Mamata Banerjee is not capable to handle Maoist problems

Playing Hide & Seek With Peace

Mamata Banerjee has offered talks to the Maoists and set up mediators. Tusha Mittal interviews a top Maoist leader to find out if peace is possible(click here to read the interview)

Boots on the ground The new declaration has no mention of suspension of combat operations Photos: Pintu Pradhan

IN AUGUST 2010, Mamata Banerjee’s rally in the heart of a Maoist stronghold in West Bengal created an uproar. As the Congress ally shared the dais in Lalgarh with ‘Maoist sympathisers’, there were cries of treason. Mamata’s detractors saw her as an opportunistic neta compromising with the enemy. For her supporters, she was a possible bridge to peace.

In power now, things are knottier. Since becoming CM, Mamata has appointed a group of interlocutors to initiate peace talks with “all armed groups in Junglemahal”. In a seven-point joint declaration, the government offered a rehabilitation package for those who surrender arms, and appealed to all to join the development process. However, the declaration makes no mention of the withdrawal of joint forces or the suspension of combat operations, both of which were pre-election rallying points for the Trinamool Congress.

Mamata also appointed a committee headed by former Chief Justice Malay Sengupta to review cases of “political prisoners”. Derived from the West Bengal Correctional Act, 1992, this phrase is significant to the peace process. It distinguishes a political offence from others and allows the offender the status of a political prisoner. “Any public agitation by a political party or a group for securing any political objective,” or for “furtherance of any political ideology” to obtain “common good, or remedy any injustice of political nature, shall be interpreted as a political movement,” says the Act.

Among the Maoists jailed in Bengal, at least eight, including former state secretaries Himadri Sen Roy and Sudip Chondgar alias Kanchan, have political prisoner status. More applications are in the process. So far, the government has been tight-lipped about their release. Last month, the review committee recommended the release of 78 prisoners. The government gave its nod for 52. In what was seen as a move to test the waters, the list included former Maoist state secretary Chandi Sarkar and member Pradip Chatterjee.

However, the Union home ministry has put a spanner in the works. In a letter to state Chief Secretary Samar Ghosh, the Union home secretary indicated the ministry’s disapproval of the decision to free the two Maoists, sources told TEHELKA. The letter advises releasing political prisoners at random. “There is political pressure from the Centre,” admits a TMC source.

There is also a view at the Centre that peace talks in West Bengal could allow the Maoists a safe haven to operate through the Red Corridor. The current status of the peace process remains unclear. Sources say the Maoists have asked for a copy of the declaration. The mediators have met with Patitapaban Haldar, the first state secretary of the Maoists, to deliver it. “The jailed leaders are positive about the possibility of talks,” a mediator told TEHELKA.

But the public response of the Maoists has been fractured so far; it has been hard to really gauge their official stand. Last month, TEHELKA sent 20 questions to CPI(Maoist) state secretary Asim Mondal alias Akash. This week, written responses to some questions were delivered through established channels. The answers reveal a party open to dialogue and more flexible on what was earlier a rigid pre-condition. Akash insists that further troop build-up and combing operations be stalled, but does not demand a complete withdrawal.

Read the Interview