At least 30 posters and leaflets, along with large banners, suspected to be written by a Maoist organisation were found at several places in Purulia district on Monday morning with a call to people to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the rebel outfit’s armed wing.

This is the first time since the Trinamul Congress came to power in Bengal in 2011 that such a large number of Maoist posters and banners have appeared in the Jungle Mahal.

The printed and handwritten posters and banners were spotted pasted or hung at Madhupur in Bandwan block and Ramsi in Barabazar block on Monday morning. They were all seized by a large police team.

The Maoist posters have surfaced in large numbers close on the heels of the Union home ministry withdrawing two battalions of the CRPF from Jungle Mahal districts of Jhargram, Purulia, Bankura and West Midnapore despite objections from residents and political parties in view of next year’s Assembly polls.

In its printed leaflets, the CPI (Maoists) asked people to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the formation of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army from December 2 to 4. The PLGA is the armed wing of the Left extremist outfit. The leaflets also advise Maoist sympathisers how to observe the PLGA’s anniversary and detail the outfit’s purported attacks in the past one year.

The handwritten posters have asked the people to rise in protest against the Narendra Modi government’s new farm laws and its policy to hand over land to corporate entities.

“Foil the conspiracy of the Centre to hand over the agriculture system to big capital and corporates in the disguise of the farm bill,” one of the posters in Bengali reads.

S. Selvamurugan, the Purulia district police chief, said: “We have seized the posters and are conducting an inquiry.”

Police sources said the appearance of the Maoist materials in huge numbers pointed to the rebel outfit’s efforts to prove its existence in the Jungle Mahal ahead of the elections. “Earlier, one or two posters had been found in Purulia district that shares border with Jharkhand. The call to observe the PLGA anniversary proves that the Left extremists are regrouping,” a police officer said.

Gurupada Tudu, the Purulia district chief of Trinamul, blamed the Centre for the Maoists posters. “We had never witnessed such Maoist activity since our party came to power. We have always demanded adequate paramilitary forces in the region but the central government has withdrawn two companies of the CRPF,” said Tudu.

The BJP, however, alleged that Trinamul was in cahoots with Maoists with an eye to regain its political base in a district where the saffron camp emerged as a strong force.

“The Maoist move has the backing of Trinamul. The ruling party wants to create panic among the people through the Maoists, who had helped Trinamul come to power in 2011,” said Baneswar Mahato, secretary of the BJP’s Purulia unit.

Political scientist Biswanath Chakraborty said Maoists always tried to spread panic before elections and the Purulia incident could be part of that strategy. “The appearance of Maoists posters in Purulia is very alarming. However, considering the political situation of Bengal, we can’t rule out the link of mainstream political parties with the incident,” Chakraborty said.