When I read about the Bhubaneshwar- Delhi Rajdhani blockade by Maoists recently I found the whole thing to be quite sinister. It did not make any sense. I mean they stopped the train for over five hours, threatened passengers and drivers and then just let them go in the end, for nothing? What was going on? Some newspapers say that they wanted to demonstrate what they can do but I don’t believe it because we already know what they are capable of. It was much later that things started becoming clearer. And it does all add up and it makes perfect sense, for Maoists.

To begin with I don’t think there is any doubt about the fact that Mamata Bannerjee has had close links with Maoists as well as Peoples Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA), an organization which is supposed to be a front for Maoists. Whether she continues to do so or not is a different matter altogether. CPM is quite right when they accuse TMC of these links. In fact, Chhatradhar Mahato, the leader of PCPA who is under arrest has been a TMC supporter till just about a year and a half ago. Koteshwar Rao alias KIshenji, the top Maoists leader has even said that they got arms and ammunition for fighting CPM cadres in Nandigram from TMC in 2007. Not only this he claims that TMC cadres fought alongside Maoists against West Bengal state forces. You can read about this in Times of India report of 27 April 09 Trinamool armed us to fight in Nandigram: Naxal Leader. If you still have any more doubts you can check out this report of Indian Express dated 30 June 09 Maoist leader names TMC, Mahashweta as allies. I hope now there are no doubts left in anyone’s mind about the links between Mamata Bannerjee and Maoists. All these guys can’t possibly be wrong. Off course P Chidambaram did not agree with this. He’s in the ministry. How can he go against a very important ally of Congress?

The question that now arises is why did PCPA block the train which projected their supposed ally Mamata Bannerjee in bad light? Why would they want to do that? The answer to this question is that over the last few weeks Mamata Bannerjee has changed her stance. From being an ally of Maoists till as recently as 10 Oct 09 when she said Armed operations against Maoists won’t solve problem (Check out this report on Indian Express) she has now gone against them. This was evident from her reaction immediately after this blockade when she asked for army to be deployed against the Maoists. Check out this report from Telegraph dated 28 Oct 09 Deploy army against Maoists. It is her changed position which prompted Maoists to launch this blockade. It was a signal to her that if she went against them this is what they would do. It worked to some extent when railways conveniently forgot to mention PCPA in the FIR which was lodged after this despite Kishenji himself having named PCPA. It is a different matter that they had to change it after this issue got highlighted in the media.

The second question is why did Maoists let the train go without any harm or demands? The answer to that is it is quite likely that she spoke to these guys and told them to lay off. This was revealed in an inquiry by state police immediately after this incident (Check this report on Tribune dated 29 Oct 09 Mamata’s warning led to lifting of blockade). Though some may doubt this report to be biased against her but I believe it. The reason is quite simple. The train was stopped for more than five hours. It was quite a lot of time for security forces to be launched. So why weren’t they? They were not launched because Mamata Bannerjee was talking to the Maoists. It was because of this that there was no bloodshed. Otherwise it was so very convenient for Maoists to do whatever they wanted but didn’t because Mamata spoke to them. It’s rather obvious.

To be fair to Mamata Bannerjee I would say that she is indeed trying to distance herself from Maoists, though this may change depending on her equation with Congress. She became their ally just to fight CPM in West Bengal. Now that she’s actually part of the govt in the center she can’t be seen as having links with an outlawed organization. And therefore the shift. But one has to pay for one’s sins. Maoists are now demanding their pound of flesh for the help they may have given her during elections as well as during the struggle in Nandigram. And since Mamata is now demanding army to be deployed against Maoists it is quite likely that they will strike again, quite possibly on a train only, just to teach her a lesson. I hope Mamata understands this.

Pertinent to mention about BJP not having used this incident for demanding Mamata’s resignation from govt even as they talked of A Raja’s in the spectrum scam. Well, they are playing a waiting game. They know it’s Mamata we are talking about. Sooner or later Mamata may split with Congress. This may happen when West Bengal goes to polls or at some other time. And they don’t want to antagonize her because when that split happens they want to rope her in NDA. Yeah, politics is a dirty game. Ideology is the first casualty here.

As for Mamata I can only say that she has to be very careful from now on. If Maoists do come under pressure from security forces they will surely act against Mamata or her trains. It is for this reason that I don’t really foresee Mamata sticking to her demand of army action. As for me, I’m not really taking any train to West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh etc any time soon.

Related Post

One third of India lost

The Lotus effect on the BJP

Mamta ki mamta

Why the ballot did not win the war against the bullet?

Is Congress-Trinamool tie up a mistake?

 If you like this post subscribe to my RSS feed. See how?

Register for Newsletter | Email this post | Download this post

Posted on October 31st, 2009 India calling • Tags: BJP, blockade, Congress, Mamata, maoists, PCPA, rajdhani, train. • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback