Kolkata: In a significant development that could change the political mood of Jangalmahal in Bengal, Chhatradhar Mahato, a former leader of Maoist-backed People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA), was released on Saturday.
Mahato was arrested on September 26, 2009, by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) from Pirka village in Lalgarh of Jhargram district on charges of an abortive bid on the life of former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in the Kantapahari area on November 2, 2008.
The then Union steel minister Ram Vilas Paswan and his colleague Jitin Prasada had a narrow escape when a landmine blasted at Kantapahari when they were returning from a foundation stone-laying event of the Sajjan Jindal-promoted JSW group's mega steel plant.
In August, 2019, due to his good conduct in jail, the Calcutta High decided to commute Mahato’s life sentence to 10 years of imprisonment.
He was the face behind the Lalgarh movement that was launched after police conducted raids at several tribal homes and arrested a large number of locals allegedly without any evidence. Under his leadership, Mahato had turned Lalgarh into a liberated zone till his arrest in 2009.
After his release, the firebrand leader told News18, “It’s a new life for me and I will continue to work for the tribal people in Bengal.”
His wife, Niyati Mahato, thanked the high court for reducing the sentence and said, “We were hopeful one day we will get justice. Last 10 years were difficult for us.”
While hinting that he would work extensively to fulfil Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s dream, Mahato said, “During my jail term, I got to know from the media that 'Didi' (Banerjee) is actually concerned about the tribal people. She did a lot of work for them.”
Though, Mahato was released on Saturday, he went home in Lalgarh only on Sunday where villagers gathered in large numbers to welcome him. There are speculations that he may contest the 2021 Assembly polls on a Trinamool Congress ticket to check the BJP’s recent rise in the tribal belt.
With his followers’ base still intact, experts feel Mahato could turn the tables in favour of the ruling camp again, and bring back voters who switched loyalty to the BJP.
Once a Maoist stronghold, Jangalmahal’s substantial vote bank of the Left Front has pushed the saffron brigade ahead of the ruling TMC in recent years. This helped the BJP create history in 2019 by winning all the Lok Sabha seats here and increasing its tally to 18 from two in 2014.
According to Election Commission figures, the BJP’s vote share in the Janglamahal districts increased to 20% in the parliamentary polls. During the 2018 panchayat elections too, the BJP had increased its vote share by 27 per cent in Jangalmahal districts as the TMC suffered massive a setback in Jhargram, Purulia and Bankura districts.
However, over the last few months, the TMC has managed to regain its lost ground in some of the ‘refugee’ and tribal-dominated areas, as the saffron camp struggles to establish its stand on the issue of the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act and proposed implementation of the National Register of Citizens in the state.
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