[Marxism] A Brief Note on Lalgarh (West Bengal, India) and Implications of Maoist Role

[Sukla Sen]

It goes without saying that the role of the state in perpetuating appalling poverty in the region, and such other regions, and its specific response to the mine blast carried out by the Maoists in an attempt to kill a Union Minister and Chief Minister of the state last November on their way to Salboni - despite the seriousness and the gravity of the threat - are utterly condemnable.
And it is the brutal response coming on top of longstanding neglect and in the context of game changing Nandigram struggle that triggered the massive resistance in Lalgarh following the Nandigram model.

But the difference with Nandigram, in Purba (East) Medinipur, is whereas there the Maoists had hardly any role - never mind the state/CPIM persistent campaign otherwise, here in Lalgarh, on the western fringe of Paschim (West) Medinipur, the Maoists had a much stronger presence.
The huge difference in the two outcomes, other factors remaining broadly the same with the rider that Lalgrah had the massive advantage of Nandigram effect to begin with whereas Nandigram had none, is largely attributable to that.

It is precisely in this context we'll have to keep in mind that the turning point came in mid-June.

The fact remains that the popular resistance, triggered by police brutalities in the wake of mine blast aimed at the state Chief Minister and a Union Minister, which had held for long seven months since November last crashed in less than seven days after the Maoists came overground, (fraudulently) claimed the authorship of the resistance (just about a month or two back, the PCAPR was busy negotiating setting up of election booths just outside thebarricaded territory to ensure maximum voting without allowing the administration in while the Maoists were going full blast (rather literally) with the election boycott campaign), proudly asserted (Bikash and Koteshwara Rao) before the TV cameras - with rifle slung on the back for good effect - that they had tried to kill the Chief Minister and do it again, and, to top it all, went on a violent spree including gory murders.

The corpse of a slain adivasi youth, an agricultural worker, belonging to the CPI(M) - Salku Soren - was made to rot in the open for days as an example for others to see.

The formidable moral ballast that had come up in the wake of Nandigram - caused by strong popular revulsion at the state-cum-ruling party brutalities - immobilsing the coercive apparatus of the state stood tragically demolished.

This is something that one would overlook only at the grave peril of the prospects of popular struggles against state atrocities and depredations in future.

And the concluding call given here - "People should emulate Lalgarh to counter state terror" - (apparently issued sometime early this year, and now picked up by some after a considerable lapse of time) sounds so ominous, and also so comical, in terms of the actual outcome since mid-June in particular.

It is worth recalling here a highly fanciful report (which I had termed as "fairytale account) carried by the Hindustan Times, the dateline being as recent as June 10 - that is still less than a month back (and yet lies in another era) - incorporating an interview with a top-notch Maoist leader operating in that area:
Quote
[Q:] How long can they [the Maoists] defend the area from the might of the state?

[A:] “I know an action (sic) is perhaps impending,” said Koteswar Rao, or Kishnaji, the second in command of the Indian Maoists, in an exclusive interview to the Hindustan Times. “But let them try once.. It will be the last time they will eye this territory.” (Emphasis added.)
Unquote
[Source: <http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/Print.aspx?Id=3e7456f2-6c9e-44c1-9b35-3af9ec746d7e>]

(This was just before the campaign of violence launched by the Maoists sidelining the PCAPA. It started effectively on June 14. The operation of the Joint Forces commenced on June 18. The Lalgarh Police Station, the Ground Zero, reoccupied on June 20. Without any reported loss of life on either side.. The Operation continues. No loss of life reported as yet. Reports of police barbarities of course galore.)

The absurd enormity of the bluff and braggadocio just hits one in the eyes.

One may also like to look up this interesting article dealing with broader context: 'Manmohan and the Maoists' at: http://thefishpond.in/satya/2009/manmohan-and-the-maoists/.

(The foregoing note is in response to a Maoist presentation of the Lalgarh issue, somewhat dated, accompanied with a call to follow the "model" - now again circulated by Maoist supporters on the net.
The text of the Maoist position is reproduced below.)
Sukla

http://peoples-truth.blogspot.com/2009/06/peoples-truth-bulletin-no5.html

The Mass Uprising in Lalgarh

After Singur and Nandigram, now it is the turn of Lalgarh. While the
first two mass eruptions in West Bengal were over displacement of the
peasants from their fertile lands which were handed over to the big
comprador sharks, the Lalgarh adivasi uprising was against the
high-handedness and atrocities by the police and, of course, by the
social fascist goons of the ruling CPI(M). It is the first mass
uprising that had erupted on such a massive scale against police
atrocities in post-1947 India barring, of course, Kashmir and North
East. One is reminded of the mass uprising of Manipur against
atrocities by the Indian Army and the Armed Forces Special Powers Act
in the wake of the rape of Manorama.

Described as the biggest adivasi rebellion ever in the state and as
the second Santhal rebellion, the militant mass uprising in Lalgarh
drew banner headlines for several weeks following the land-mine attack
on the convoy of the West Bengal chief minister, Buddhadev
Bhattacharjee, and a host of other VVIPs, including two Union
Ministers, Ramvilas Paswan and Jitendra Prasad, and top industrialist,
Ashok Jindal, on November 2, 2008 near Salboni in West Midnapore
district. The convoy was attacked by Maoist guerrillas when it was
returning from Salboni after Buddhadeb’s inauguration of a mega-steel
project being set up by Jindal at a cost of over Rs. 12,000 crores and
for which 4,500 acres of land was acquired by the so-called Left Front
government. Three policemen, including an inspector and two
constables, were suspended following the land-mine blast.

.......
People should emulate Lalgarh to counter state terror

Lalgarh uprising stands out as a shining example of how people can
ensure their lives and liberty in face of ever-growing state terror
and state-sponsored terror by waging a resolute, united, militant mass
resisance movement. It stands out as an example of how people can
achieve victories by basing on their own strength and programme and
their own independent organisation instead of depending on the
self-seeking anti-people parliamentary political parties and
authoritarian organizations. Lalgarh stands out as a living example of
the collective consciousness and collective participation of the
masses. It demonstrates the strength and power of the democratic
organisation of the masses; of how the mass of the ordinary people can
become part of the decision-making process and how they can make
history by active participation in the people’s movements at the
grass-roots level. Today, as the reactionary ruling classes of India,
in collusion with the imperialists, conspire to strengthen and further
fascise the state apparatus in order to unleash the cruelest state
terror to suppress the struggling masses in the name of “fight against
terror”, Lalgarh shows a way to unite the masses into organized
resistance along democratic lines. And if the fascist ruling classes
do not heed such democratic yearnings of the masses Lalgarhs will have
to become really red and assume the form of armed uprising to
establish revolutionary people’s power in the vast countryside as
witnessed in parts of Dandakaranya and Bihar-Jharkhand.