CPI(M) takes Lalgarh rally issue to Manmohan

“It is unfortunate,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reportedly told Basudeb Acharia, Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP, when the latter informed him on Friday of the developments over the Lalgarh rally being held at the initiative of Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on August 9.

Mr. Acharia called on Dr. Singh in New Delhi to draw his attention to the rally which, according to the CPI(M) leader, “will only provide an impetus to the Maoists at a time when they are slowly being marginalised” in the region.

“On hearing what I had to say, the Prime Minister said ‘it is unfortunate',” Mr. Acharia told

The Hindu on the phone.

“I told him that the rally was being held by the Railway Minister at a time when the joint security operation against the Maoists was meeting with some success and the local people were slowly rising in resistance against the activities of Left-wing extremists,” he said.

“I also pointed out to him that it was he who had described the Left-wing extremists as the gravest threat to the internal security of the country and it was not judicious for a Central Minister to hold such a rally which is being supported by the [Maoist backed] Police Santrash Birodhi Janasadharaner Committee,” Mr. Acharia said.

“I told the Prime Minister that it was Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram who had said in Parliament that the PSBJC is a frontal organisation of the Maoists,” Mr. Acharia added.

Maoists dare police to arrest them

Raktima Bose writes:

The PSBJC leadership on Friday challenged the police to arrest their representatives who would be participating in the Trinamool Lalgarh rally and warned that the local people would detain the policemen who attempted to do so.

The reaction comes following Director-General of Police Bhupinder Singh's statement on Thursday that any PSBJC member participating in the rally would be arrested from the premises.

Speaking to The Hindu over phone from an undisclosed location, PSBJC secretary Manoj Mahato said: “It is the ploy of the CPI(M) and the State administration to arrest people randomly at the venue, create chaos and then term the rally a failure.”