Villagers caught between Maoists and jawans

LALGARH/LODHASULI: Fatik Pramanik of Salboni's Malida was never a CPM supporter. After the change in the ruling party's fortune, Fatik didn't rush to join PCPA either. Supporting his family with the meagre income from a tea-stall on the Salboni-Lalgarh road, Fatik today finds himself caught in the crossfire between the PCPA and police. He had to part with Rs 20 out of the Rs 80 that he earns every day, as the PCPA members wanted the money from him.For this crime the tea stall that he ran was ransacked by the police.
"Till around a week ago, PCPA didn't have a strong presence in the area. Eight days back, Chhatradhar Mahato came here and immediately, CPM leaders fled the village. We were asked to form village committees. On Thursday morning, some people came to the village and started felling trees to block the road. We were asked to join. My family members joined, but I stayed away. Now I have nothing left," said Fatik, sitting in the ruins of his shop.
Fatik is not the only villager who are finding themselves caught between the devil and deep sea.
Twenty-five-year-old Sujan Sahu was sleeping inside his hut when the policemen thrashed him and later picked him up. His fault attending a PCPA rally. Another villager, Niranjan Sahu, was threatened and assaulted because PCPA members had taken 10 kgs of rice from him.
Till the other day, Biswanath Mahato of Dharampur was a CPM supporter. "Now I am with the committee. There is no other way out. What I am scared of is police crackdown. If that happens, the committee will suspect us," he said.
Non-tribal villagers are also facing threat. "Whenever we are seen talking on our cellphones, the Maoists ask us with whom we are talking to. Since we are not Adivasis, the PCPA members are suspicious of us," said Susanta Malli of Dhanguri, close to Binpur.
Several families have already started fleeing the villages. Fear was palpable at Bankshole, a hamlet near Lodhashuli, where three CPM workers were shot dead. Those shot were members of the night-guard party that was formed by former SP Ajay Nanda to rehabilitate anti-socials and free the Kolkata-Jamshedpur highway from dacoits and robbers. Now, the villagers are refusing to be a part of the night-guard team.
"We had expected cops to take action against those who killed our men. But since the administration is acting like a coward and has refused to come forward, we don't see any point in carrying on with the night patrol," said Upen Mahato, a member of the core committee of the vigilance force.
With no help in sight from party leaders either (36 CPM heavyweights, including Binpur zonal committee secretary Anuj Pandey, are couped up in the zilla parishad guest house since Sunday), no one is willing to risk their lives.
Sabita Rani Mahato, mother of Abhijit, who had been shot dead on Wednesday, said the family was trying to relocate to a relative's house in Manikpara.