People's Democracy

ARMED assailants identified as belonging to the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO) organised an armed assault on the Dhupguri zonal committee office of the CPI (M) late in the evening of August 17. They gunned down five CPI (M) workers, and left 14 more critically wounded.

Among those killed were the Jalpaiguri district committee member of the CPI (M) and the Purta Karmadhyaksha of the Jalpaiguri Zillah Parishad, Gopal Chaki. Other CPI (M) workers killed in the brutal assault are Ganesh Roy, Gosain Sil, Dulal Roy, and Subodh Roy.

A 24-hour bandh was observed throughout the district of Jalpaiguri at the call of the CPI (M) to register protest against the killings. Protest marches were organised through out the state on August 18 to expose among the people the separatist misdeeds of the KLO. The last remains of the five comrades who had fallen to the assassin’s bullets were taken out in a massive procession at Dhupguri in the afternoon of August 18.

The state secretary of the Bengal unit of the CPI (M), Anil Biswas has condemned the murders. He has called upon the people to build up a strong and united resistance against the acts of the separatist KLO ultras. Kartick Pal, state secretary of the CPI (M-L) Liberation has condemned the Dhupguri killings and has said that an "attack on a Party office can never be touted as a part of any democratic movement."

The attack came when a meeting of the Kisan Sabha was in progress on the first floor of the building that houses the zonal committee office. According to eyewitness reports, six or seven ultras came in three or more motorcycles.

They quickly shouldered their way inside the building, which stands on the Dhupguri crossing on the way to Falakata, and started to shoot from powerful automatic rifles, targeting Comrade Gopal Chaki, in particular. The shells of the 7.65mm bullets that lie spewed around the Party office leave no doubt as to the ultras’ use of sophisticated AK-47 and AK-56 weapons.

Moments after the shooting had started, a heavily injured comrade Gopal Chaki nevertheless managed to douse all lights on the first floor and shouted out to his comrades to either lie down or take shelter behind the furniture. There is no doubt that but for his presence of mind, many more lives would have been lost on that fateful evening. The KLO ultras chose to flee the scene as CPI (M) workers from the other floors of the building regrouped and gave a chase.

For the past several years KLO ultras have organised attacks on CPI (M) workers in various districts of north Bengal. With whatever little they had by way of their fast eroding base, the KLO ultras have chosen to mount attack on the CPI (M) workers whom they describe as their "sworn enemy."

On August 7 2000, the KLO ultras murdered Jalpaiguri district committee member of the CPI (M), Subhas Sarkar at Dhupguri. On the same day, they gunned down Comrade Netai Das, a member of the Moinaguri local committee.

In the month of July in 1999, the KLO ultras had assassinated another member of the Jalpaiguri district unit of the CPI (M), Pranesh Pal along with CPI (M) workers Dilip Roy and Sunil Dutta. On March 14 2001, the KLO ultras killed CPI (M) worker Moin-ul Alam along with a CPI worker, comrade Mumtaz-ud-Din Ali.