CPM gets a foothold,hoists flag in Dharampur

Dharampur was a CPM stronghold in Junglemahal till the Maoist raids began in 2008. The area became a Red citadel — with the party leaders and supporters ousted and the party office shut down.

On Thursday,Annuj Pandey,secretary of the CPM zonal committee,reopened the party office. The recapture of Maoist areas comes in the middle of allegations that CPM is using security forces to back up their recapturing drives. On Thursday too,there were allegations of the security forces helping the CPM cadres who went in a procession to reopen the party office. Recovering Dharampur is important from another aspect,say police sources. It gives an access to Lalgarh,which had also been out-of-bounds for the CPM for over a year now.

The Lalgarh CPM party office was burnt down when Maoists were ruling the area about a year ago. Annuj Pandey and his men are planning to reopen the Lalgarh party office within a day or two,say CPM local leaders.

On June 14,2009,a Maoist squad led by Bikash rampaged the house of Pandey and the CPM party office in Dharampur. A large part of Pandey’s palatial residence was demolished. Pandey and his brother Dalim were forced to take shelter in Midnapore. But even from a distance,Pandey managed to mobilise armed CPM cadres to recapture the area. For the last month,he had been shuttling between Midnapore and Dharampur to motivate cadres,said party sources. On Wednesday,around 9 am,Pandey and his brother Dalim reached Harina village near Lalgarh and took shelter in the house of their uncle,Amol Pandey.

On Thursday,they led a CPM rally from Harina to Dharampur via Gohamidanga,another fort of the Maoists. The rally reached the CPM party office at Dharampur at 11.30 am. There,Pandey reopened the party office and hoisting a flag outside,said: “Maoists have killed 47 CPM workers and leaders in Lalgarh and Dharampur area. The villagers who were forced to join the PCAPA can join the mainstream political party again. We welcome them.”

In a press statement,senior Maoist leader Shekhar of the Lalgarh-Dharampur squad,said: “There was a time when we uprooted Annuj Pandey and his armed cadres from the area. The people of Lalgarh refused to accept them as they wanted relief from the endless torture of the CPM. Now,with the help of the joint security forces and armed cadres,Annuj Pandey reopened the party office. But it cannot demotivate us. We will continue our movement and activities in the area.”