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BJP put up 'Maoist posters' in Jhargram, some TV channels creating atmosphere of fear: Mamata Banerjee

The CM said that she had sent the director general of police to the district to understand the actual ground situation
Last Updated 27 April 2022, 15:50 IST

A few days after "Maoist posters" resurfaced in West Bengal's Jhargram district, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee alleged that those were put up by BJP workers and that a few television channels were creating "an atmosphere of fear" by giving unnecessary coverage to the incident.

However, she also claimed that at least five Maoists had entered the state from neighbouring Jharkhand in recent times. DGP Manoj Malaviya said that of those five red rebels, three have been nabbed and a manhunt has been launched to apprehend the remaining two.

"The BJP has put up three 'Maoist posters' and a few television channels are doing hullabaloo creating an atmosphere of fear. The district administration must convince the locals that the posters are fake and tell them the reality.

"In case, Maoists have entered the district from Jharkhand, take action against them," Banerjee said while virtually chairing an administrative review meeting.

Reacting to the chief minister's statement, BJP state spokesperson Samik Bhattacharya said, "The allegations against our party is baseless. The Trinamool Congress is trying to pin blame of its own failures on others." District Magistrate Jayashi Das Gupta, while responding to Banerjee's query about the ground situation in Jhargram, claimed that no Maoist activity was found during preliminary investigation.

"There is no lawlessness due to Maoists anywhere in Jhargram district. We have not found any evidence of Maoist activities here," Das Gupta said.

The chief minister, however, rubbished the district magistrate's claim.

"I have specific inputs that at least five Maoists had entered Jhargram district through the Jharkhand border in Belpahari. Have you sealed the inter-state boundary in Belpahari? There is a gap between your information and mine," she told Das Gupta.

The chief minister said that she had sent the director general of police to the district to understand the actual ground situation. Malaviya said that three of the five Maoists have been nabbed and a manhunt has been launched to arrest the remaining two.

Banerjee said that after coming to power in the state in 2011, her government has employed at least 10,000 surrendered Maoists as home guards. She alleged that those who haven't gotten jobs are bringing red rebels from outside the state.

"I have information that those surrendered Maoists who are yet to get employment are bringing in red rebels from outside the state. Get their CVs and send those to the DGP. I don't want any negligence on the matter," the chief minister told the DM, adding she would soon visit the district.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Tuesday alerted the police forces of West Bengal and its adjoining three states Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha on a possible rise in Maoist activities in the eastern region in the next fortnight, an official said.

During a meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eastern Zonal Council held at the state secretariat, senior MHA officials referred to intelligence inputs regarding a possibility of a sudden surge in the activities of the Maoists and issued an alert for the police of the four states.

Jhargram, which was then a subdivision of Paschim Medinipur district, witnessed a spike in Maoist activities centred around Lalgarh between 2008 and 2011, claiming the lives of hundreds of people. It fizzled out after the killing of CPI (Maoist) politburo member Mallojula Koteswara Rao alias Kishenji, who was leading the insurgency in the region.

Resurgence of Maoists in the densely forested western region of the state, known as 'Junglemahal', has been reported several times since 2011 but no marked rise in activities of red rebels has been witnessed so far.

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(Published 27 April 2022, 15:47 IST)

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