On Thursday night, the Maoists threw down the gauntlet more firmly than ever before. They released a West Bengal policeman at a time and place of their choosing. They did it with the media brazenly trekked in, in well-planned attendance. And Atindranath Dutta was released from captivity on Indian soil, with the legend “P.O.W.” hung around his neck. With this the CPI(Maoist) made its most graphic assertion so far of what is at stake, and of the position of strength its cadres operate from. Prisoners of war are usually held on enemy territory, and with the choreography of Dutta’s release, the Maoists showed how well-entrenched they are territorially. This, India’s second “Rubaiya Sayeed” moment, does not just have the potential to swing the morale away from the state apparatus. It is as glaring an indictment as can

be had of the state machinery in West Bengal.

Denials of prisoner swaps are usually put forth by official agencies. But the absurdity of this week’s developments was capped Thursday night by Kishenji, a Maoist leader currently coordinating their media interactions. There was no deal, he said, referring to the 22 prisoners, held during anti-Naxal operations, released by the state police simultaneously. In contrast, West Bengal DGP Bhupinder Singh evaded queries about negotiation with the Maoists, saying the state government could answer them. The Left Front government has been in visible free-fall since June, when it began anti-Maoist operations in West Midnapore district, and it is now clear that not only is it not meeting its constitutional obligations; it is not even politically capable of trying. It is, in effect, a fit case for the application of Article 356, and the imposition of Central rule.

... contd.