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| PM’s Srinagar visit survives Delhi’s agonizing evening | | Govt relieved after 5hr train hostage drama | |
ABID SHAH
New Delhi, Oct 27: Delhi went through terribly agonising hours through Tuesday evening that threatened to mar tomorrow’s visit of Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, to the troubled State of Jammu and Kashmir. In the wake of an important train taken hostage today by alleged Naxal supporters in West Midnapur district in Bengal, the Capital went into a tizzy, more so because this had the potential of thwarting Manmohan Singh’s two-day Kashmir visit beginning tomorrow.
Though there is no official word until late evening in this regard amid the train hijack crisis that as per the Union Home Minister, P Chidambaram, blew over after five hours of formidable efforts and moving troops to the spot to save and free the Delhi-bound Rajdhani Express originating from Bhubaneswar in Orissa, officials here heaved a sigh of relief when the entire drama ended without any loss of life or property, except minor damages caused to the train.
Apparently, the Government response to the incident has been on a war footing yet this has been marked by great restraint. This clearly points to the high impotance being given to Delhi’s top leadership’s tomorrow’s Kashmir visit. Those handling the crisis clearly had this in mind since Manmohan Singh is visiting the Valley to open a new railwayline there and Mrs Sonia Gandhi and Ms Mamata Banerjee are supposed to accompany him.
The 18-kilometre-long Qazigund-Anantnag section of railwayline in the difficult mountainous terrain connecting the Valley with the rest of the country is awaiting inauguration for months now as the Centre’s top leadership could not make it for one reason or the other since mid-August this year.
The Union Railway Minister, Ms Mamta Banerjee, had several rounds of talks with Mr Manmohan Singh and his officials to finalise the visit. Yet she has mostly been preoccupied with the politics of her home State, West Bengal, which has been one of the reasons for the postponement of the inauguration of the Valley’s railwayline.
Strangely, on the eve of her visit to Kashmir along with the Prime Minister, a train was hijacked back in her homestead and not only her but also other officials faces fell in view of tomorrow’s crucial engagement for which decks were cleared after efforts taking months, including visits by Union Home Minister and Cabinet Secretary to Srinagar.
Since the hijacking has been to demand the release of an important activist, Chhatradhar Mahto, from Lalgarh in West Bengal where Ms Mamata Banerjee had shown interest in the past as Maoist have been pitted against ruling CPI-M in the State, Ms Banerjee also turned out to be a key person in resolving the Tuesday’s hijack drama where about a 500-strong tribal mob, supporting or controlled by Naxalites took over the train.
Sources say that the train has been released after Ms Banerjee’s assurance of talks with the tribals representatives. Obviously, this would have to wait until she returns from her Kashmir visit.
Moreover, the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, is an arch rival of Ms Banerjee. He has been quite averse to releasing Chhatradhar Mahto and also what he calls Ms Banerjee’s hobnobbing with Naxalites and their front organisations. Mr Bhattacharya has also been against releasing Naxalite prisoners in exchange of two policemen who were earlier kidnapped by alleged armed Naxalites.
Somehow these intricacies of West Bengal politics look like a foil to that of Kashmir at the moment since this has also a militancy angle to it. And as Ms Banerjee along with her Cabinet boss and UPA chairperson heads to the Valley, she and her moves are going to get quite a bit of attention through next few days.
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