Lalgarh tense, Maoist violence still on

More Maoist violence took place in West Bengal on Tuesday, a day before a Maoist said shockingly that he and his party will assassinate the Chief Minister of West Bengal.

On Tuesday even bolder Maoists attacked more CPM buildings. After NDTV's story on Monday, a large number of TV vans have visited the area and at this moment they are being surrounded by people with bows and arrows and basic weapons. The situation is dangerous.

Earlier in the day local activists who call themselves the People's Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA) held a massive rally in Lalgarh town.

As it ended some rallyists marched to the party office, ransacked it and set fire to the debris. The PCPA however denied any direct link with the Maoists.

"Who is the Maoist we don't care. A Trinamool activist or Congress worker -- we welcome anyone who wants to help our movement. Ours is people's movement and people's anger is carrying it forward," said Chhatradhar Mahato, Leader, PCPA.

Their denial notwithstanding, the Maoist activity was on full display at Dharampur village on Monday when villagers under the leadership of Maoist commander Bikash attacked the CPM party office and the home of a CPM leader.

Shaken by the overt Maoist presence in Lalgarh, the state government finally got its act together and asked the Centre for help.

"The state government has asked for Central forces to restore normalcy. We have asked for extra forces. As of now one company has arrived," said Ashok Mohan Chakraborty, Chief Secretary, West Bengal.

Lalgarh is now holding its breath, the people's movement here may deny links with the Maoist but the Maoists have laid their cards on the table, virtually inviting government action, and government action will now come sooner rather than later in fact in the next couple of days.