At war with democracy

Maoists, democracy in sublime merger in Tamar

Vijay Deo Jha Tamar Wednesday, December 24, 2008

The Maoists boycott elections and call them a sham of democracy, but for political parties it is a potent antidote to counter Maoist menace.

But here, in Tamar the red sanctuary of Maoist- democracy and Maoists are in sublime merger as candidates contesting by-elections have no qualm to sign a short term ideological pact with Maoist group to win their favour.

The latest series of exchange of allegations in and out of the Assembly with Opposition raising rant over the alleged soft love notes of Chief Minister Shibu Soren indicate this.

The Opposition blamed Soren for justifying their unlawful activities. Candid Soren on many occasions has used fraternity sort of language whenever he spoke about Maoists.

The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Janta Dal(United) in Jharkhand are most forthcoming in their protest to it and directly blamed Soren for hobnobbing with Maoists to win Tamar by-election where he is contesting as the UPA candidate. "The day Soren was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Maoist related violence spiralled. What else he (Soren) has to say on this when even Maoists now accept their relationship with him," said Pashupati Nath Singh, State president of the BJP.

The latest in this series is the release of two suspected Maoists under dubious circumstances about two days back. The temperature in the State capital, however, registered a sudden dip but it was hot inside the house when the Opposition raked up this matter on the last day of the Winter Session of the Jharkhand Assembly.

The Opposition was not satisfied with the explanation given by Soren or for that matter by the Director General of Jharkhand Police Vishnu Dayal Ram, who during his meeting with deputy Chief Minister Stephen Marandi termed it a case of mistaken identity.

"The people of the State have the right to know the truth - who was pulling the string from behind the curtain to remove them from the police custody. The role and complicity of two suspected Maoists are very much in question behind the murder of JD(U) MLA from Tamar Ramesh Singh Munda," Singh gave a fine riposte.

But for some the comradeship of politicians with Maoists is more than mere electoral necessity; it is meditated political strategy. It is evident from elections from the date of undivided Bihar when the rural populace did not turn out in large number for the polling or in some of the cases did not turn out at all after Maoists posted notes of red terror to boycott the poll. Not overtly, but the call benefited the ruling party where it won despite anti-incumbency factor working against it.

"Can you run your campaign in the interior of Tamar and Bundu if Maoists do not want… please go ahead if you can," a senior leader gave this sophisticated explanation who has been campaigning for Soren in Tamar.

Perhaps nowhere is this engrossing alchemy of Maoists and political campaigning more tactile than in Tamar in the recent days. But it pains those who lost their kith and kin in Maoist mayhem that includes Vasundhara Munda, the JD (U) candidate and former Chief Minister Babulal Marandi.

For Marandi political parties lost a golden opportunity to defeat Maoists through ballot while the top leaders of the UPA and the NDA, who recently visited Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh and even campaigned in the deep red Maoist zone, including Dantewara and Bastar, to make their political friends to win the election should have taken a leaf out of their political book. It is despite their umbilical disagreement refused to sing in praise of Maoists- at least on the public face.