So Was It The Maoists?

So far the only thing that is clear about today's Kolkata-Kurla Gyaneshwari Express train tragedy is that nothing is very clear. Like Kurosawa’s Rashomon, everyone has a different version of what really happened.

The question is: Why is everyone saying what they are saying?

Let’s start with the People's Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA), which, as was being reported by the media till late Friday evening, allegedly accepted responsibility for the attack.

However, speaking to Outlook amidst all these reports an angry Ashit Mahato, the PCAPA spokesperson, said, “It’s being reported falsely that we are behind the attack. We have nothing to do with it.”

Going to the extent of saying, “The incident is a terrible tragedy,” he stated categorically that the PCAPA “condemns it.”

Mahato told Outlook that he was convinced that the PCAPA was being framed by the CPI(M), alleging that it was the CPI(M) which planted the two posters that were allegedly found there. “Anyone can get hold of some red and black ink and scribble a few lines, signing it off as PCAPA,” he said.

When I asked him whether PCAPA was involved in the earlier train attack when the Bhubaneshwar-Delhi Rajdhani Express was hijacked and stoned by hundreds of villagers at Jhargram, he admitted, “Yes, it was us who stopped that train.”

And there indeed is a history of Maoists targeting trains in the region.

So then why is he denying this one?

Possibilities:

Maybe they really weren’t involved. Or
Maybe they are now afraid of a severe police crackdown in the area. Or
Perhaps the PCAPA meant only to draw attention to its demands by derailing a few bogeys?

No one died in the Rajdhani attack. Perhaps no one was supposed to die in this one either. Perhaps they did not take into account the goods train that would approach from the other end crashing into the derailed bogeys? It is also possible that the PCAPA did place those posters but did not intend the derailment to assume the proportions of an enormous tragedy.

On the other hand, if, as he alleges, the CPI(M) were framing them, what would the CPI(M) gain from this incident? Well, right before the municipal elections, it would embarrass the rail minister who has been insisting that there is no Maoist problem in the region. It could also “plant” an excuse for an all-out crackdown in the region.

But then there are flaws in this theory, some argue, because the finger would point right back at the CPI(M), which leads the state government supposed to be in-charge of law and order. However, as of now, they would want nothing more than embarrassing the rail minister at any cost.

To be sure, the union railway minister and the state Chief Minister promptly blamed each other for neglecting to carry out their respective duties.

But what of the whole debate about whether it was a blast – as Mamata Banerjee insisted it was – or sabotage – as the home minister P. Chidambaram suggested it was?

Incidentally, it is far from established that there indeed was an explosion. As some argue: What if it was an accident plain and simple? Would it not be in the railway minister's interest to try and fob it off as an act of sabotage or conspiracy to discredit her?

Even otherwise, the rail minister might argue the ‘blast’ theory to highlight a breakdown of law and order in West Bengal and downplay any sabotage because that would imply lapses in Railway security. A blast is immediate. A sabotage requires a person to be physically present at the sight to remove fishplates or other portions of the railway tracks and entails time. So what was the Railways doing while all this was happening? Sleeping?

Especially since the Railways was on “red alert” in the area after the Maoists had declared a “black week.” Precautions had been taken. Trains which normally move at a speed of 110 km per hour were moving at 50 km an hour. A pilot engine and four passenger trains had passed before the unfortunate Gyaneshwari Express, each at an interval of 15 to 20 minutes. Was it possible to carry out a sabotage in that short span a time under the watchful eye of the Railway security? Or was the eye of the Railway security not that watchful after all?

The other plausible theory is that it was indeed, as suggested, a “well calculated” Maoists attack in spite of the anti-civilian nature of it. “Well-calculated” because the perpetrators not only managed to remove portions of the track in a span of about 20 minutes between trains but also time it in such away that it coincided with the arrival of the goods train causing maximum damage. And, if this indeed was the case, it would seem that the Maoists are now clearly moving out of their core jungle areas and encroaching into public domain.

What, you might argue, is the immediate provocation? The answer would be Operation Green Hunt. And the trains, passing as they do through their so-called ‘liberated zones’ are soft targets because of their accessibility. And indeed they are perfect representations of mainstream life, moving microcosms of it.