Call for talk minus cuffs - Free top leaders to facilitate dialogue, say jailed Maoists

Chhatradhar Mahato

Calcutta, July 23: Jailed Maoists and People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities chief Chhatradhar Mahato have told the government’s interlocutors they welcome Mamata Banerjee’s talks offer but want top leaders released to facilitate the dialogue.

Mamata’s known stand is that top Maoist or PCPA leaders would not be released from prison till she receives a “positive response” to her appeal for an end to violence in Jungle Mahal and to her talks offer.

Four interlocutors met Maoist and PCPA leaders in Midnapore jail yesterday and passed on the “initial feedback” to the government today, sources said.

Led by civil rights activist Sujato Bhadra, the team met Mahato, former CPI (Maoist) state secretary Sudip Chongdar alias Kanchan, and mid-level Maoist leaders Raja Sarkhel and Prasun Chatterjee.

They will visit other jails to talk to other Maoist leaders, including Himadri Sen Roy alias Somen and Patitpaban Haldar, the predecessors of Chongdar.

According to a government official, Chatterjee told Bhadra’s team: “We too want talks with the government, but one is not expected to sit for dialogue while still being handcuffed.”

The other detainees, including Mahato, conveyed the same “sentiment”. Chongdar and Mahato added that they needed to talk to other leaders of their organisations before articulating a formal response to the talks offer.

Writers’ sources said that before considering the release of the top guns, the government was waiting for a “concrete response” from the Maoist leadership in view of “conflicting signals from various underground rebel leaders”.

In a statement on July 20, Maoist leader Bikram appeared to address such concerns by denying any differences within the rebels’ state leadership on talks with the government.

He asked the government to release “senior leaders” and “withdraw 90-95 per cent of the joint forces” from Jungle Mahal to “initiate the process”. He said Maoists had “restrained themselves unilaterally despite provocations from police”.

However, the chief minister wants to move “cautiously” on the top leaders’ release and has made the forces pullout conditional on a “ceasefire from all sides” and surrender and recovery of illegal weapons.

The government-appointed review committee on political prisoners had recommended the release of 18 Maoists, including Somen and Kanchan, but Mamata has so far agreed to free only two Maoists.

Although major violence has not occurred in Jungle Mahal after Mamata assumed office, the government is still worried about resuming night train movement, stopped since the Jnaneswari disaster in May last year.

In view of this “uncertain scenario”, there have been suggestions that talks among the jailed Maoist leaders be facilitated, either by lodging all of them in one jail or by taking one group to meet another. Government sources, though, say that any such decision needs to be taken at the central level as the CPI (Maoist) is active in at least nine states.

Yesterday, the jailed leaders accused Trinamul and the joint forces of harassing and intimidating PCPA leaders and supporters in Jungle Mahal after the new government assumed power.

“On the hand, they are talking of the release of political prisoners and on the other, they are arresting our leaders and supporters on false charges,” one of them said, referring to the recent re-arrest of Chhatradhar’s aide Manoj Mahato.

Trinamul and the government have, however, denied the complaints of harassment and accused the rebels and their supporters of disrupting the distribution of subsidised food grain in Jungle Mahal.

Sources said the four jailed leaders complained about lack of basic amenities, especially safe drinking water.