TMC sees boost to Lok Sabha tally as peace returns to naxal belt

KOLKATA: Restoration of peace in Jangalmahal since the death of Maoist military strategist Koteswar Rao alias Kishenji more than two years ago has raised expectations within Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee led Trinamool Congress that the party may be able to improve upon its tally of 19 Lok Sabha seats in the upcoming elections. In 2009, the party had lost in all five parliamentary constituencies in the region.

The ruling party’s confidence stems from its victory in the civic polls last year, when it won zilla parishads in all the three districts of Jangalmahal. Now, the party is eyeing all Lok Sabha seats of Jhargram, Midnapore, Purulia, Bankura and Bishnupur in the region.

With Kishenji’s death, the Maoists suddenly disappeared from the region considered their headquarters in eastern India. As a result, not a single death occurred due to Maoist attacks in 2013, after 697 killings were reported in the region between 2005 and 2012.


Among other measures, Banerjee had announced a rehabilitation package for the insurgents who were willing to bid a farewell to arms and return to normal life. So far, 35 such extremists have taken up the offer.

The state government has also employed more than 10,000 youths from the region in the police department. “Till today, we are receiving applications from Jangalmahal youths who are very keen to join the police force by ignoring the Maoist threat,” said Sukumar Hansda, minister for development of western region. “It is impossible for any outsider to realise how our chief minister has brought a change in Jangalmahal. Anyone from any corner of the country can go to Lalgarh easily without any fear and without any security cover, which was unthinkable even in early 2011,” Hansda said. The Maoists had managed to isolate the Lalgarh police station from the rest of the state until the middle of 2009.

The police has enlisted the help of local youth to prevent Maoist activists from the adjoining states from sneaking into the region to reorganise themselves. “We have given mobile phones to many Jangal mahal youths and even to some former Maoist activists and asked them to inform us immediately if they notice any new face in their localities.

Now we are getting a very positive feedback from these youths and our job of keeping a close tab on Maoist activists has become much easier,” said a senior police official of Purulia district who is now working with the CID. The chief minister has also appealed to the youths in the region to help the government. “Don’t be afraid of them (Maoists). Don’t allow them to come back and shatter the peace and harmony in your villages which we have brought back after long struggle,” Banerjee said at a public rally at Jhargram recently.

The government has also significantly improved police-public relations in Jangal mahal. District police officials have been organising football tournaments involving the local youths.