[The team undertook the visit defying the suggestion made by West Bengal
Chief Secretary Ashok Mohan Chakraborty that they defer their visit at least
by a couple of days. (As told on the TV channel Star Ananda on return.) And
one member received a nasty and abusive threat call on return apparently
from a supporter of the state government / main ruling party.]

*A double-edged truce call
Artiste-coaxed appeal gives govt options *
 SUJAN DUTTA     Filmmaker Aparna Sen stepping across a felled tree in
Lalgarh on Sunday. (Amit Datta)

*Pathardanga (Lalgarh), June 21: *Brokering peace under a banyan tree, a
group of artistes from Calcutta today discovered a people caught in the
crossfire in Lalgarh.

The group also extracted a public appeal from Chhatradhar Mahato, the
secretary of the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities, to both the
state and the Maoists to shun arms and opt for a ceasefire till July 14.

But the weight, sincerity and resonance of the appeal are doubtful, for each
of the parties in the conflict is gearing up for the worst.

The security forces are bringing in reinforcements and planning their next
move. The Maoists are pledged to expanding their influence beyond Lalgarh.
Mahato, who the police have said will be “arrested on sight”, is himself
unsure whether his word will have the gravitas without the muscle of the
Maoists.

Artistes Aparna Sen, Kaushik Sen and Saoli Mitra, poet Joy Goswami and
others drove from Calcutta to Lalgarh and then they trudged two-and-a-half
km in the blazing sun from the point where the committee had felled trees to
block the road to reach this village, Hariharpur-Pathardanga, where Mahato
lives.

Without waiting to catch their breath, they came straight to the point.
Aparna Sen asked Mahato if the movement was willing to sever ties with the
Maoists.

Kaushik Sen emphasised: “We have been in support of people’s movements for
the last two years and the CPM-led government has called us many names. We
will have to face questions when we return. Can you ask the Maoists to leave
you alone?”

Mahato was diffident at first. “This is a people’s movement,” he told them.
“We have welcomed the support of all democratic forces. If you support us, I
am not going to look at what is good or bad in you. It is enough if you
support us as long as the leadership of the people is accepted.”

Discussions between the group and Mahato continued in that tenor. They sat
down under the banyan tree by the side of the road at the entrance to the
village. The artistes insisted that Mahato distance himself from the Maoists
till a point when Mahato said: “I live among my people and they (the
Maoists) are also here. You have to understand.”

Kaushik Sen accepted that Mahato might be under a threat. Mahato still
insisted that the state government “must stop the repression first”. Aparna
Sen suggested that Mahato make an appeal to the Maoists and the government
that since a date for discussions with the state was due on July 14, all
sides should hold fire.

Mahato agreed. “Given the situation in Lalgarh where the people are getting
beaten up, the villagers are homeless and where the environment is fearful,
and given that there are so many well-wishers offering us advice, I appeal
to all parties to ensure peace.”
  Snapshot

● Little action on Sunday. Security forces plan road map for thrust into
Maoist strongholds

●State asks Maoists to lay down arms

●Misgivings in Left Front on banning Maoists

●Mamata voices displeasure towards Centre

●Chidambaram asks politicians, NGOs to stay away from conflict zones

●35,000 villagers flee war zone

He said the people were “facing danger from both sides”. But he clarified
that he was not in a position to convince the Maoists.

The group left for Calcutta after saying that they would take the appeal to
Union home minister P. Chidambaram and also to the state government.

In Lalgarh town, where security forces did not advance along the road beyond
the police station, there was little evidence that such appeals will be
taken up.

The appeal has thrown up two possibilities, however: First, after this
point, unless the committee backs down and allows the police into its
territory, moving all obstacles like felled trees and desisting from
blockades, action by the security forces against it is likely to gain
legitimacy for “civil society”.

Second, if the state government wants to look for a line to pick up from
which it can settle for at least a tenuous peace, it is in Mahato’s fragile
appeal.

Four days into the operations, there are two compelling reasons why the
state and the Maoists can sue for peace.

The state has clearly underestimated the depth of popular resentment against
the presence of security forces in this region. In village after village,
people look at the police with suspicion. Before November 2008, they say,
the police were here and their conduct forced the uprising.

The committee and the Maoists may have overestimated the intensity of their
movement. The human walls that were planned have not been in evidence in the
last two days. They may have disappeared because of the display of strength
by the security forces.

Committee president Lalmohan Tudu admits: “We did not expect the Centre to
come and fight the state’s battle.”

If the intensity of the popular movement wanes, chances are the rebellion
will increasingly manifest itself through armed action by Maoist squads.
That in turn will foment a crackdown by the security forces.

Already, Lalgarh is taking in larger and larger contingents of the police
and the paramilitary, sucking up more resources from the state’s coffers.
Inside the Jhitka forest today, CRPF platoons were standing guard all along
the road.

This is already looking like yet another insurgency to live with.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1090622/jsp/frontpage/story_11142857.jsp

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