All the Mamata men & women tweak their pro-Maoist tune

Their new refrain: yes,we backed the PCAPA and Chhatradhar Mahato but if they take to arms — as they have announced — we won’t support them.

Take the case of Aparna Sen. She had once rushed to Lalgarh and met Mahato — who is now in jail — and PCAPA’s members. Today,she said: “I’m shooting and as far as recent developments are concerned,I have no clue at all…I am far removed from all this.”

Painter Suvaprasanna,theatre artists Bibhash Chakrabarty and Kaushik Sen and poet Joy Goswami did a U-turn.

“If the PCAPA takes up All the Mamata men & women tweak their pro-Maoist tune arms,we will not defend it…But this doesn’t mean that we do not support the movement as we strongly back tribal causes,” said Suvaprasanna.

Author Mahasweta Devi struck a different note. “If the PCAPA has decided to take up arms,it cannot be called an armed struggle as they use bows and arrows,which can kill only one person at a time. They do not use bombs and guns and when they do,we will consider our stand.”

Echoing the intellectuals is the TMC and its leaders,including its Union Ministers.

“In the last Panchayat elections,Chhatradhar Mahato was in charge of three booths in Lalgarh on behalf of Trinamool including Katapahari and Ramgarh. Later,he became a leader of PCAPA,which was a mass organization and we supported it. However,we are not with him now,” said Gora Pradhan,district chief of the Trinamool in Jhargram.

On February 4,2009,Banerjee — ignoring the administration’s requests — left her police escort and met Mahato.

She held a joint rally in Katapahari — Mahato’s home and a Maoist base.

On July 28 — as joint operations began — Banerjee sent her two Union Ministers,Mukul Roy (MoS,Shipping) and Sisir Adhikary (MoS,Rural Development),to Lalgarh along with Partho Chatterjee,Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.

All three went with relief material.

Said Roy: “It is true we visited Lalgarh and held a meeting with Chhatradhar Mahato. We supported the tribal movement. However,we told them we do not believe in the politics of violence. We have no ties with his Committee any more. “

Adhikary’s explanation is similar: “The CPM has links with Maoists,not us. Atrocities have been committed on the tribal communities and therefore we visited Lalgarh to help them. But we are not with Chhatradhar Mahato or with the Maoists,nor do we support violence.”

Partho Chatterjee,leader of the Opposition in the Assembly said,“Not only Mamata Banerjee,I too went to Lalgarh and it’s a fact that we shared the dais with Chhatradhar Mahato. But we have told him that if he takes up arms,the Trinamool Congress cannot continue its support to him.”

The PCAPA is confused.

Said its spokesperson Asit Mahato: “Mamata Banerjee was definitely with us. She needed us. Now she’s talking against us because we are not working for her political gain.”