People's Democracy

CPI(M) Condemns Dasmunsi's Statement

Sitaram Yechury, leader of the CPI(M) group in the Rajya Sabha and Basudev Acharia, leader of the CPI(M) group in the Lok Sabha have issued the following statement on November 13, 2007

THE statement issued by Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi terming the events in Nandigram as a “CPI(M)-led State-sponsored massacre” is condemnable. That Dasmunsi is a union cabinet minister makes this assertion all the more shocking.

At every stage in the past eleven months since the armed hoodlums backed by the Trinamul Congress took over Nandigram, Dasmunsi has been aiding and abetting these forces. When the police sought to intervene and restore communications on March 14, 2007, the union minister was vocal in condemning the police.

Now when the state government requested the centre to send a battalion of the CRPF, Dasmunsi made a public statement opposing the sending of CRPF to Nandigram. He must therefore be accountable for the delay in sending the CRPF to Nandigram which would have helped in tackling the situation earlier. It is the height of hypocrisy for Dasmunsi to now complain that the CRPF is being prevented from moving into Nandigram.

As a union minister, Dasmunsi is well aware of the role of the Maoists armed squads in Nandigram. By the stance he has adopted throughout, he has only aided and abetted the nefarious activities of such armed squads whose ultimate aim was to destabilise the Left Front government.

Normally one could ignore these rantings of Dasmunsi as coming from a person whose role in Marxist baiting is well known since the days of the semi-fascist terror in West Bengal. But it is a serious matter when a minister in the union cabinet behaves in such a manner.