People's Democracy
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
No.
21
May 22, 2011
|
Vol. XXXV
No.
21 May 22, 2011 |
Terror
Unleashed in
From
Our Special
Correspondent
in Kolkata
A
REIGN of terror has been unleashed in
In
One
of the discernible features of these attacks
is the direct involvement of ‘Maoists’, particularly those who are out
on bail.
Brother of Kanchan, arrested state secretary of ‘Maoists’, led many
such
attacks. ‘Maoist’ leaders like Dulal Mondal, Chunka Murmu have led
attacks in
Goaltore. Hardened criminals like Mayna Pathan, Sukur, Tainur were
directly
involved in the violence in the corridor linking Bankura, Hooghly and
In
Nandigram, CPI(M) district committee member
Sujata Maity’s house has been burnt in Reyapara. More than 65 people
have been
forced to leave under attack. In Khejuri, the first attack was launched
in
Harijanpally where eight people were injured. Spate of attacks were
unleashed
in Maishora in Panskura where many Party offices were ransacked. Party
offices
were also ransacked in Digha, Tamluk, Mugberia, Patashpur. More than
250 Left
activists have been injured. The limits to barbarity were crossed when
many of
those injured were not allowed to be treated in hospitals.
In
BANKURA
In
Taldangra, CPI(M) Shaltora local committee
secretary Comrade Ajit Lohar was brutally murdered in Mamra Gharghari
village.
He was an agricultural labourer and was ill for some time. A group of
TMC
activists brutally beat him to death. In the same incidence of attack,
Samir
Nag, CPI(M) Taldangra zonal committee member, was attacked with a
chopper. He
has been admitted in hospital. Armed gangs attacked Party offices and
villages
in Patrsayar, Saltora, Jaypur, Ranibandh, Indas and Kotulpur in this
district.
BURDWAN
The
first killing in Burdwan district after the
results took place in Hijalna village in Raina. This village witnessed
several
attacks in the past few months. TMC activists threatened the villagers
not to
go to polling booths, which was defied by many families. Within 24
hours of TMC
victory in the state (Left Front had won in Raina though), TMC
activists,
including polling agent of the area, used a minor dispute between two
families
and brutally attacked two women and a girl child. Comrade Purnima
Ghorui, a
CPI(M) supporter was killed. The deceased was a house maid and hailed
from a
very poor family. In Burdwan town, veteran CPI(M) leader and former MLA
Shyam
Basu was attacked in a Party office. He, along with other CPI(M)
activists were
threatened to leave Party offices, which they doggedly refused. Basu
was then hit
on his head, others were also beaten up. TMC gangs entered in
prestigious
In
fact, incidents of violence have been
reported from all districts. Hundreds have been chased away from
villages in
“ARMS
SEARCH”
To
give legitimacy to these heinous attacks, TMC
has taken recourse to a campaign of ‘arms search’ in CPI(M) offices.
This is
being done with the help of a section of media. TMC gangs are attacking
or
cordoning Party offices and houses of Party leaders by raising false
allegations
of ‘storing of arms’. In most cases, they themselves are taking
responsibility
of such a ‘search’. In some cases, when the police reached the place,
ransacking had already been completed.
In
Haldia, IOC union office was attacked under the
same pretext. However, police reached there and nothing has been found.
While
interrogating, police confronted Sheikh Ali, a TMC activist of Haldia,
who
admitted that he tried to keep a pistol near the union office as
directed by the
TMC leaders. In a report in Anandabazar
Patrika, spearheading this hate campaign against CPI(M), it was
written
that ‘ very old and rusted arms’ were recovered. Naturally, a question
arises,
if CPI(M) activists store arms in their possession, why would they
store old
and unusable arms? In some cases, CPI(M) leaders were taken into police
custody
by sheer pressure from TMC though nothing has been recovered from them.
ATTACK
ON
WOMEN
With
the imminent advent of a government, led by
a woman, political atrocities against women were triggered off. In a
horrifying
incident, at least four women were raped in Tegharia village in Minakha
of
North 24 Parganas. All of them were from minority families. CPI(M)
supporters
were chased away from the villages and TMC miscreants took the
opportunity of
absence of men folk and indulged in mass rape. A delegation of Left
women
organisations visited the village and met the affected families.
SPECIAL
TARGET:
TRADE
UNIONS
In
surprisingly fast and planned manner, trade
union offices and organisations were ‘occupied’, almost in all
districts of the
state. In urban areas including Kolkata, taxi, auto rickshaw and
rickshaw
stands were attacked and TMC flags were hoisted upon. The forced
‘change’ of
affiliations is now being attempted. Many trade union offices, even in
organised
sector, including factories were ‘occupied’ by outsiders. Workers were
threatened with dire consequences if they did not follow the diktats.
Mamata
Banerjee, during her election campaign, had categorically declared that
trade
unions would be ‘dismantled within a day’.
STUDENT
UNIONS
In
Kolkata, students’ union rooms in at least
four colleges have been forcibly occupied by TMC gangs. Same incidents
have
been reported from South 24 Parganas, Howrah, Nadia and Burdwan. SFI
activists
have been barred from entering into colleges. SFI leaders were brutally
attacked in many places like in Tehatta, Kalyani University etc.
Though
in many places, resistance from the
people has forced TMC gangs to step back, the CPI(M) state committee
has urged Party
activists and people to maintain peace and not to fall prey to any
provocation. It has also asked Left
Front activists to mobilise all sections of peace-loving and democratic
minded
people to defend peace and democracy in the state.
