Likens Them To ‘Contract Killers’ With No Ideology
Saibal Sen TNN
Jhargram: As a champion of farmers’ rights Mamata Banerjee may have been soft on Naxalites, but on Saturday she made it clear that as chief minister she wasn’t going to brook any ideology that promoted violence. After her most vitriolic tongue-lashing, she gave the Maoists a seven-day deadline to surrender their weapons and join peace talks.
Daring the red rebels to kill her, she said: “Take my blood if you want to, but spare Jangalmahal. This is a fight for survival and peace. Guns will not speak the last word, people will.” She said she was strong enough to break the understanding that her party once had with the Maoists.
Using perhaps the strongest language against the Maoists since becoming the CM, she called them “ja ng a l mafia” and “s u p a r i killers” and blamed the Left ultras for going back on their promise of truce while her government kept its word on holding back the joint forces operations for four to five months. “If peace prevails, joint forces are anyway redundant. I do not know what ideology promotes the use of contract killers. A section of jungle mafia is using such killers and spreading a reign of terror.”
She accused them of using the bogey of human rights abuses as a shield. “And when police go to arrest them, they cry hoarse that their womenfolk have been raped by police. Planting landmines at night and targeting innocent people can’t go on. If you want to fight — fight face to face… why resort to such tactics and give it an ideology’s guise. I have fought many a battle in my life — I do not fear guns.” And then she threw down the gauntlet. “So you are powerful. Let me see the extent of this power. This is the language of contract killers and not that of people who believe in ideology,” she said.
“How many people will you kill? You may kill all of us, but be rest assured that five lakh Trinamool supporters will be there after us. If you want a fight let me know. There will be no police…only you and ourselves along with our people,” she added.
The CM stressed that no i s mcan be propagated with bloodshed insisting, that had it been so the country would never have been liberated. But what is happening is even worse, she said, adding that four people had been murdered since she took over as CM.
“They don’t want people to get jobs… they do not want development… they actually do not want people’s well-being. What wrong have we done in working for the people’s welfare? I have said that we will do in a year what was a dream for the last 35 years,” she said.
Mamata’s toughening of stance against Maoists marked a sharp contrast with her earlier position when she refused to admit the presence of Maoists in the area. “What Maoists? There are no such people in the area. They are all the disgruntled elements of the CPM,” she had said. She had also once demanded withdrawal of security forces from the area that later found a place in the TMC manifesto.
Soon after taking over the mantle, Mamata came under pressure from the Congress-led UPA and government agencies that provided her regular with inputs on the expanding Maoist network in Jangalmahal. So much so, that Mamata in her Jhargram rally also mentioned that wives of the ultra-Left activists are heaping false charges of rape on the police. The Maoists have been sensing the change as well. Days after signing a joint ceasefire offer with state-appointed interlocutors, CPI(Maoist) state secretary Akash in a press release accused Mamata of going back on her promise. Writer Mahasweta Devi saw no possibility of peace talks taking place as long as the security forces remained in Jangalmahal. The government, on the other hand, has no plans to give them marching orders. Mamata’s sharpest attack on the Maoists was also soaked in symbolism. Before she spoke she cradled Jayita, the five-month old daughter of TMC worker Lalmohan Mahato murdered by Maoistspromising his young wife a government job.
“Do not fear. I want people to lay down their lives for a just cause, the government will take responsibility of their families. I know there are eight (Maoist) squads in Jhargram. People from Kolkata are meeting them. They can do so, after all this is a democracy. But then don’t these children have a right too. Why are they being orphaned? Let them grow and stay in peace,” she said.
DIDI ON REDS
AUG 10, 2010
Maoists are not our enemies. If they want development for neglected tribals, so do we. Maoists want schools and drinking water. I have told my ministers (at Centre) to do whatever they can for Lalgarh
ON OCT 15, 2011
They (Maoists) do not pursue any ism, they have no ideals. They are ‘supari’ killers, jungle mafia. We have started the peace process, stopped joint operations... they (Maoists) have not kept their word
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