Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday instructed the Jhargram district administration to keep a strong vigil on fake campaigns being carried out in the name of Maoists and asked Bengal chief secretary H.K. Dwivedi to speak to his counterpart in Jharkhand to fortify the border between the two states.
“Someone will make a handwritten poster. Some others will click a picture of it and make it viral on social media. This will create panic among people,” the chief minister said while addressing an administrative review meeting in Jhargram on Wednesday.
Mamata’s statement is in reference to recent events of alleged Maoist posters cropping up in Jhargram district and other parts of the larger Jungle Mahal region.
The chief minister reiterated that Maoists “are a thing of the past”. “There is no such matter anymore. I’ve gathered information from all sides. Whoever is connected with this, will be investigated,” Mamata said. “Some might try to incite a riot. Or spread rumours regarding Maoists that they are coming,” she added.
The obliteration of Maoists from the Jungle Mahal has been one of the most-talked about successes of the Mamata regime. However, the resurgence of the Maoist scare, according to sources, could be attributed to local people posing as Maoists in order to attract the government’s attention to their problems.
Mamata’s statement that there are no Maoists in the Jungle Mahal and the slew of developmental activities she announced for tribal people on Wednesday prove that she is trying to assuage the concern among the people of the region, sources said.
The chief minister asked if any police station in Jhargram had issued an order prohibiting movement of people in their jurisdictions after 6pm. Both district magistrate Joyoshi Dasgupta and police chief Arijit Sinha replied in negative.
Then, Mamata said such a rumour must be the handiwork of some who intended to create panic among people.
She asked the police to strengthen vigil on social media.
“Keep an eye on social media. There are good people on social media. But there are some people who instigate (others),” she said.
The chief minister asked Biswajit Biswas, the officer in-charge of the Belpahari police station, about the problems he had been facing and whether there were CRPF camps in his jurisdiction. Biswas confirmed that there were six CRPF camps and one police camp functioning at Belpahari.
Mamata wanted to know if outsiders had infiltrated Bengal through Belpahari. Biswas replied that Bengal was connected to Jharkhand through five roads in Belpahari, all of which were under the surveillance of CCTV cameras. He said there was regular naka checking also on the roads.
The chief minister has instructed the police to set up a Winners team, which is composed of only tribal women for patrolling.
She asked chief secretary Dwivedi to take up the issue of inter-state border security with his Jharkhand counterpart.
