New Delhi, Feb. 16: The Trinamul Congress for now seems "safe" from the Maoist threat in West Bengal. CPI (Maoist) functionaries, speaking to this newspaper, made it clear that the outfit "will not attack or target the Trinamul Congress".
On Tuesday, Trinamul leader Mamata Banerjee appeared to go soft on the Maoists and wanted the Centre to probe the twin attacks in West Midnapore in which at least 21 Eastern Frontier Rifles jawans were killed. The attack was reportedly carried out by the Maoists. Sources revealed that Ms Banerjee’s move to go soft on the Maoists is part of her electoral strategy: with Assembly elections in West Bengal only a year away, Ms Banerjee is trying to consolidate her rural vote bank, which includes Maoist sympathisers.
If Ms Banerjee, who is also Union railway minister, avoided naming the Maoists, the home minister on Tuesday spoke to West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and "condemned" the attack. "The attack is another outrageous attempt by the banned organisation to overawe the established authority," he said.
The CPI (Maoist), on the other hand, accused the CPI(M) of kidnapping a Trinamul local leader, Jogeshwar Mahato, from his residence at Gada Piyayasal, West Midnapore, last Friday. The outfit announced: "We have decided that there will be no action or punishment of any kind against Trinamul functionaries."
A few days ago, CPI (Maoist) politburo member Koteshwar Rao, alias Kishenji, had extended support to the Trinamul and welcomed its leader Mamata Banerjee’s move to demand the withdrawal of security forces from West Midnapore.
While attacking the state government for "negligence and intelligence failure" over Monday’s Maoist attack, Ms Banerjee merely described the attacks as "shocking" and demanded that the matter be "investigated by the Centre".
The CPI (Maoist) move to support Ms Banerjee was criticised by the CPI(M) in its recent rally at Kolkata’s Brigade Parade Ground. Even Mr P. Chidambaram indicated that in a "democracy no political outfit should be supporting the Maoists".
However, on Tuesday, speaking to this newspaper, Ms Banerjee said the "Centre must investigate political killings going on every day in Bengal". She said, "The state government has to take responsibility as it is directing the joint operations by the Centre and the state against the Maoists in Bengal."
Ms Banerjee went on targeting the state and the Centre for the joint operation against the Maoists at Lalgarh in West Bengal. She complained that "we were not informed and the discussion took place between the home ministry and the state government". She described the joint operation as an "exercise being carried out by the state with the Centre providing support".
Sanjay Basak and Parul Chandra