One of West Bengal’s most significant leaders, Chhatradhar Mahato, who emerged from non-mainstream politics and led a successful people’s movement, was released from jail on Saturday.
He immediately left for his home town in Lalgarh, on the Bengal-Jharkhand border, the epicentre of the Maoist movement a decade ago.
Life imprisonment
Mr. Mahato, the main leader of the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA), was arrested in 2009 for building up a movement against the Communist Party of India (Marxist) with the help of the outlawed Maoist party.
He was convicted in 2015 and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Opposing police excesses in Jhargram district, Mr. Mahato led a predominantly tribal movement, which catapulted him to prominence. At one point, he allegedly coordinated with the Maoists on one hand and the Trinamool Congress leaders on the other, to build resistance against the CPI(M) government.
The movement flagged alleged atrocities committed by the local CPI(M) leaders over the years and the high-handed approach by the administration. Eventually, Mr. Mahato was arrested but the CPI(M) was also defeated in the area.
Despite being in jail, Mr. Mahato contested in the 2011 Assembly polls and bagged nearly 20,000 votes, which “was an indication of his popularity in Jangalmahal”, Mr. Mahato’s wife Niyoti told The Hindu in 2016.
After Kishenji’s killing
However, following his arrest and killing of Maoist leader Mallojula Koteswara Rao (Kishenji), the people’s movement in Bengal’s western districts fizzled out.
Meanwhile, the TMC also partially lost its grip in the backward tribal areas of Jhargram and Purulia.
In the panchayat polls of 2018, the BJP bagged 42% and 33% seats in Jhargram and adjacent Purulia respectively, far higher than its State-average of 18%. In the 2019 Lok Sabha poll, the TMC lost both the seats to the BJP and even the adjacent ones, partly dominated by the tribals.
“In this context, many believe that Mr. Mahato can play a significant role in the area. He may form a new party which can pull a percentage of anti-TMC tribal votes, which went to the BJP in the last elections,” said a CPI(Maoist) sympathiser.
However, it would depend on Mr. Mahato’s crowd pulling ability and “no one knows if he still is as popular as he was at the time of his arrest”.