‘We Are For Non-Violence’

From his jungle hideout, Mahato hits out at the state and central government. “We never demanded anything other than an apology for the stripping and raping of our women in the name of searching for Maoists after the Salboni blast,” he says. “Development is a word that had not cropped up in our original list of demands. We chased out the police and administration for this crime against our women. They branded us Maoists and implicated us in the murders and violence taking place in this area. Now they want my blood. But I will tell you that if I am arrested, not just Lalgarh, but the state of West Bengal and the entire country will bleed. Mark my words.”

With police and paramilitary on the lookout for him, Mahato likes the world to know that his movement is non-violent and that it is not linked to the Maoists. “We have always been non-violent. It has been a people’s democratic movement from the word go. But our limits are being pushed,” he says. “I was forced to break the so-called Section 144 imposed in the area and hold a rally...because it is the state that is crushing our right to speak.”

Pointing out that the CPI(M) held a rally in the area recently, Mahato asks, “Were they not in violation of Section 144?” He’s disdainful of the government’s threat to arrest him. “Let’s see them try to do that,” he says, throwing a challenge to the government of India and the government of West Bengal.