Polls Under A Maoist Shadow

Give us five years, we will make sure you spend sleepless nights… Our mass base in Murshidabad, Malda, Burdwan and Nadia is ready. After five years, we will launch our strikes.

‘Comrade Dhruba’, Communist Party of India-Maoist

In what is a clear indication of the gravity of the problem of left-wingextremism in West Bengal, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee announced onMarch 31, 2006, that he would begin his electoral campaign from the"so-called Maoist Districts." West Bengal is to witness elections infive phases for the 294 Legislative Assembly seats. Polling will be held onApril 17, 22, 27, May 3 and 8.

The Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) is already active in threeof the state’s districts, Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura, of which the firsttwo border the state of Jharkhand. The Maoists, according to official sources,are also currently targeting the Nadia, Bardhaman and Birbhum Districts in theirefforts to regain foothold in the state that originally sparked off the redrevolution in India.

The 'Naxalites' take their name from the tiny hamlet of Naxalbari in theDarjeeling district where an insurrection commenced in March 1967, to rapidlyspread across the state and wreak havoc for almost six years, till it wasneutralised in 1973, and eventually wiped out under the Emergency of 1975.Thereafter, West Bengal remained largely free of Left Wing extremism, except forthe odd incident of violence and dispersed efforts for subversion.

On January 2, the Chief Minister had particularly identified the Binpur,Bandawan, Ranibandh and Belpahari areas as being affected by the Maoist menace,adding, "(The) Naxalite movement is a major problem in south Bengal (but) wewill succeed in suppressing the Naxalites as we could in the seventies."Responding to the Maoist presence in Purulia, Bankura and West Midnapore, theChief Minister reportedly asked the Indian Institute of Technology - Kharagpurto prepare a comprehensive development plan for the area. However, there alsoappears to be a slight hint of desperation here, as, or instance, in the theCommunist Party of India - Marxist (CPI-M) politburo member Biman Bose’sstatement in Purulia District on January 10, 2006, when he asked his cadres totake up arms in retaliation to Maoist attacks and ensure that raiding rivals donot ‘go back alive’.

In the months preceding the elections West Bengal and particularly thePurulia, Bankura and Midnapore Districts (polling on April 17), have alreadywitnessed significant violence by the Maoists, with the most prominent incidentsincluding:

March 9, 2006: Two CPI-M members were killed by the Maoists in theDangardihi area of Midnapore district. Another person was injured in the attack.

March 5, 2006: Suspected Maoists herded out nine CPI-M activists to afield in the Midnapore District and shot dead the group leader, Kartik Sinha,while releasing the others.

March 4, 2006: One policeman was killed and another injured in aMaoist attack on National Highway 34 at Chakulia in North Dinajpur.

February 26, 2006: Cadres of the CPI-Maoist detonated a landmineblowing up a police vehicle that killed four persons, including two policepersonnel, at Hatidoba in the Midnapore District. Six persons were injured inthe incident.

February 13, 2006: CPI-Maoist cadres loot Rupees 160,000 from theUnited Bank of India's branch at Sarenga in the Bankura district. A police teampursued the Maoists into a forest and following an encounter one Maoist wasarrested along with some arms and ammunition.

December 31, 2005: Approximately 100 Maoists stormed the residence of55-year-old Rabindranath Kar, CPI-M leader from Bhamragarh in the Puruliadistrict, and killed him and his wife after snatching the weapons of hissecurity escorts.

A total of 19 CPI-M activists and 20 security force personnel have beenkilled by the Maoists over the last two years. Unsurprisingly, the Maoists areopposed to the elections and have issued a edict to boycott the polls, with thewarning: ‘If you defy the diktat, you die’. The Maoists have called for apoll boycott in the three affected districts purportedly as a mark of protestagainst ‘lack of development and police highhandedness’. Their posters askthe people to refrain from voting as the "pseudo Marxist government has notdone anything for you except begging for votes... rather they have prepared theblueprint of police brutalities."

The impact is already visible. Since January 1, 2006, eight persons – sixCPI-M and two Jharkhand Party activists – have been killed and the policeapprehend more violence. ‘Somen’, the CPI-Maoist ‘state secretary’,declared on April 5, 2006, "It hardly matters which party gains out of this– CPM or Jharkhand Party. This is part of our campaign strategy and we willenforce this call in our base areas in West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia."Responding to a query on who are the targets, he unambiguously stated: "Thepolitical leaders, who have been hand-in-glove with the administration tounleash repression."

Significantly, electoral campaigning has been on a low key in many villagesin Purulia as a result of the Maoist threat, as candidates for the April 17polls in the District drew up their campaign itinerary carefully avoiding theCPI-Maoist strongholds. Some leaders of the ruling CPI-M in the two other ‘base’districts – Bankura and Midnapore – have reportedly refused Police escort,apprehending that the Maoists could target them more easily if they took Policeassistance.

The fear also extends to the police, and senior police officials in the threeDistricts have received over 250 applications for transfer to ‘safer’ areas,fearing Maoist attacks. There are also reports of Maoists from Andhra Pradeshand Jharkhand infiltrating into West Bengal to disrupt the elections. The roleof cadres from Andhra Pradesh was underlined by Chief Minister BuddhadebBhattacharjee, who has been insisting on de-linking the old and new Maoistmovement in the State, describing the present genre of Maoists as "exportsfrom Andhra and Jharkhand."

According to the state’s Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) RajKanojia, the Police have identified 13 ‘sensitive’ police stations in thethree Districts. Special security arrangements were ordered for Belpahari,Salboni and Bagmundi Police Stations in West Midnapore; Bandwan, Jhalda, Jajpurand Manbazar Police Stations in Purulia; and Salimpur, Sarenga and SimlipalPolice Stations in Bankura. About 90 percent of the booths in the threeMaoist-affected districts were said to be ‘sensitive’. While some 300companies of paramilitary forces were deployed in the whole of West Bengalduring the 2001 Assembly elections, this time around nearly 600 companies ofparamilitary forces would be deployed in 7,479 polling stations across thesethree Districts alone.

Maoists have been making inroads into the tribal hinterland of south Bengalsince the late 1990s. According to the Maoist blueprint, these arid and backwardtracts, covered with hills and forests, are to be targeted vigorously toeventually become ‘liberated zones’, a strategy that the outfit is followingin similar terrain in other Maoist-affected States. To this end, the CPI-Maoisthas consistently sought to highlight the plight of tribals, a majority of whomare below the poverty line and without access to basic amenities. The Census2001 indicated that basic amenities such as safe drinking water, sanitation andelectricity are yet to reach most tribal homes in West Bengal. Scheduled Tribesconstitute 6.37 per cent of the State’s total population and the tribalconcentration in the Southern Districts is the largest in Purulia — 18.98 percent, followed by Bankura, 10.43 per cent, and Midnapore, 8.4 per cent.Similarly, electricity has reached only 19.03 per cent of tribal homes asagainst 37.45 per cent of the total State population. In all three districts,93-96 per cent of tribal families are dependent on kerosene for light. Thesedistricts are relatively backward with 4.47 per cent of the people in Puruliastill fetching drinking water from rivers and canals. Many villages in theforests are still inaccessible, with health centres located far off.

That these districts are crucial for the Maoists is also visible in the factthat they are using the corridor of Bandwan, Ranibandh in Bankura district andBelpahari in the Midnapore district to facilitate operations between Jharkhandand West Bengal. Further, Nepalese Maoists use the Bihar-Nepal border to enterWest Bengal to secure a safe haven. The Maoists have also augmented theirweaponry to further their goal of reclaiming their lost stronghold in the State.A 2006-study carried out by A.K. Maliwal, Chief Security Officer to the ChiefMinister, indicates that the Maoists, who earlier used lower-end commandwire-based explosive devices, are of late using sophisticated bombs, includingvehicle-borne and remote-controlled improvised explosive devices, tosubstantially increase their impact. The study also notes a shift from home-madeto factory-produced explosives and the use of target-activated bombs, as well asa resort to triggering parallel and simultaneous explosions. Meanwhile, theSubsidiary Intelligence Bureau has cautioned the government about changes in theMaoists’ modus operandi, with a shift from conventional ambushes andlandmines, and an increasing potential of tactics such as hijacking, which couldprove more useful at a time of heightened security. The report also noted thatthe Maoists may also attempt to blow up radio and telephone towers.

West Bengal has been ruled by the mainstream Left Front since 1977, and hasbeen largely successful in combating Left Wing extremism through a judiciousmixture of political and security measures. But with the dangerous expansion ofMaoist influence and activities in the neighbouring states, the future for WestBengal is becoming increasingly uncertain as well.

Nihar Nayak is Research Associate, Institute for Conflict Management.Courtesy, the South Asia Intelligence Review of the South Asia TerrorismPortal