The death of eight villagers, including two women, in the hands of armed CPI(M) cadre in Maoist-infested Lalgarh in West Bengal will be seen by many in the state as one more nail in the coffin of the Left Front rule, a process that began with the death of 14 villagers in police firing in 2007 in Nandigram. Immediately after the carnage, Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee rushed to the area to express sorrow and display solidarity with the bereaved. The state is firmly in the grip of “body politics” whereby after every act of violence leaders rush to the affected areas to claim ownership of the unfortunate dead to further their own cause. The essential dynamic of the state’s politics in the countryside is not one of power changing hands simply by changing popularities getting reflected in the votes cast. Changing popularities are both manifested and transfer of power effected by periodically one armed group driving out another armed group from a particular area, under different political banners. That is why the ouster of the Left in the state assembly elections signalled in May will not end this kind of violence.
To understand why and how the Trinamool Congress is seeking to oust the armed and entrenched Left, it is necessary to gauge the role of Maoists in the whole process. Days before the CPI(M)-inflicted atrocity, the media was agog with reports of a missive from the CPI(Maoist), that it considered the Trinamool Congress an ally if it would follow pro-poor policies and help end the CPI(M)’s misrule. The overriding irony is that the Congress and the Trinamool Congress are firm pillars of UPA rule in Delhi and are headed for a joint front against the Leftist in the coming West Bengal elections, but the UPA government is fighting Maoist insurgency in central India even as its flag-bearer, the Congress, is having to live with the Trinamool Congress and the Maoists making common cause against the CPI(M) in West Bengal. What is more, there is ample evidence on the ground that the armed CPI(M) cadre, against whom Union Home Minister P Chidambaram wrote a letter to the West Bengal chief minister towards the yearend, is offering invaluable support to the central forces which are slowly recapturing territorial control in three West Bengal districts extensively overrun by Maoists. If the Trinamool Congress comes to power with the help of the Maoists, they will be unlikely to disband themselves. With West Bengal seemingly condemned to extended violence, governance is an inevitable casualty. Mr Chidambaram’s letter, sent by Speed Post, took five days to travel from North Block to Writers Building, leading to disciplinary action against a few postal staff, which, in turn, led to a half-day’s cease-work at the Kolkata GPO!