In an interview to local Bengali news channel STAR Ananda last weekend, railway minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee asked the Centre to initiate talks with Maoists. ?Not all Maoists or Naxalites are bad,? she said, in Bengali. ?We do not believe in the politics of bloodshed and violence. The daily killings should stop. I want the Central government to begin a dialogue with the Maoists. The Maoists shouldn?t resort to violence and must sit for dialogue,? she said. The Union minister dragged intellectuals right into the debate, saying the process could be initiated with the help of ?eminent people?. Writer Mahasweta Debi, poets Shankha Ghosh and Joy Goswami, filmmaker Aparna Sen, theatre person Shaoli Mitra have been at the forefront of the Singur, Nandigram and Lalgarh agitations, scathing in their attacks on CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee?an intellectual and a playwright himself?and his handling of all three flareups.
But those who have been following Mamata?s rise and rise in West Bengal politics aren?t really surprised at her public posturing in defence of the Maoists. At the height of the Singur and Nandigram movements, Maoist groups openly lent her support?two of her closest aides, Purnendu Bose and Dola Sen, have close Naxal connections. Even during the recent Lalgarh flareup, she may have been silent initially but was pushed to react when top Maoist leader Kishanji asked her to come clean on her stand or else. Mamata immediately despatched two of her Union ministers to Lalgarh?no one missed the irony: Central forces were battling Maoists; and Central ministers were camping at Salboni in Lalgarh in protest against the offensive. Later, the Railway minister also launched the Lalgarh Express to express solidarity with the people?s movement, so what if it is a bloody revolution. Ever since the Left Front government admitted in August, two months after the crackdown began, that the Lalgarh operation had failed to clear Maoists from the region, violence has been on the rise in the area. The forces have been unable to wrest control of the 50 sq km area still in Maoist hands.
Increasingly, the situation is getting more uncomfortable for Mamata. In the last week of September, the police arrested tribal leader Chhatradhar Mahato, who had been talking to the media during the early days of the Lalgarh offensive, but went underground soon after. Mahato?s past is tied to Mamata?s party, for he joined the Trinamool Congress when it was formed in 1998. He eventually quit the party, but Mamata was at pains to explain a few months ago that Mahato was never a party member, to which the tribal leader retorted that he may not have held any post in Trinamool but was ?a supporter?. Even though Mamata may have refused to acknowledge him publicly, Mahato has had unstinting support from Mamata?s intellectual friends. He came to the limelight in November 2008 when Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee?s convoy was attacked while passing through Salboni. When the police nabbed a number of tribals, Mahato, whose brother Sasadhar is a prime accused in the convoy attack case, launched People?s Committed against Police Atrocities, and prevented the police from entering Lalgarh.
But over the past few months, Mamata and some of her top leaders have been sending signals that they are trying to distance themselves from the ?politics of bloodshed and violence? en route to her bid for the hot seat at Writer?s Buildings in the 2011 assembly elections. This perhaps explains her initial reluctance on Lalgarh; then again, artist Suvaprasanna?always at the helm of Singur and Nandigram protests?stayed away from the recent rally to protest against Mahato?s arrest.
But these are tokenisms, at best. Even if she were to win the assembly elections two years away, she knows that the Maoist problem cannot be wished away. What?s going to make it worse for her is the inaction of the Left Front government. Ever since the Nandigram uprising following a police firing in 2007 and the political fallout, resulting in the worst result for the Left Front in the May 2009 Lok Sabha elections, the Left Front government has been dragging its feet on any issue that requires firm handling(read force). As a result, the law and order situation in many areas of the state is volatile. It?s not easy for Left cadres either, with the Trinamool Congress now sensing victory ahead and thus moving to create its own turf in the Bengal countryside. Both Left and Trinamool leaders agree that bloodletting must be stopped.
It?s also a known fact that the Maoist violence in Bengal is rooted in the poorest districts of the state, which also happen to be on the fringe of the industrial corridor. So, it?s imperative for any government in power to tackle the Maoists; the Left Front government hasn?t done enough on this count and yet it?s been crying hoarse against Mamata?s Maoist sympathies. For Mamata, what the talks offer is a way out. But for that, the Maoists will have to shun violence?home minister P Chidambaram has said that talks can happen only if they lay down arms?and that?s not the path they have chosen yet.