claiming Chhatradhar Mahato to be one of their own. (It was claim they would later distance themselves from when the connection of PCPA with Maoists was established. ‘Chhatradhar Mahato was a member, he was expelled. ’, they claimed.)

The Maoists in West Bengal have a very colorful history. Even though it is considered the birthplace of the Naxalite Movement in the ‘70s, West Bengal being the pseudo-Leftist state that it is, has always escaped the full scathe of Maoist insurgency unlike Chattisgarh and Jharkhand. As a matter of fact, during the resurgence of Congress and TMC in the 2001 State Assembly Polls, Maoists were openly supplied firearms from CPM Party Offices, apparently to combat the common ‘class enemies’. It wasn’t till CPI (ML) and the Andhra factions of the Maoists combined to form the CPI (Maoist) in 2004 that the fight against the Left in CPM government was taken up in earnest. And herein lies the so-called reluctance of present day Left leaders to ban the Maoists in Bengal.




However, the revelation about the Maoist presence in Lalgarh could not have come at a more opportune moment for the Government, both State and Central. Just as the stunning apathy of authorities towards this forgotten corner of the country was being brought out, and the media was finally trying to get to the root of the problem, when this news just unified all opinion and media against the so-called common shadowy enemy.

Ironically, the Maoists stand to gain just as much, if not more than the government. As the combined might of the Paramilitary forces and the State Police rolls into one empty village after another, it’s increasingly becoming evident that the Maoists never had long-term plans in Lalgarh to begin with. Brilliantly using the human shield as protection, they have carried out one of the most comprehensive recruitments in recent memory. Something that started off as a spontaneous outburst against the nepotism and neglect was just hijacked by them. Once this was done, they practically invited the Army by holding a public press conference and announcing the plot to kill the Chief Minister. And the empty villages and the minimal resistance to the advancing army just stand to underline the fact that a whole generation of tribals has been sucked into the terrifying vortex of permanent insurgency.

All while the icons of a failed governance system, namely the State and the Central Governments point fingers and submit hypocritical petitions.

The Army keeps on entering village after village liberating phantoms and left-behind senile cattle…

And the tragedy of the situation is lost, one more time…

*- Ceauşescu's Centrul Civic - Ceauşescu's was the last Romanian Communist President who tried to build a complex called ‘Centrul Civic’ that was so extravagant that the people had to be rationed for electricity and essential food items to cover the costs.