When Mamata Banerjee swept away the Left Front and became Chief Minister of West Bengal earlier this year, expectations had preceded her. She had many tasks at hand, one of them being bringing Maoists to the negotiating table. Some 100 days into her tenure, she has scored a few points, including a tripartite agreement with the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM).
But restoring peace in the Darjeeling hills is not the same as doing it in Jangalmahal forests. The more days pass by, it becomes obvious that the Mamata government does not have a clear-cut Naxal policy. Making peace overtures in conflict management means nothing unless preceded, or at least, accompanied by confidence-building measures.
Mamata’s whirlwind entry into Writers Buildings had come with allegations from the Left, which had accused her and Maoists of being hand in glove in the run-up to the Assembly elections. Baseless or not, the charge of tacit understanding had its reasoning, given the massive rallies that the Trinamool Congress had organised in Maoist-dominated areas last year.
What the CPM-led Left Front had refused to acknowledge at the time was that it was arguably the same kind of covert deal that they themselves had in 1989 with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), when both did everything in their mite to oust Rajiv Gandhi from power. Politics makes strange bedfellows, especially when the enemy is a common one.
Yet, the apparent peace that exists now is tenuous, and there have been Maoist killings of both Trinamool and CPM activists in the Jangalmahal area in recent times. These have formed the backdrop to the contact with the Maoist leadership that was established by a six-member team of interlocutors. The message the peaceniks brought back was clear: a ceasefire would be possible only if the government halted its operations and disarmed vigilante groups.
But the few overtures made and measures taken so far by the Mamata government mean anything in this context? Let’s look at a few of them.
It began with the constitution of a prisoners release committee. West Bengal has its own Act which defines political prisoners, but let’s not get into that. This panel recommended the release of 78 political prisoners; the government agreed to release 52, including two well-known Maoist leaders. The Union Ministry for Home Affairs objected, and since then the issue has been hanging fire. What’s obvious from this incident is that the West Bengal government does not yet have the Centre on board. There’s no way you can have a peace accord with Maoists without the support of the Union government. This also creates fertile ground for later-day “passing the buck” games. If Mamata fails to broker peace, she can always blame Delhi.
Yet, this is not where the danger lies. A set of announcements made by the state government makes the situation worse. The first was a compensation package for victims of Maoist violence. The kin of victims will now get Rs 2 lakh from the state government and Rs 3 lakh from the Centre. There’s nothing wrong in this, except that the move ignores victims of state brutalities. Since Mamata herself had accused the Left Front regime of rampant human rights abuses in the area, she would have made more friends by compensating such victims as well.
The second measure was the promise to give Rs 1.5 lakh to Maoist cadres who would surrender arms. The amount would be kept in fixed deposit for three years, and they would receive a monthly stipend of Rs 2,000 till they find a permanent job. Additionally, firearms deposited with the government would fetch Rs 25,000 to Rs 2 lakh depending on the sophistication of the weapon. Sounds reasonable, but only that Mamata has exceeded her brief on this one. You announce rehabilitation packages only after a settlement has been reached. This announcement was unilateral, and is designed more to split Maoists than solve a political problem.
If this is a tad disturbing, wait till you come to the last one – the government’s decision to recruit 10,000 youths as constables and homeguards in the Maoist-dominated districts of West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura. Peace activist Binayak Sen has already criticised the attempt, arguing that this sets a Salwa Judum kind of precedent of state-sponsored vigilantism. Mamata is not only trying to effect splits in Maoist ranks, she’s now trying to fight fire with fire. This is a dangerous move, and fraught with far-reaching bloody consequences.
Not surprisingly, Maoists retaliated immediately by putting up posters in strongholds Salboni and Lalgarh, warning people against falling for such dubious gestures. The government has been accused of making false promises, and peace still seems a far-cry.
If Mamata has to do a Darjeeling in Jangalmahal, she’ll need to stop politicking.
