The participation of Junglemahals Maoists in the West Bengal election process,the highlight of a peace process now gone into a stalemate,had been approved by the CPI (Maoist) central committee that wanted a change ushered in,the minutes of a committee meeting reveal. At the same time,the central committee had directed that the freedom struggle should continue after the polls. What followed the approval was that the Maoists,working on these directives,were able to get joint security operations stalled for four months,having created the impression of preparing to participate in imminent peace talks. And they used this time to rebuild their base,which had been broken by security forces operations and the CPMs armed cadres. The May 2011 elections were the first in many years for which the Maoists did not give a boycott call in Junglemahal. It also marked the first time that the CPI (Maoist),through its front Peoples Committee Against Police Atrocities,went to villagers and ask them to vote in favour of a change in Bengal,meaning usher in the Trinamool Congress. The state committee secretary,who uses the name Akash,too had issued a statement urging villagers to vote for a change. A comparison of turnouts shows how much difference all this made. Following a boycott call in 2009,for instance,the turnout was sparse throughout the belt,even nil in many areas. In 2011,it crossed 85-90 per cent in many segments. Documents from the meeting show that it was held in Saranda forest in Jharkhand in February 2011. One document,issued to core members of the CPI (Maoist)s Eastern Regional Bureau that covers West Bengal,Jharkhand,Bihar and Orissa,shows that the decision not to boycott the polls and to support the Trinamool had been taken by the bureau before it was approved by the central committee. Regarding Assembly elections in Bengal,the central committee has approved the decision of the Eastern Regional Bureau, the document reads. However,after the elections,the freedom struggle has to continue and other party agendas should be taken forward. The party should raise its voice. It directed that under no circumstances should a wrong signal reach the party cadres and the people about the CPI-Maoists shifting from the path of struggle. It is now clear that the Maoists have been working as per these directives. With security operations stalled,they have once again set up what they call village defence squads,early warning systems and armed squads,the district police say. In contrast,the police say,the network of state and central forces has almost disappeared as they had depended largely on CPM cadres and party intelligence. Our forces did not enter any village in Junglemahal for more than three months,with raids and operations having been restricted by the state government, a police officer said. The information network of the police,which is mainly based on the villagers,has been lost and needs to be revived. No intelligence-based operation was performed during this period. Moreover,after the new government came to power,it has reshuffled the entire state police force in the area,including the officers-in-charge of the police stations. Operations resumed a month ago but so far these have been basically chance operations and area-domination exercises. Very few intelligence-based operations have been performed and we have not been successful in these. Since operations began,security forces have missed three or four top Maoist leaders including Madan Mahato,area commander of Belpahari,and Jayanta alias Sahebram alias Nityananda Mahato,area commander of Jhargram. Both of them are said to have been carrying AK-47 s. For the inability tocatch them,the officer blamed the lack of an information network. From the meetingSafaya Abhiyan The CPI(M) central committee observed that this such killings create a negative impression and called for campaigns highlighting the reasons. It criticised the Eastern Regional Bureau for too many killings without publicising the reasons. From now,no one except police informers should be killed. If there is an exception,the reason for the killing should be given and publicised, a document from the CPI (Maoist) meeting reads. Land movements The central committee directed the state committee to take part in all land-related mass movements. Considering the peoples resistance over land in Bengal. the Eastern Regional Bureau should focus on all land movements,small and big,and make policies on peoples resistance, the document says. Civil society The central committee directed the Eastern Regional Bureau to induct intellectuals and civil society members,as well as members of student organisations. (For) their clout,ability,qualifications. intellectual friends,rights groups and student organisations have to be inducted into the party. Mass organisation leader friends will be provided positions in the party, the document reads.
