Three districts saw continuous bloodbath over last 12 months

It all started on November 2, 2008 when Maoists made an attempt on the life of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee — a land mine ripped off a vehicle of his convoy. Moments later, his car went past the incident spot near Bhadutala in the Salboni police station area. What followed was a massive operation by the police where the tribals claimed their women had been assaulted during raids on November 4 at Lalgarh — nearly 40 km away from the blast site.

The police arrested school students and locals from Lalgarh for their alleged involvement in the blast. The tribals began an agitation to not allow the police to enter the Lalgarh area. The agitation gradually spread to various parts of the district, particularly to Jhargram sub-division, Goaltore, Salboni, Sarenga in Bankura and in the forest areas of Purulia in the first week of November.

The tribals demanded an unconditional apology from district police superintendent Rajesh Singh and closure of the police camps at Lalgarh and Ramgarh. The movement took a new turn on November 21 after a press statement from Kanchan — state secretary of CPI(Maoists). According to Kanchan, Maoists supported the tribal agitation in Lalgarh and they would convert the same into a bigger one in the forest areas of West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia.

Chhatradhar Mahato, a local youth from Lalgarh, came up as a leader of the tribals in November last week and a committee was formed called the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA). The emergence of Mahato established the direct involvement of Maoists with the PCAPA — Mahato is the younger brother of Sasadhar Mahato, the most wanted Maoist.

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