Naxals may undermine Mamatas grand plans of a tribal Junglemahal armed force

Officials fear many applying are PCAPA,CPI (Maoist) activists

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On paper,it is an interesting plan: recruitment for a special armed force of 10,000 tribal youths in Junglemahal. However,in private,officials fear Maoists may be using the force to their advantage and filling the ranks with own activists.

We have been receiving information that several PCAPA (Peoples Committee Against Police Atrocities) personnel and Maoists have applied for the special police constable force and are sure that they will work as moles of the Maoists. It is difficult to identify and weed out such elements, admitted a government official working in the region.

What gives credence to these fears is that the Maoists have maintained a curious silence over the recruitment drive,which has so far drawn a tremendous response with 8,000 applications being received for the NVF (National Voluntary Force) and home guard posts.

The Maoists are back in control over large parts of the Junglemahal area,and recently made a ceasefire offer.

The villagers want peace,that is why they are applying for these posts, said Sukumar Hansda,Minister for Western Region Development. However,he admitted,There is a chance that the Maoists will force them to work for them; we cannot rule out the possibility. He also acknowledged that there was a possibility of infiltration by moles.

The bureaucracy has been divided over the special force ever since Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced the same at a Junglemahal rally in June,shortly after she assumed office. Civil rights activists and mass organisations,on the other hand,have drawn a parallel with Salwa Judum in Chhattisgarh.

Mamatas stated objectives are to lure youths away from Naxalism by providing them an alternative,have a backup against Maoists,as well as fulfill a political objective of generating jobs in the region. At her rally in Junglemahal in June,Mamata had exhorted: If you want to take up arms,take up arms for the government. Dont take up private arms.

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Said Sujato Bhadra,leader of a government-appointed team of interlocutors: We do not know where this step will lead. The government has told us to continue with the peace talks and they are answerable for this. And the Maoists,who have signed on an offer for truce talks,too have to take their own decisions.

Return of the Maoists

A document from a central committee meeting of Maoists in Saranda forest in Jharkhand in February shows that the Maoists have decided to set up four guerrilla bases in Junglemahal in the next two years. The transfers of several officials after the Mamata government took over disturbed their plans to some extent as Maoists had contacts within the administration at the grassroots. Since then,sources close to CPI (Maoists) say,they have been able to regroup at least 17 squads in West Midnapore district alone in the past two months. They are also said to have stored arms ahead of the recent one-month,conditional ceasefire announcement. The Maoists are trying to re-establish their network,warned a West Midnapore district official.