Former IPS officer and state BJP vice president Bharati Ghosh today severely criticised chief minister Mamata Banerjee for inducting Chattradhar Mahato into the state committee of the Trinamul Congress ‘in a bid to gain control over the Junglemahal areas.’

In an interview, to a news channel, she said at a time when people of Junglemahal area have turned against Maoist activities and refused to fire weapons, instead preferring a normal life, sending their children to education centre, while youths are seeking employment opportunities, Miss Banerjee chose a known Maoist leader, whose hands are red with blood, involved in the killing of police officers and innocent people.

“An NIA team has arrived to investigate the 11-yearold case of the hijacking of the Bhubaneswar-Delhi Rajdhani Express train by PCAPA (Peoples Committee Against Police Atrocities), in which Chattradhar was involved. He will be grilled soon. I can give instance of killings of several police officers, in which Chattradhar was involved. Now he has been given political recognition to terrorise people of Junglemahal areas,” she said.

Mahato, the leader of the Lalgarh movement, a popular uprising of Adivasi villagers backed allegedly by the Maoists (the Communist Party of India-Maoists) in 2008, was arrested on September 26, 2009 by the state CID from Jhargram for an alleged attempt on the life of former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in Kantapahari area of West Midnapore district on November 2, 2008. Subsequently, around 500 activists of PCAPA, who were guided by 25 armed Maoists, hijacked the BhubaneswarDelhi Rajdhani on 27 October, 2009 near the Banstala station at Jhargram demanding the release of Mahato.

The train was under their control for five hours before CRPF and state police commandoes reached the spot, forcing the hijackers to flee. Ms Ghosh said that Mahato was the right hand of top CPI (Maoist) leader Kishenji. He is being brought into the TMC as the entire Adivasi votes has shifted to the BJP so Mamata Banerjee wants to use him to get the tribal votes back, she said.

“But they (TMC) won’t be able to win. TMC miscreants have even killed several tribal BJP leaders and supporters and hung their bodies. Now they are targeting Rajbongshi community people in North Bengal. Already Hemtabad MLA Debendranath Roy was killed and hanged and one girl from this community was killed and raped,” she said.