People's Democracy

Massive Rally in Coochbehar

WEST Bengal witnessed semi-fascist terror in seventies what Tripura witnessed in mid-eighties in the name of separatism. But such terror cannot sustain for long as was proven in both Bengal and Tripura. So the terror that Trinamool Congress is currently unleashing in West Bengal today is bound to be defeated by the people, asserted Tripura chief minister and CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Manik Sarkar while addressing a massive Left Front rally in Coochbehar.

Sarkar reminded the audience about the severe terror unleashed against the Left in Tripura during the later eighties in the name of separatist movement. The Congress party reduced the then state assembly elections into a farce, rigging them openly and manipulating the counting process also resulting in the defeat of the Left Front in the recount. But within five years, in the next election, the people defeated this politics of terror and gave a massive mandate in favour of the Left Front. In West Bengal too, Siddhartha Shankar Ray could not sustain his government in the face of people’s anger, remarked the Tripura chief minister.

Addressing the gathering, Left Front chairman Biman Basu said that in the span of last two and half years, the situation in West Bengal has gone down to a deplorable condition. Welfare activities have suffered as there is brazen loot of money. The so-called symbol of honesty has now become the symbol of Saradha chit fund company. He contrasted this with the Left Front’s record of never compromising on corruption and malpractices. He charged that the Trinamool Congress government of perpetrating massive corruption in SJDA and in the recruitment of primary teachers. Now farmers are not getting remunerative prices for rice and jute. Distress sale of rice, jute and other products is gradually increasing. Farmer suicides, unheard of during Left Front regime, have become the order of the day. Atrocities against women have shot up in West Bengal, earning it the dubious distinction of reaching the number one position in the country in this regard. An unprecedented attack on democratic and individual rights of people has been unleashed in the state by the Trinamool Congress government, he charged.

Basu called for a larger people’s unity in the state to combat the present situation. He said the Left Front had accepted people’s verdict in 2011 election. But the incessant attacks unleashed against the opposition and the common people has compelled it to launch protests against the atrocities.

In his address, Forward Bloc leader Udayan Guha slammed the state government for refusing to agree to a CBI inquiry into the biggest Saradha ponzy scam since independence. He said if Tripura chief minister Manik Sarkar could seek CBI enquiry into an issue in Tripura why cannot the West Bengal government. The fact that many associates in the government are all involved in this scam could be the reason behind its reluctance, he felt.

CPI leader Srikumar Mukherjee said that an alternative force has to be formed to keep both thte Congress and the BJP away from power at the centre.

RSP leader Nirmal Das said that the present rulers are the biggest plunderers in West Bengal. People won’t tolerate such anarchy, terror and corruption, he felt.

CPI(M) district secretary Tarini Roy said that Trinamool Congress cadre tried to forcibly prevent people from attending the meeting in different parts of the district. 

(INN)