Midnapore, Nov. 24: The CPM units in Naxalite-infested Belpahari and Banspahari have finally got down to probing how the rebels got a stranglehold on the region.

Party leaders in the West Midnapore pockets cried foul against the government?s lack of initiative and directly linked the absence of development work with the growing influence of the CPI (Maoist), the Naxalite outfit formed by the merger of the People?s War Group and the Maoist Communist Centre.

Speakers at the CPM local committee conferences at Belpahari (November 21) and Banspahari (November 23) said the party?s failure to contain middlemen and moneylenders also prompted the local people to sympathise with the extremists, who been championed their cause.

Party sources in Belpahari admitted that the CPM had failed to check exploitation of villagers by the middlemen, who control the economy that revolves around collection and sale of kendu and sal leaves and firewood.

?The poor people of the region eke out a living from these leaves and firewood. But middlemen buy them out for paltry sums. We have failed to build up a proper movement to ensure these villagers get adequately paid,? a party member who attended the meeting at Belpahari said.

Other party members who attended the meetings felt that the CPM had dragged its feet to launch movements to improve the quality of life and gradually became isolated. ?A large section of poor villagers now supports the Naxalites because they speak their mind. The lackadaisical attitude of the party units in these areas has also slowly weakened the organisation,? a party member said.

However, the party?s Purulia secretariat member, Dahareswar Sen, said the CPM had ?launched movements? on various local issues. ?We are trying reach out to the villagers more and establish closer contacts,? he said. Some of Sen?s comrades accused the Naxalites of being in league with the ?middlemen?.

But, the message from the meetings was that the government should purchase the kendu and sal leaves from villagers through self help groups at remunerative prices and prevent smuggling of trees from the jungles.