Two Maoists were killed and two security personnel of the 10th Naga Battalion seriously injured in an encounter that began shortly after two Trinamool Congress supporters were shot dead by a group of left wing extremists at Ghatbera in the Balarampur area of West Bengal's Purulia district on Monday evening. The gun-battle continued through the night till early on Tuesday. The exchange of fire occurred when the security forces ambushed the Maoist...

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee tonight formally revived security operations against Maoists after the rebels refused to extend a ceasefire, spoke of war, criticised her peace envoys and appeared to escalate hostilities by killing two Trinamul supporters. Joint forces in pursuit were locked in a gunfight with the killers till late tonight at a Purulia village in the foothills of the Ayodhya hills. “I will take away the guns of the Maoists. The...

To gain a foothold in forest areas first Maoist rebels, who resurfaced in Telangana, are now planning to start a new students' organisation called Adivasi Vidyarthi Sangam (AVS) to mobilise tribal students to fight for their rights and welfare activities. The formation of AVS is being seen as a part of the overall Maoist strategy to revive the defunct mass organisations, which helped spread revolutionary activity. Information culled from different sources indicates...

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee told the people of the Maoist-hit areas of Purulia district on Friday that “you shall get whatever you ask for, provided you don't support the Maoists.” “You shall have colleges, schools, hospitals, stadia, sports academies and even a medical college. Whatever you ask for, we shall provide it. But you must make only one promise — you will not support the Maoists,” she said, addressing...

-Economic and Political Weekly   Mamata Banerjee concurs with P Chidambaram’s counterinsurgency strategy. She revels in rhetoric – Mamata Banerjee’s word of honour was parivartan (change). A large section of the people of West Bengal desperately wanted change, so parivartan brought her to the helm at Writers’ Building, with its Corinthian facade carrying over from the heyday of the East India Company, now, of course, the office and secretariat of the chief minister...