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Mamata issues fresh threat
Speaking almost the way her predecessor Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee did, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday issued a loud warning to the Maoists asking them to stop killing the innocent poor or face action.
“Shall we sit and watch while you cowards go on butchering the poor in the name of Maoism?” Banerjee said at a rally at Balrampur in Purulia district bordering Jharkhand.
Incidentally, the Chief Ministerial warning came in tandem with the unearthing of a powerful landmine at Netabahara in Jhargram police district, 100 miles away, and recovery of a huge cache of arms and ammunition at Salboni off Midnapore town. A suspected Maoist Suman Maity was picked up in connection with the arms recovery, police said.
The Chief Minister is on a two-day district tour of Purulia, Bankura, Birbhum and Burdwan falling in his itinerary. Bankura and Purulia along with West Midnapore fall in the Red zone.
Banerjee packed her threat with sops which included promises to start health camps, bicycle to girl students, schools and training centres and new opportunities of jobs. But then “you have to rise up against these cowardly killings. I urge you not to be cowed down by the threats of these liars who kill people in the name of a fake ideology.”
The Friday’s visit of Banerjee who has reportedly ordered resumption of anti-Maoist operations in Jangalmahal is seen in the light of her endeavours to alienate the Red ultras from the common people by unleashing developmental works.
“People do not want bloodshed. They want to survive. They do not want to fight the State power but they want to fight for their bread,” Banerjee said, reminding how she had offered the Maoists the avenue to return to the main stream.
“I told them that we will talk out the differences and I also assured them that their court cases would be taken care off. I promised them jobs and told them that the State would arrange for their roti, kapda aur makaan (bread, cloth and dwelling), but they refused to lend ears to my offer and now they have started killing our people,” she thundered warning the “State would not sit idle and watch these killings and we will respond adequately.”
Asserting that the Government “would not allow the gun to rule the Ayodhya Hills” that separate Jharkhand from Bengal the Chief Minister said, “The people have to rise up in revolt against these cowards who treat the poor political opponents as class enemies.”
At Purulia, Banerjee, who was accompanied by Union Ministers Sudip Bandopadhyay and Mukul Roy, held meeting with senior officials and State Ministers of 18 Departments to discuss the development works being carried out in the Maoist boondocks, sources said.
