Ignoring Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress boss Mamata Banerjee’s strong objections, the Union home ministry will continue its anti-Maoist operations in Lalgarh and even expand these to other parts of West Bengal.
Terming the Lalgarh operations, where central paramilitary forces and the state police are jointly acting against the Maoists as “by and large successful”, Union home secretary Gopal K Pillai today announced, “the Lalgarh operations will continue as long as it is required. In some other parts of Bengal, similar operations will also take place.”
A S Gill, Director-General of the Central Reserve Police Force later said the forces are in the process of identifying the places where anti-Maoist operations are required. Giving importance to the Lalgarh operations, he also said, "Lalgarh is a laboratory of what type of operation we want to launch against the Maoists in other parts of the country."
The Trinamool Congress had been up in arms against the UPA government’s decision to send para-military forces to Lalgarh and help the Left Front government in the state to combat Maoists.
Banerjee has several times raised the demand of withdrawal of Central forces from Lalgarh. Home minister P Chidambaram had given her a patient hearing on a number of occasions but now it is clear that political pressure of the partner party will not deter him from helping a state government, even if it is run by a rival political party.
The CPI(M) leadership feels the decision to continue anti-Maoist operations is in the right direction. “We have been always saying that the fight against the Maoists has to be a protracted one. In the Lalgarh area, the Left forces were not strong earlier. So, the Maoists took advantage and indulged in targeted elimination of our comrades. They are also trying to establish their presence in other parts of the jungle-mahal area of the state,” Nilotpal Basu, a prominent member of the CPI(M)’s Central Committee told Business Standard.
But, as his party’s line goes, Basu also emphasised the need for a political battle against the Maoists. Pillai, however, said that while the state government was initially relying on this political war policy, eventually it had to fall in line and start an operation against the Maoists.
While Gill refused to give any operational details about the expanded operations in the future, he hinted that the joint operations may take place in Bankura, Purulia and some other areas.
“We will clear the places wherever Maoists are present,” Gill said. But the Union government also made it clear that no additional central forces will be sent to the state.
The CRPF chief said security forces are better equipped than the Maoists but also admitted that the IED (Improvised Explosive Devices) are “major weapons” with the Maoists.
Pillai also urged political parties to start their activities to fill the vacuum. “For the past few months, the entire political space was occupied by the Maoists. They didn’t allow anyone else to enter that area. Now that the situation has improved, all political parties should come forward,” he said.
