A day after a team of intellectuals visited Lalgarh to talk to the villagers and PCPA leader Chhatradhar Mahato, author Mahasweta Devi declared if the state government arrests Mahato, she along with other intellectuals will launch a dharna outside the Writers’ Buildings or in front of the chief minister’s office.

The writer along with other intellectuals like Suvaprasanna, Bibhas Chakrabarty, Pallab Kirtaniya and Debabrata Bandopadhyay condemned the actions of the government in Lalgarh.

“When the state government declared a war in Salboni and Lalgarh, they completely overruled the rule of law there. They are scared that if they are unable to set up a SEZ, then the Jindals might become disinterested,” she said at a press conference on Monday.

She further said the state government in power for the last 32 years had failed to do anything for the people of the region, with most of them living without a BPL card. “For years they have been forgotten by the state government, but now when their women and children are being killed and they are protesting against it, the government feels it is wrong,” she said.

Asked why the Left government has not yet taken a stand on the Maoist issue despite the Centre declaring them a banned outfit, she said, “The state government has hardly taken any stand on anything and they are least expected to do so now.”

Having spoken to Mahato about the conditions of villagers, she said the tubewells had run dry and the wells, the only source of water in the area, were being contaminated by the police forces who were throwing rubbish and defecating in them.

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