People's Democracy

                        Internecine Struggle within

                        Trinamulis, �Maoists� Intensify

THE killing of Nishikanta Mondal, the self-styled �terror of Sonachura,� and the chief suspect in the brutal murder of Comrade Sankar Samanta, has been condemned by Bengal state secretary of the CPI(M) Biman Basu who has also characterised the assassination as a direct fall-out of Trinamuli inner strife with a �Maoist� conspiratorial connection visible.

At the same time, Biman, speaking to People's Democracy, was of the view that taking advantage of the death, the Trinamulis, of both factions, led respectively by the Abu Taher-Subhendu Adhikary clique and Mondal himself, had started to run riot, stepping up their misdeeds, not only at Sonachura where they already had unleashed a reign of terror, but also in adjoining Nandigram and Khejuri. 

For a long time now, normalcy has been rare in the Nandigram-Khejuri-Sonachura localities.  CPI(M) and Left Front workers have been repeatedly subjected to murderous assaults here and very many have been rendered homeless at the behest of the Trinamulis and the �Maoists.� At the same time the latest fall-out amongst the Trinamulis over allocation of funds for the GP�s they run, had recently reached a fatal peak. 

The gang of rank opportunists, the self-styled �Maoists� joined in the fray for the loot � and the struggle turned bloody.  Nishikanta was en route to some spot when at a desolate place his cell phone rang.  The moment he stopped the motorbike he was riding to respond, shots rang out from the bushes � four found the target. 

The assassination �format�, if it could be so-called, strongly resembled a piece of �Maoist� action, perhaps this time as an act of hired goons of one section of the Trinamulis, the section which had become vocal about the amassing of money by Mondal -- and had led a deputation against him at the level of the district administration. 

Biman Basu expressed his deep disapproval of the counter-democratic acts of commission being perpetrated by the �rainbow coalition� of the Trinamulis, the SUCI, and the �Maoists� in these areas, and he called upon all democratic-minded people to rise in sturdy denunciation of what had been going on for quite some time now in the Nandigram-Sonachura-Khejuri region.

                        VANDALISM

                        IN BANKURA

Vandalism was indulged in, and in full measure against CPI(M) leaders of Bankura including school education minister Partha De at Indus by the Trinamuli goons of the locality. 

The CPI(M) team led by Partha De were on their way to the Gobindopur village at Indus in the district of Bankura when the heinous attack commenced.  The vehicle that the CPI(M) leadership were travelling was pounded on, doors were forcibly opened, and those inside the car were rudely asked to come out.  There were even attempts at one time when the CPI(M) leadership would not be dislodged, to set the vehicle on fire.

Earlier, the Trinamulis had ransacked houses of CPI(M) workers at the Gobindopur village and had wrecked the CPI(M) office at that village.  Biman Basu has strongly condemned the incidents.

CPI(M) STALL

WRECKED

Downtown Kolkata was after a long period the scene of Trinamuli intransigence.  A book stall put up by the National Book Agency, the publication outlet of the Bengal CPI(M), a popular exercise and which has a history of setting up such book stalls, come the festival seasons, for more than four decades, was the focus of an all-out attack by the local Trinamuli hoods. This most recent incident of Trinamuli depredation in the heart of Kolkata, happened during the daylight hours of September 19, 2009 -- and the imbroglio still continues as we file this report.

The fracas started when the Trinamuli goons, armed with one-shot �countrymade� rifles and pistols, short-handled scythes, sledge hammers, and iron staves jumped on the NBA stall, completely wrecked it, and put up the Trinamuli colours plus the inevitable picture of their �supreme leader�.

On being told of the dastardly, cowardly assault, the members of the adjoining local units of the CPI(M) and of the mass organisations, especially the youth front, came out in strident protest � and promptly found themselves heavily outnumbered by the armed hoodlums some of whose loyalties have recently changed back to Pradesh Congress as the local leadership has shifted political space away from the Trinamulis.

Those injured included the secretary of one of the local committees of the zone, as well as at least a dozen CPI(M) workers, including three women cadres who were especially targeted, had their faces smashed in, and had to be hospitalised � but only after the local people chose to put an end to the neo-fascist attack by ranging themselves against the attackers and throwing the gauntlet before them.  The hoods chose discretion as the better part of valour and took off, fast. 

Later on, the stall was refurbished and put up, Red Flag fluttering from the top � normalcy has been restored thanks to mass intervention.

(B P)