Press Statement from Committee of Democratic Rights Organizations
Will Mamata Learn from the Past?
17th October 2011
CDRO strongly condemns the statement made by Mamata Banerjee on 15th October denouncing Maoists as ‘supari killers’ and giving them a week to surrender their arms. The announcement coming on the heels of raids and arrests of local activists, beating up of organizers, harassment and detention of fact finding members including doctors and, sealing of Jangalmahal with a gag order on public demonstrations, is a clear indication of the opportunistic attitude of the Trinamool Congress towards people of Jangalmahal.
Evidently, the alleged killing of two Trinamool workers by the Maoists was the pretext that she was looking for and she is believed to have told the police, “You don’t have to wait for my instructions to establish law and order in Jangalmahal”. With the joint forces combing the area and Trinamool’s own armed squad, Bhairav Vahini, busily assisting the men in khaki, Mamata Banerjee’s road map for Jangalmahal is set: a repeat of the past with vengeance.
Mamata Banerjee claimed to be different from CPI(M) in her understanding of Jangalmahal. She promised the withdrawal of joint forces during her election campaign. Earlier, she had denounced the fake encounter of Maoist leader, Azad in Lalgarh. After winning all five seats in Jangalmahal, she claimed in a television interview to NDTV on 13th May 2011 that she was ready for “negotiation, discussion and development” as the people of Jangalmahal believed in democracy. After assuming office, she set up a review committee to look into the cases of political prisoners currently in jail.
Till date, the joint forces have not been withdrawn and the political prisoners have not been released. The conditional cease fire offered by the Maoists in early October has been simply dismissed and the more recent rape charges against the joint forces in the Shibani Singh case have been rejected. Moreover, when a battalion of IRB went on hunger strike protesting at the inhuman conditions in Jangalmahal, the government took note of it and initiated actions against the supposed ringleaders of the agitation. Perhaps, the signs were there in her earlier meeting in July when she promised 10,000 jobs as special police officers to local adivasi youth in the wake of the Supreme Court judgment declaring recruitment of SPOs in Chattisgarh as unconstitutional.
CDRO wishes to remind Ms Mamata Banerjee of the promises she made before she assumed power. If the promises were opportunistic and meant to be broken, then Ms Banerjee should know that Jangalmahal cannot be ruled by an elected government with the use of force. If, on the other hand, she is sincere and believes in negotiations and discussions, then she should withdraw the joint forces, release political prisoners and ask the Maoists for dialogue.
Asish Gupta and Kranti Chaitanya
Co-ordinators(CDRO)
Co-ordinators(CDRO)
