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Lalgarh (Bengal): By the third week of April, Lalgarh, under the Jhargram district of Bengal’s Jangalmahal had already begun to scorch. At midday, the heat is relentless, with temperatures soaring to 39° Celsius.

Moving right from Lalgarh along a narrow forest trail, the road is eerily deserted. Occasionally, a lone cyclist passes by breaking the silence. After covering nearly 10 kilometres, this reporter arrives at the Modhyamkumari village, a place known across the country, not for its serenity, but for a brutal killing that took place here 16 years ago, an act of violence that seemed to surpass even medieval barbarity.

Most of the residents of this village belong to the Santhal tribal community.

On the ground floor of a a two-storey house, a frail elderly woman is resting. When this reporter calls out to her, the woman steps out of the room. Her body is bent and fragile. She begins speaking incoherently.

Chitamoni Saren, the mother of Shalku Soren, who was killed by Maoists in 2010. Photo: Madhu Sudan Chatterjee.

“When will my Shalku return? Are you his friends? All his friends come to see me, but Shalku will not come. He was killed by Maoists, using sharp weapons.”

Her words hand heavily in the still air.

“The country must hear, they must be told, why Shalku was killed in such a way. Why were we not allowed to see his dead body? Why did his body lie infested with worms in a mango garden at Dharampur for three days? What crime had my son committed?” she asks.

The name of the elderly woman is Chitamani Saren. She is the mother of Shalku Saren.

The People’s War Group, which later merged with the Maoist Communist Centre of India, to form the Communist Party of India (Maoist) has been active in the forested and border areas of Jangalmahal – covering districts such as Jhargram, Paschim Medinipur, Purulia, and Bankura – since 2001. The group led a series of elimination campaigns in the region.

Their primary targets, according to locals this reporter has spoken to over the course of years, were well-known and popular CPI(M) workers in the area. The intention was to politically embarrass the then Left Front government in the state.

Primary school teacher Lakshman Mandal from Jhilimili in Bankura’s Ranibandh, Tapan Mahato from Lodhasuli village in Jhargram, farmer Rothu Singh from Bandowan in Purulia and several others this reporter spoke to during his journey to and from Modhyamkumari said that the killings had been brutal.

In districts such as Purulia, Bankura and Jhargram, a series of killings were reported almost daily. Local accounts describe that the bodies of poor tribal and non-tribal people began to surface frequently, leading to alarm and a fearful atmosphere across the region.

On November 2, 2008, a landmine explosion reportedly targeted the convoy of then Bengal chief minister, the late Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. The incident took place near Baroa, close to Salboni in Paschim Medinipur district. The chief minister was returning after laying the foundation stone for a steel plant of the Jindal Group at Salboni. He narrowly escaped the attack. According to police reports, Maoists were suspected to be behind the explosion.

Following the incident, and subsequent administrative measures, various anti-Left Front forces in the region came together to form the Police Santrosh Birodhi Janasadharan Committee (People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities). The organisation was led by Chhatradhar Mahato, a resident of Lalgarh in Jhargram. His elder brother, Shasadhar Mahato, and sister-in-law, Suchitra Mahato, were reportedly associated with Maoist squad activities, according to local accounts.

Under the banner of this committee, a renewed wave of violent unrest emerged in the Jangalmahal region. Several killings were reported, and many people were said to have gone missing, with their whereabouts still unknown. The period is remembered by locals as one marked by intense violence, fear, and political turmoil across the belt.

In Purulia’s Bandwan, Bankura’s Barikul, and Sarenga, the officers-in-charge of these police stations, along with several police personnel, were killed in Maoist attacks. In a separate incident on February 15, 2010, at Shilda, 24 Eastern Frontier Rifles personnel were also killed by Maoist activists. On May 28, 2010, the Jnaneswari Express derailment occurred between Khemashuli and Sardiha stations in Paschim Medinipur. More than 148 people were killed in this incident. It was alleged that Maoist forces were responsible.

On June 13, 2009, Shalku Saren had gone to attend a social event in the village. His brother Fagu Saren believes that it is there that Shalku was killed, purportedly because of his association with the CPI(M). “From the gathering, he was taken away to a burial ground in the village, where his throat was slit with a sharp weapon,” Fagu says.

Fagu Saren and Chitamoni Saren, the brother and mother of Shalku Soren, who was killed by Maoists in 2010. Photo: Madhu Sudan Chatterjee.

Uttam Mahato, a local CPI(M) leader, says that Shalku’s body was later taken to the Dharampur CPI(M) party office. “But soon after it was brought there, Maoists launched an attack. We were forced to flee, leaving the body behind,” he says.

The body reportedly lay under a mango tree for three days, decomposing in the open. Family members, it is alleged, were not even able to see him one last time.

The next day, June 14, 2009, barely 10 kilometres from Shalku’s home, near Lalgarh police station, Maoist squads allegedly carried out coordinated raids in three villages, Kadamdihi, Krishnanagar, and Salboni. Several men – Mohan Shing, Debabrata Saren, Dinabandhu Saren, Malay Mahato, Keshab Chandra Manna, Dhiraj Manna, Sanjay Mahato, and Prabir Mahato – were abducted. They were taken into the forested area of Salboni, where, according to local accounts, they were tied to trees and shot dead. Of them, the remains believed to be of Mohan Shing were later recovered from a nearby river. The others are missing to this day.

Many of their family members live in the Kadamdihi village under the jurisdiction of the Lalgarh police station.

Jharna Shing is Mohan’s widow but is yet to receive his death certificate. “My husband was a landless agricultural labourer. He was killed simply because he supported the CPI(M). I have visited Lalgarh police station countless times, but even today, I have not received a death certificate,” she says.

Jharna Shing, the wife of Mohan Shing, who was killed by Maoists. Photo: Madhu Sudan Chatterjee.

Dhiraj Manna, the father of Keshab Manna, says that he still cannot fathom how his son was picked up, “My son had just appeared for his secondary examinations. He hardly understood anything about politics. We never saw him again,” he says.

Several family members alleged that those responsible for the killings are now moving freely among them. Purnima Manna, mother of Keshab Manna, expresses anguish that successive governments had failed to respond to their plight. “We only want justice for these killings,” she told The Wire.

The parents of Keshab Manna, Diraj Manna and Purnima Manna. Photo: Madhu Sudan Chatterjee.

Many residents across the four districts of the Jangalmahal region alleged that during that period, Maoists who had taken shelter in the forest received food and logistical support from individuals associated with the TMC and Jharkhand-based parties. “Some members of a Jharkhand party would carry an extra set of clothes and pose as Maoists to carry out attacks on villagers,” alleges Gyaram Kishku, a resident of Jhilimili. He further claims that “a significant number of those individuals have now joined the BJP.”

At that time, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee had stated that there was “no such thing as Maoists” in Jangalmahal, describing it as propaganda by the CPI(M). However, in Lalgarh, Maoist politburo member Koteshwar Rao, also known as Kishanji, told journalists in public that he wished to see Banerjee as the chief minister of the state. Within months of Banerjee coming to power, however, Kishanji was killed in an encounter.

Residents of the Jangalmahal region also point out that while the BJP today asserts that Maoist forces will be eradicated from the country, several senior central leaders of the BJP had then visited the Jangalmahal during that period. According to locals, these questions continue to fuel debate and unanswered questions about the complex political dynamics of that time.

Pranab Hazra, a librarian at Sidhu Kanhu University in Purulia, offered a broader political perspective. He stated that the BJP had little presence in Jangalmahal during that period but gradually expanded its influence after the phase of Maoist violence. “Through organisations like RSS-run schools, they established a foothold in the region. As CPI(M) workers were repeatedly targeted and killed, a vacuum was created. The BJP entered that space, often mobilising people along lines of caste, religion, and identity,” he says.

According to various sources, between 2001 and 2010, as many as 527 people were allegedly killed by Maoists in the Jangalmahal region. In addition, more than a hundred Maoists are believed to have lost their lives in encounters with the police during the same period.

After the TMC came to power in 2011, many Maoist cadres were persuaded to surrender and were subsequently provided with government employment. Under pressure from prolonged protests by affected families, the present state government also offered jobs as home guards to one member from several families of those who had been killed. However, many allege that justice in these killings remains elusive. In Ranibandh of Bankura, a woman from a tribal family who was also given a home guard job says her father had been killed by Maoists. “The person who killed my father now works alongside me. I live in fear,” she says, requesting that her name not be published.

Also read: How a Pro-BJP Village in Bengal’s Jangalmahal Mounted a Cultural Resistance to Hindutva

Librarian Hazra, quoted earlier, noted that the BJP views Adivasis as “forest-dwelling Hindus” and does not recognise their distinct religious practices such as Sarna. According to him, religious activities like the reading of the Gita and Ramayana are now being encouraged in tribal areas. But he says that issues such as employment, education, and healthcare have not received adequate attention from either the BJP or the TMC.

Locals also alleged that both parties have, at times, perpetuated divisions between Kurmi and Santhal communities. Recently, Union home minister Amit Shah met leaders of the Kurmi community and assured them that their language would be considered for official recognition. Meanwhile, the TMC government has supported the construction of “Jaher Sthan” (religious prayer places) for Santhal communities using public funds.

Amid these developments, residents say that core livelihood concerns remain largely unaddressed. This has led to a lingering and difficult question in the region: was the phase of Maoist violence merely part of a larger political conspiracy, and are they consigned to a future of loss?

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