Lalgarh tribals threaten to strike govt offices

KOLKATA: Lalgarh has turned out to be a laboratory from where Maoists are carrying out their experiments successfully. A day after People's Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA), the tribal forum from Lalgarh which has so far distanced itself from Maoists, announced it has turned into an armed outfit, the militia force on Tuesday jumped into action, keeping passengers of a Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express hostage for five hours.

Hundreds of villagers, armed with tribal weapons, took part in the operation along with some carrying firearms. Now, police believe that PCPA, so far thought to be a frontal outfit of CPI (Maoists), may carry out more operations.

On Monday, PCPA spokesperson Asit Mahato had said its militia force would now target government offices. ''We have planned to take control of the government offices in Jangalmahal,'' said Mahato.

Unlike in other Naxal-hit states of Jharkhand or Chhattishgarh where attacks are carried out by trained Maoist squads, common villagers took part in Tuesday's operation in Bengal. According to police, the participation of villagers is an experiment of the Maoists to show their mass base. Maoist politburo member Kishanji has said they have taken Lalgarh as a model, which may show a new way of Maoist movement.

Though the entire operation was done by villagers, it never went beyond the control of their leaders. The style of operation shows that the Maoists have already imparted training to the villagers of Jangalmahal in carrying out armed operations. ''If the villagers directly participate in an armed struggle, it will be major trouble for police,'' says a cop, supervising Lalgarh operation.