Jangalmahal, the war-zone of the Maoists and the Marxist party, will go to polls on May 10, raising a big question. Will it be the same Red bastion (the Left Front had won 12 out of the 14 seats in 2006) or the winds of change will sweep through this epicentre of violence? Although the ruling Front is optimistic in public of retaining all the seats despite the Maoists’ diktat of not to cast votes for the CPI(M) but in private, the Marxist mandarins appear to be wary of the Opposition (Trinamul Congress) as it is also leaving no stone unturned to play spoilsport to the cakewalk victory of the Left.
That the ruling party has become a bit harried was evident when chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee (on Friday) appealed to the people to cast their votes fearlessly ignoring all the threats of the extremists. Betraying the chief minister’s concern, his appeal stood in sharp contrast to his earlier assertion that the Maoists had now become a non-entity in Jangalmahal. He apparently feared that the Maoists’ call for a vote boycott coupled with Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee’s extensive campaigning in the area may spell trouble for the Left Front.
He, therefore, renewed his charge of Maoists-Mamata nexus and said: “We must defeat the Trinamul Congress in order to uproot the Maoists.”
Significantly, the chief minister is not alone in pointing finger at the Opposition camp for turning Jangalmahal into a trouble spot. In fact, conspiracy theories abound here and there are multiple versions of every incident. While the ruling Left Front claims that the Trinamul Congress has joined hands with the Maoists to dislodge them from power, the Trinamul Congress claims that the harmads (armed cadres) of the Marxist party are terrorising the locals. The Maoists certainly are not lagging behind in this blamegame too as they appear in the avatar of “good doers” for the adivasis, and has slammed both the political parties for their failure to work for the local tribals who live in dire poverty.
Hence, development had become the focal point during the poll campaigning. While the Trinamul Congress chief had been vociferous in deriding the ruling Left Front government for its apathy, the chief minister took pains to explain how his government had taken care of the tribals by implementing land (patta) distribution, extending aranyer adhikar (right of the forest) et all.
Apart from development, Ms Banerjee has got another weapon up in her sleeves: Netai firing. While Ms Banerjee prepared a detailed report on the firing to put the CPI(M) in the dock at the national level, the district leaders were asked to launch a political offensive on the party in West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura.