People's Democracy

Red Deluge in Lalgarh

Thousands of people, with energy and determination, gathered in a massive rally in Lalgarh strongly denouncing the Maoist-Trinamool terror and in support of democratic atmosphere in Jangal Mahal area. The rally, held on December 31, 2010 at the call of CPI(M), was first of its kind in the last two years.  The spontaneous stream of villagers, in and around of Lalgarh marked the high point of peoples’ resistance against barbarism, perpetrated by Maoist-TMC combine in West Midnapore district.

This is that Lalgarh, which witnessed worst kind of Maoist violence. A total of 71 CPI(M) leaders and activists were killed in this block alone. Hundreds of families were forced to leave villages. Maoists declared Lalgarh as a model for their movement in the whole country. The so-called ‘headquarters’ of Maoist activities in West Bengal began to crumble in last few months with fierce resistance from the masses. The final bugle was sounded today with the massive participation of people.

The rally was held in the school ground of Ramkrishna Vidyapeeth, but the space was too small for such a huge crowd. From the early morning, people began to march towards the rally ground and even before the meeting started, the entire area was virtually submerged in the red deluge.  The mood was joyous, tribal drum beats and loud slogans competed.

Dipak Sarkar, CPI(M) district secretary; Tarun Roy, state Kisan Sabha secretary and Susanta Ghosh, state minister addressed the rally among others. They congratulated the people of the district for exemplary courage that they had shown in fighting back the armed gangs. 

Speakers squarely accused the Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee for actively abetting the Maoists. They appealed for a wider political campaign and mobilization to defend the Left Front government. 

The rally of nearly one lakh people was, in a sense, a strong and befitting reply to slanderous defamation of CPI(M) and villagers by Union Home Minister too. 

‘Let the criminals realise/the soil of Bengal /is impeccable outpost’, the rally reverberated the lines of this popular Bengali poem. 

(INN)