Dharampur, Kolkata:
As the country watched the Maoist hostage drama unfold in Bihar, a wind of change blew across a village in West Bengal's Lalgarh which was virtually declared a Maoist takeover on 15 June 2009.
The Communist Party of India Marxist(CPM) returned to Dharampur village in Lalgarh.
Last year, led by armed Maoists, mobs tore down a CPM office the house of a CPM leader also pronouncing a death sentence on Buddhadeb Bhattacharya.
"Our plan was to give the death sentence to Buddhadeb babu," Bikash, Maoist squad leader.
However, on Wednesday, the Maoists were pushed back by security forces and CPM flag was back in front of the party office. The CPM leader Anuj Pandey, whose house had been demolished, led a procession in the village to show that the party was back holding the reins of the district.
"The people who got involved (with the Maoists), come back. That's not your place. This is. Come back. If you made a mistake and realise that you made a mistake, come back. We want to join hands and go forward," said Anuj Pandey, CPM Zonal Secretary.
But these talks of peace with simmering tension on the ground may just be as short lived.
The Trinamool Congress is set to hold a march from Lalgarh to Dharampur on 9th September, something the CPM which has just managed to re-enter the area may not exactly welcome.