Volume 6, No. 9, September 2005

The Naxalite guerrillas have struck again in West Bengal. This time they have struck with clinical precision, proud defiance and of course with vengeance. In the evening of 9 July 2005, the Maoist rebels gunned down three CPI (Marxist) leaders and activists. In Majhgeria village, district Bankura, they shot dead the Ranibadh zonal committee member, Raghunath Murmu, and local CPM leader Bablu Mudi. In Dulugdi village, district Purulia, Mahendra Mahato, another CPM leader was gunned down in the same manner. While walking away, the people’s guerrillas shouted slogans describing the victims as police spies. "All police informers would meet the same fate", they declared before leaving (The Telegraph, 11 July 2005). To cap it all, as if to give the whole episode a fitting finish, Prabal Sengupta, the OC of Barikul PS, who had just returned after having gained appropriate training in anti-landmine operations, was himself blown up by unknowingly detonating a grenade left behind in a bag by the guerrillas. Nineteen other policemen who stood around him received splinter injuries. This event, like the one that took place in Kokrajhar last year, has started a new drama on the political stage of West Bengal. It is a drama that will, as media reports on the reactions of the CPM-led government, the CPM party leadership and the people as a whole tend to show, have consequences more far-reaching and more significant than the earlier strike in Kokrajhar. It is a strike that the people of Bengal have been longing for a long time.

Let us first refer to the drama that is being enacted in the course of this action. How is it that the Maoist guerrillas, even after the arrests of so many of their leaders, could strike with such ease and a carefree manner at a place where the ruling CPM party—backed by the police and paramilitary forces — were supposed to be in a stronger position? How many people were involved in the whole operation? Were there two armed squads, or was it the handiwork of one single squad that travelled 25 kms very swiftly to get rid of the third victim in Bandwan with the same ease. Women guerrillas were reported to have taken an active part in both the operations.

The maimed police in Bankura and Purulia are in utter confusion though some days have already elapsed since the incident. According to CID reports, those who killed Raghunath Murmu and Bablu Mudi in Majhgeria did not come in army fatigue (Bartaman, 12 July ’05), while, according to another source, they had been wearing black uniforms(Sanbad Pratidin, 11 July ’05). After more investigation, the police have come to the conclusion that the total number of persons involved in the action could be anything between 12 and 80 (Bikeler Pratidin, 11 July ’05).

Were the three CPM leaders annihilated simply because they were CPM activists? The answer is a simple ‘No’. In that case, many more would have been killed by this time. The Maoists are not likely to pursue a policy of senseless killings of CPM workers. They are sensible enough not to do what the CPM, in alliance with the Congress party, did towards the CPI(M-L) members in West Bengal during the stormy decades of the late-1960s and early-1970s. Today, the three CPM workers were killed because they were police informers (CPM leaders now-a-days are instructing their cadres to act as informers). The Bengali daily, Ananda Bazar Patrika( 11 July ’05) stated, quoting intelligence sources, that most of the police actions conducted during the last one year were based on information supplied by Mahendra Mahato. The same was true at least of Raghunath Murmu, as the newspaper report indicates. The CPM mouthpiece, Ganashakti(11 July ’05) lamented that the Naxalites had killed farm labourers who were the leaders of the poor. The fact is that they were killed because they passed secret information on the movement of the revolutionaries to the police, although some among them might have been farm labourers. Here their social standing is not important. What is important is their role as state agents and as counter-revolutionaries.

It is quite interesting to note that although three persons were gunned down, the names of only Raghunath and Bablu figured in the report. What about Mahendra? Mahendra was the "richest" man in Dulukdihi village. He owned over 20 bighas of land, which made him stand apart from the rest of the villagers. In a village where no one else can make both ends meet and can own even a bicycle, Mahato owned a Rajdoot motorbike. To cap it all, because of his clout with the CPM, Mahato has bagged contracts for several block projects like digging of ponds and wells, as well as building of roads. The life-style of Mahendra Mahato resembles that of other CPM leaders in many rural areas. They live in luxury and comfort, while the people starve and die because of poverty, undernourishment and disease.

What is particularly disturbing for the state is the failure of their intelligence network. The new home secretary, Mr. Prasad Roy admitted: "We failed to receive information on time. In many cases we are not getting information on time and these intelligence lapses often lead to such massacres"(The Statesman, 12 July ’05). Let them be prepared for more such lapses in the days to come.

The fact that the morale of the police and paramilitary forces has gone down to an all-time low is clearly evident from the media reports. Mr.Chayan Mukherjee, the ADG (Law & Order) remarked that most of the forces deployed, apart from BSF and CRPF, have received the crack Greyhound training and are fully equipped to deal with any situation. Yet on that fateful 9th July—the day Raghunath Murmu met his doom at a place barely 100 metres from the nearest police station, "as many as 20 paramilitary personnel and an officer apparently heard the gunshots, but refused to budge". The much-publicized ‘Greyhounds’ fed by the Buddhadav-led government refused to come out of their lairs. Poor Chayan Mukherjee! Your pet ‘Greyhounds’—trained in the art of maiming and killing revolutionaries with utmost brutality—are now so panic-stricken about Maoist guerrilla attacks that they are having sleepless nights in their dens!

One police officer of Majhgeria police camp did not try to conceal his fear: "Maoists hold meetings in the villages at night near our camps. But who will dare to venture out. We are like prisoners in these camps"( The Indian Express, 16 July ’05). The Bengali daily, Bartaman reports that in Belpahari and Barikul areas, police morale has gone down to an all-time low. If they go out on combing operations in the jungles, they are mortally afraid of being blown up by landmines. The situation is so grave for the state that Mr. Subhas Avasti, the DGP, has already issued instruction that the police forces, even if they are on combing operations, should never go alone and should get back to their camps before dusk. The top police official was forced to admit that the Naxalite revolutionaries have already established their hold at night over parts of South Bengal, and that the areas under their control is expanding.

Side by side, these heroic actions by the Maoist guerrillas have reduced the CPM to a rather pathetic state. The CPM leadership in West Medinipur district are having sleepless nights. The CPM stalwarts resolved to organize protest rallies in all parts of the state. The irony is that they could not do it in Belpahari, Banshpahari and Lalgarh—areas where, as the top cops themselves admit, the guerrillas hold sway. The CPM leaders are so panic-stricken that they are staying outside their village homes, and some of those, who were not fortunate enough to move out to other areas, do not venture out of their homes. The Ananda Bazar Patrika stated that in Bankura, Purulia, West Medinipur, Birbhum and Hooghli districts, at least 50 CPM leaders had to take round-the clock police protection. Dainik Statesman (13 July ’05) reports that being isolated from the people, the CPM leaders have increasingly been looking towards the police for their own protection. In Bankura district, 11 leaders including Amiya Patra, the state committee secretary, have been under police protection from 2002. A pathetic commentary on the election victories of the largest ruling party of West Bengal indeed!!

It is pertinent to point out here how police torture had told on the body and mind of the victims. In July 2002, Abhijit Sinha was arrested from his residence at Dum Dum—a place near Kolkata, along with Prof. Koushik Ganguli, Parashar Bhattacharya and others. Abhijit was witness to the physical torture made by the then ASP, Anil Srinivasan on Koushik and others and the police intimidation he himself faced, traumatized him so much that he was forced to end his own life. Meena Sardar, a poor peasant woman of Belpahari, was arrested and imprisoned; she lost her mental balance due to police terror. After being released on bail and deprived of any medical treatment, she has now been passing her days as a liability on her mother.

Now the tables have turned. Imbued with Maoism, the revolutionary masses of Bengal are striking back with a vengeance. In the countryside, and the balance of forces is changing. Those who traumatized people and thought that they can go on doing so for ever, are now themselves being traumatized by the impending revolutionary storm. The ‘white terror’ has been replaced by the ‘red terror’. It is terrible for the people’s foes, but rejuvenating for the masses.

It is reported that in many areas of West Medinipur, road contractors are not coming up with projects fearing that that would invite the Maoist wrath, even though more than Rs.3.5 crores are being sanctioned from the prime minister’s rural road construction fund. The cops admit that they are not getting any information about the whereabouts of the attackers and that "at least some villagers were clearly ‘helping’ the attackers. Are the Maoists lying low? No, they are not lying low. Instead, they are making their presence felt with defiance. The investigation team of the Forward Block, a left-front partner, reported after getting back from the affected areas that even after killing two CPM leaders in Bankura, they are moving around openly and issuing directives. The Bankura district leadership of the Forward Block was quite astonished to find that the Maoists organized a meeting on the very next night at a place near Majhgeria village attended by 70 to 80 villagers. The TOI (16 July ’05) reports that amidst police claims of "combing operations", the Maoist guerrillas in police fatigues abducted six members of the counter-revolutionary village resistance group, who were leaders of the CPM’s youth wing DYFI, late on 14 July night from Bidri village of Belpahari, beat them up and let them off on the next day with a stern warning—"go to the police and you will meet Raghunath Murmu’s fate".

Both the CPM state secretary, Anil Biswas and the chief minister, Buddhadev Bhattacharya are trying to explain the Maoist attack in this way. They fall back upon the theory—already obsolete—that "developmental works" undertaken by the so-called left-front government have isolated the Maoists and it is out of frustration that they are resorting to such attacks. We will not quarrel with these reactionaries on this issue at present. However, we would like to reproduce some parts from the editorial of The Statesman dt. 16 July ’05. It read as follows: "…Policemen are being made to pay with their lives because the state’s Marxist leaders have been unable to deal with the abysmal backwardness and poverty in those two districts. Adding fuel to the fire are Goebbelsian claims about the "fruits of development" having improved the lives of the poor. These fantastic claims in a sense lend credibility to the Maoist cause…".

In an article entitled "Maoists’ rage in CPM citadel augurs well for the hapless lot", the Hindusthan Times( 14 July ’05) correspondent wrote: "…That the fruits of development have been misappropriated mostly by the CPM leaders and activists and in some cases also by other political parties including the Trinamool and Congress, is a bitter truth. So, an increas-ing number of people view Maoist activit-ies as a fight for their basic rights. And why won’t they? A few landmines have been blasted so far and the government is running with pots of cash and development schemes. It was only after the blasts that the government realized that these areas needed development. It even admitted for the first time that poverty existed in these places".

In his speech on the action in the WB legislative assembly, the Chief Minister repeated what he has been stating on different occasions and at different times. The Maoists are not the sons of the soil; they came from Jharkhand and they were led by a Telugu-speaking activist from Andhra Pradesh( Ananda Bazar Patrika, 15 July ’05). He seems to have been caught up with an Andhra-phobia these days. If at all the guerrillas were led by a Maoist leader from Andhra Pradesh, what is the problem with him? An all-India revolutionary party like the CPI(Maoist) would naturally have activists from all parts of the country. All of them are Indians, i.e., the sons of the soil, and naturally do have the right to organize people of all states. The CPM itself has recently nominated two of its central leaders to the Rajya Sabha from West Bengal, although none of them is a resident of this state. If there is no problem for you to send your partymen to the Rajya Sabha, why then should the presence, if at all, of a Naxalite leader from Andhra Pradesh or any other part of India pose so much of a problem to you? Mr Chief Minister, it smacks of provincialism on your part. We would like to give friendly advise to you. Please think twice before making such foolish comments in future.

Poverty gives rise to the desire for change. The poor, undernourished people of India—oppressed and exploited for ages by the feudal forces, comprador big bourgeoisie and their imperialist masters are waking up from their slumber. They are standing up with arms in hand. Rural Bengal today is echoing the defiant marching steps of the poor peasant guerrillas who, dreaming of liberating themselves and the entire country from the yoke of imperialism, comprador capitalism and feudalism, are extending their armed struggle to every corner of the state. Defying hardships, incarceration, torture in police custody and defying death, the peasants, workers, students and youths are scaling new heights of heroism. Their days in prison are also full of struggle. The revolutionaries from Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Dandakaranya, Bihar and other places are almost flinging away their most precious lives for the cause of revolution, the cause they hold dear. The successful guerilla actions of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army have once again borne out the truth that "where there is oppression there is resistance". Yes, it is a retaliatory action against the policies of state repression pursued by the CPM-led West Bengal state government at the dictates of their imperialist masters. This also signifes that people dare to face the state atrocities, ensuring their march forward.

A new dawn will certainly emerge on this vast motherland of ours, to rid the muck of all ages. It will entail immense sufferings and sacrifices. This anti-feudal, anti-imperialist revolutionary war led by the CPI(Maoist) would certainly defeat and crush US imperialism, comprador capitalism, the feudal forces and their political lackeys of different hues in the near future and transform our beloved mother-land into a country where human values would triumph over the lust for profits.

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