The crowd at Mamata Banerjee’s rally on Monday. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

Lalgarh, Aug. 9: Dhanamoni Tudu, the mother of slain People’s Committee against Police Atrocities leader Lalmohan Tudu, was standing at the door of her house in Narcha village, 3km from Lalgarh, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Our family will not attend Mamata Banerjee’s rally. No one from the committee has enquired about us after my son’s death. Those who used to come to our house do not care about how we are making ends meet,” the 65-year-old said. Lalmohan, who was the committee president, was gunned down by the joint forces in February.

Lalmohan’s wife Lakshmimoni, in her forties, said: “Why should we go to the rally? We have been treated shabbily by the committee. We don’t have money to pay the labourers who cultivate our family land. The committee doesn’t bother,” she said.

Her younger son Bhupati, 11, was playing with his friends in the courtyard. Her elder son Leander and daughter Lolita were not at home.

The crowd at Mamata Banerjee’s rally on Monday. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

Villagers of Chhotopelia, about 2km from Narcha, also defied the committee by not attending the Lalgarh rally. Chhotopelia was the first village that the joint forces had raided after the attack on the chief minister’s convoy in 2008. The police had beaten up several tribal villagers, including Chintamoni Murmu. Chintamoni stayed away from Mamata’s rally and instead went to work with her husband in a neighbouring village.

“We have seen enough blood. Mamata Banerjee’s efforts to restore peace is an eyewash. She just wants tribal votes,” said Sadhan Murmu, a resident of Chhotopelia. Sadhan said only two persons from the village had gone to the meeting.

In arrested committee leader Chhatradhar Mahato’s village Amlia, about 2km from Chhotopelia, a small procession of 20 people were seen marching towards Lalgarh to attend the meeting. “We are fed up with processions. Very few people in our village are interested in the rally,” said Ratan Mahato of Amlia.

The scene at villages deep inside the forests of Jungle Mahal, considered a Maoist hotbed, was different.

Armed Maoist guerrillas entered the villages, including Rameshwarpur, Kalshibhanga, Jharnadanga, Purnapani and Lakshmanpur, on Saturday night and “ordered” villagers to participate in the rally. They roamed the villages with AK47s.

Around 9am today, armed Maoists assembled at a playground at Rameshwarpur village. Committee leader Manoj Mahato arrived after some time and together with the rebels, marshalled villagers for Mamata’s rally.

As 5,000 villagers started marching meekly towards Lalgarh, the Maoists sped off on motorcycles.

Sabitribala Das, 58, of Jharnadanga, was seen trudging towards Lalgarh, carrying a bag of apples. “These fruits are for Mamata. I don’t have a daughter. I consider Mamata to be my daughter.”