The armed clashes between the security forces and Maoists have witnessed a decline in West Bengal with the newly-formed Mamata Banerjee government coming to power. While senior officials in the security establishment feel there has been an ostensible “slow down’’ of the security forces’ offensive against Maoists in the state under Ms Banerjee, an official overlooking the anti-Naxal operations attributed it to the changed tactics of the rebels, who are refraining from attacking the Central and state police forces.
A senior official of the CRPF confessed that the intelligence inputs provided by the state police have come down after the government changed hands.
The home ministry is adopting a wait-and-watch policy to see how effectively the new government is able to adopt the Centre’s two-pronged approach of ‘’police action’’ and ‘’development’’ to counter the Maoist menace. “It could well be a lull before a storm. We have to be vigilant and observe the situation unfolding in the next few months,” a senior government functionary said.
While Maoists have stepped up violence in states like Bihar and Jharkhand claiming lives of 17 security personnel in the last few weeks, CRPF sources said that the ground situation in West Bengal has improved and the Central forces are able to carry out routine area domination exercises and meet villagers in the Naxal infested zones. “Earlier there used to be a looming danger of being ambushed. Now we are trying to engage with the villagers and build trust,” an official said. The official maintained that there is no ‘’formal’’ word from the newly-elected state government on the anti-Naxal operations. For the security forces, the clearing up of the Jangalmahal area once dominated by Maoists has also brought cheer. “While a part of it was cleared by our security forces, the rest had been cleared with the help of the CPI(M) supporters,” an official confessed.
The former CPI(M)-led Left Front government had witnessed a spate of Naxal violence in the last few years even as the Major Left party accused the Trinamul Congress of aligning with the Maoists. On the other hand, the Trinamul led by Ms Banerjee had charged the ousted Marxist leadership of ‘’unleashing atrocities on people under the garb of anti-Naxal operations.”