Peace in Naxal infested Bengal is Mamata's first priority

After Calcutta High Court nod to the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, is confident keeping her key election promise of returning land to unwilling farmers soon. What's next? party insiders say Banerjee's 'first priority' is now to bring peace to the Jangalmahal region to the west of the state.

“So far as the Singur verdict is concerned, we all kept our fingers crossed. The ruling came as a huge relief for us,”a central minister from the Trinamool Congress said.

According to the senior Trinamool Congress leader, Banerjee's next focus is to restore peace in Jangalmahal. Party insiders say, the chief minister has expressed concerns in her inner circle and asked her ministers and bureaucrats to consider development of Jangalmahal as a priority.

“Our leader has repeatedly said Singur, Jangalmahal and Hills are the three challenges for the government. For the time being the Darjeeling matter is resolved to an extent with the tripartrite pact, and after the High Court ruling in Singur, we are confident of winning any further legal battle over it. What remains is the Naxal problem,” he added.

During her maiden visit as chief minister to Naxal-infested areas of the state, Banerjee made a wide range of promises that included ten thousand jobs, bicycles for school-goers, a bridge to be built over the Subarnarekha among many others. But no major initiative has been taken at the ground level by the state government which has been grappling with financial problems.

Moreover, a number of TMC party workers have fall victim to Naxal violence prompting Banerjee to give an ultimatum to ultras asking them to choose between talks and killing, saying, “the two can't go together.”

Left parties are leaving no stone unturned to encash the opportunity to attack the state government on the issue pointing out that Mamata Banerjee as a opposition leader once had asked centre to withdraw security forces from the Jangalmahal. “The Frankenstein you have created at different places will now come and attack you,” Surjya Kanta Mishra, leader of the opposition in the state assembly and senior CPI-M leader said.