The old red versus new red battle that bloodied the streets of Calcutta in the early 1970s is being replayed in the deep interior of Bastar today. The Narayanpur subdivision of Bastar is the heart of the Naxalite belt that extends to Andhra Pradesh in the south, Orissa in the east and Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra to the west. The Narayanpur assembly seat, of which Pakhanjur is a part, is also one of the CPI(M)’s few pockets of influence in north India. The CPI(M) candidate, Sanjay Parate, is contesting the seat for the third time and though he is pitted against the sitting Congress MLA and a strong BJP contender, the party considers the Naxalites its real opponent. Owing allegiance to the People’s War, the Naxalites have been present in Bastar for long but their threat has assumed the form of an ‘‘insurgency’’ in recent times, says Bastar’s new collector, Shailesh Pathak. So great is the threat that for the first time in ‘‘mainland’’ India, IAF helicopters are being requisitioned by the district administration to transport election personnel to polling stations in the interior villages, Pathak said. Over 30 helipads have been constructed in the Aboojh Maad and Indravati national park areas of Narayanpur, one of the largest assembly seats in Chhattisgarh. This is not the first time that Naxalites have given a poll boycott call. But, according to Pathak, their threat is a lot more potent today because following the crackdown on People’s War in Andhra Pradesh, they have entered ‘‘in droves’’ into Bastar. As in Andhra Pradesh, landmines are the main form of attack by the Naxalites. Several CRPF personnel have been wounded and killed in landmine blasts in Bastar in recent months. But even as the administration makes much of the ‘‘insurgency’’, the CPI(M) maintains that just as in West Bengal in the 1970s, the Congress party and the Naxalites are hand in glove in Bastar. At the CPI(M) election office in Pakhanjur, party workers give instances of how the Naxalites have targeted CPI(M) cadres. The homes of Lokesh Sori and Sukharanjan Usendi were attacked and looted recently, Nagendra Ray was murdered seven months ago and party offices in the interior villages have been burnt down. On the pretext of tackling Naxalite terror, the administration too has been targeting the CPI(M) and preventing it from holding meetings, says local leader Doloy Biswas. ‘‘There is a clear understanding between the Naxalites and the Congress this time. The Naxals or Conshals as we call them may have given a boycott call but they are conducting a whisper campaign in favour of the Congress and in return receiving material support from them,’’ adds M.K. Nandy, another CPI(M) state leader. The CPI(M) is fighting six seats in Chhattisgarh but is a real factor only in Narayanpur. Apart from adivasis, the other main community here is the erstwhile East Bengal refugees, who settled down here in the 1950s. Of the 1.4 lakh voters, nearly 70,000 are Bengalis, concentrated in the Pakhanjur area. They are mainly small farmers and agricultural workers, and over 90 per cent belong to the Namashudhra caste. One of the CPI(M)’s principal poll planks is the demand for a scheduled caste status for the Namashudhras. Sanjay Parate who has been working among the adivasis and Bengalis here for the past 15 years was the SFI state president of Madhya Pradesh before shifting his base to Narayanpur. Cadres from West Bengal have arrived here to assist in the election campaign. Enthusiastic party workers said this time Parate could win the seat. That might be a hope too far, but one thing is certain—no matter who wins Narayanpur, the red presence is here to stay.
