Lalgarh’s violent anti-CPM coalition

When Chhatradhar and the Maoists put up a massive show of strength in Lalgarh today,Trinamool Congress Block president Banobihari Roy was present all through the proceedings that lasted nearly four hours and ended with the Lalgarh CPM party office being set on fire.

The rally displayed the fast growing ranks of the PABJC and the Maoists.

“There will be no let-up in the assault on those who tortured and exploited the people with the collusion of the police for all these years,” said Mahato.

Like Banobihari,Kali Maity,the district president of the Congress,could not make it to the rally today but had to send his relatives. “That was the diktat from the organizers,” Maity told The Indian Express,“either be present or send someone to represent one’s family and show solidarity with the PABJC.”

So were the Congress and Trinamool supporting the Maoists and their violent campaign? Both Maity and Ray evade a direct answer but,when pressed,there’s no mistaking the political message. Said Roy: “It’s the Communists versus all others now.” And Maity said: “This is a price the Communists are paying for suppressing the people.”

With no one other than the CPM providing political opposition,the field is wide open in Lalgarh. It wasn’t a surprise,therefore,that today the belligerent crowd responded to Mahato’s call for “revenge,” marched to the Lalgarh CPM office this evening and set it on fire.

Scores of angry villagers climbed up to the second floor of the newly built party office and began demolishing it with iron rods. Another group collected furniture,tarpaulin sheets,sacks of rice and party documents and threw them into a blazing bonfire right in front of the party office.

Few tears were shed for Soren’s body.

Said Rohini Mahato,who stays in a ramshackle hut just across the road where Soren’s body is: “It’s like living with a dead man by your side. Nobody is removing the corpse which now smells. It’s been on display with blood stains on the cloth covering it. Even his family can’t do anything. And look at the police,they are not sending the body for post mortem,let alone initiate an investigation.”

Puspa Sahish,a tribal woman staying next door to Mahato,joins him: “No one even dares to take a close look at the demolished Dharampur CPM party office out of fear. Local villagers normally pass through the area in groups instead of travelling alone.”

She said she,too,had stopped leaving her home for her daily wage. “There is no food at home now,” she said.

If Puspa and Rohini are fearful at the unprecedented scale of violence,there is a reason.

The Lalgarh police,when contacted,said that the PABJC had banned the entry of policemen and that’s why they can’t pick up the body. The area is also said to be heavily mined and police and paramilitary forces are seen as the prime target of attack.

District SP Manoj Verma,when asked about the body,said: “I will not comment anything on Lalgarh. Ask people at Writers’ Buildings.”