Reacting to reports that the police were looking into close “links” of a section of the “intellectuals” with the arrested leader of the Maoist-backed Peoples’ Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA), Chhatradhar Mahato, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee warned on Monday that West Bengal would burn if this continued.

“I am shocked and saddened by what is happening. The government is hatching a conspiracy against intellectuals, who are assets of Bengal and also of the nation. Bengal will burn if they are touched,” said Mamata while speaking to The Indian Express in Siliguri.

Recently, names of intellectuals, including Saonli Mitra and Mahasweta Devi, members of the Lalgarh Sanhati Manch, had come up in the context of having “links” with Mahato and the PCAPA in Lalgarh.

“They are playing with fire,” the Union Railway Minister said, warning against such a move. “People will answer them. We are also ready to give them a reply if Bengal’s intellectuals are touched. Nobody will be able to control the fire.” Drawing a line between the Maoist movement and the tribal agitation, she said those were two entirely different things. “The Lalgarh movement is a tribal agitation; it is entirely different from the Maoists. Those who are supporting the tribal agitation are right. We also supported the tribal agitation as atrocities were committed against them in Lalgarh,” Mamata told a Bengali news channel.

She also asked what was wrong in having links with the PCAPA. “Did the government ban the People’s Committee? No,” she said.

... contd.