Trinamool man killed

Jagaddal: Goons gunned down a 34-year-old Trinamool leader was shot dead by some unidentified miscreants at Mominpur near Jagaddal in North 24-Parganas on Monday night. Police are looking for the accused, no arrests were made till late night.

The incident occurred around 8pm, Santosh Rajak, an employee of Anglo India Jute Mill, was standing in front of a tea stall when a white car stopped there. Police said that the incident took place around 8pm

CPM’s partisan slur on cops

CPM leaders of North 24-Parganas on Thursday accused police of partisan behaviour in following up a complaint lodged by them against the Trinamul MLA of New Town, Sabyasachi Dutta.

An altercation over keeping a school open in Rajarhat had snowballed into a CPM-Trinamul clash during Tuesday’s strike by trade unions.

An arrest warrant was issued against the CPM chairman of Rajarhat-Gopalpur Municipality, Tapas Chatterjee, after Dutta lodged a complaint accusing him of leading the assault. Chatterjee is absconding and has filed for anticipatory bail at Barasat district court. The hearing is on March 12.

The CPM had lodged a complaint against Dutta, alleging he had fomented trouble. On Thursday, CPM leaders said officers of the airport police station had not acted on their complaint. “What about our complaint against Dutta?” asked Tarit Topdar, the former MP of Barrackpore and a district secretariat member.

“Unless we get some prima facie evidence against the accused, we cannot take action,” said Bidhannagar police commissioner Rajeev Kumar.

Warrant against Lakshman

Haldia: A local court issued arrest warrants against Haldia strongman and former CPM MP Lakshman Seth and 72 other CPM leaders and supporters on Tuesday, a day after the CID submitted a chargesheet against 88 people for their role in a killing spree during CPM’s Nandigram ‘recapture’ campaign in November 2007.

In a late-night raid on Monday, the CID picked up two lower-rung CPM leaders named in the chargesheet – Naru Karan and Kanai Bhunia – from Khejuri. The duo was remanded in jail custody for two weeks.

CID sources said the raids would continue and it would move court to pronounce all those named in the chargesheet as absconders. Sources said such a move would allow the CID to seize their properties and also attract other legal provisions in addition to the charges slapped on them that carry a punishment of seven years.

CID has also moved court against several top West Midnapore CPM leaders implicated in the Garbeta skeleton case in which proclamation orders have already been issued by court. Leader of the opposition Surjya Kanta Mishra said Seth and CPM leader Sushanta Ghosh, who is behind bars in the Garbeta skeleton case, have been framed. “The party is behind them,” he said. The indication for this came much before, after CPM inducted most of the senior leaders implicated in the Nandigram chargeheet in its East Midnapore district committee in absentia.

The killings took place in the second phase of the Nandigram violence which started on November 6, 2007, with CPM cadres launching an attack from the Khejuri end. Abu Taher, convenor of BUPC, told TOI that they are happy that the “killer CPM leaders would face trial”. The chargesheet has the eyewitness reports of 138 people, say sources.

Among the top CPM leaders named are Asoke Guria, Asoke Bera, Himangshu Das, Bijoy Ray, Amiya Sahu, Prajapati Das, Rabiul Hussain, Sambhu Maiti, Satyaranjan Makar, Sk Rabiul. They have been named absconders. Of the 88 named, only 15 have been arrested.

The alleged victims – Balaram Singha, Bhagirath Maiti, Satyendra Gole, Aditya Kumar Bera, Narayan Das and Subal Maji – went missing from a BUPC rally on November 7. The missing persons’ wives filed a habeas corpus petition in high court in September last year.

The court asked CID to trace the missing persons. In its preliminary report, CID informed the court that all six were murdered and their bodies dumped in Haldi river.

Seth & co give CPM conference a miss

TAMLUK: Has CPM in East Midnapore come out of the Lakshman Seth era? The question did the rounds during an open session of the party’s district conference at the Tamluk College ground on Friday. If Seth was prominent in his absence, so were the men who ran the show at his instructions.

Mired in a controversy over land acquisition in Nandigram and the private medical college, the Haldia strongman withdrew himself from the show along with his trusted lieutenants. Seth’s absence was so striking that CPM state secretary Biman Bose came forward to offer an explanation. “The manner in which the new government is targeting CPM leaders and workers by slapping false cases on them is indicative of a political vendetta. This is why many couldn’t turn up at the conference,” he said.

Bose kept up his attack on the plight of farmers as well. “Instead of this infighting, they (Congress and Trinamool) should focus more on how to resolve farmers’ plight,” Bose said.

Top leaders who didn’t attend the meet were Nandigram’s Asoke Guria and Asoke Bera and Khejuri’s Himangshu Das and Bijon Ray – all CPM’s East Midnapore district secretariat members. Bose announced that the party would distribute the responsibilities of those who went underground.

The venue this time also shifted from the heart of Tamluk town to its fringes along the NH-41, perhaps to ensure a smooth passage for CPM politburo members Biman Bose, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and leader of the Opposition Surjyakanta Mishra. The leaders went to the gathering to boost the sagging morale of the party activists.

Bhattacharjee also harped on the vindictive decisions of the government. “The new government is pursuing a single agenda – attack and slap false cases against CPM men and supporters. This may create problem to bring back people into our fold,” he said.

Mishra, too, said much the same, “Attacks and false cases against our supporters are increasing. This is why many didn’t turn up in fear. In 1968-72, we’d to spend some time in wilderness. We returned to create history. “

The reverberations of Seth’s absence from the party conference were also felt in the Trinamool ranks. Trinamool’s state secretary Mamud Hussain said, “Neither Seth nor any of these leaders are mentioned in any FIR nor has any court issued summons against them. Where is the question of arrest then? Actually, they are scared of their misdeeds.” However, it is not known whether Seth will make it to the closed door session of the party conference.

Allies bicker over Indira Bhavan name change

KOLKATA: The undercurrents of tension were always there. But for the first time since the new government was formed six months ago, the Congress-Trinamool Congress face off has come out in the open.

The latest issue is changing the name of Indira Bhavan into Nazrul Bhavan where a museum and research work of the revolutionary poet will be housed. After two days of protests organised by Congress across the state, urban development minister Firhad Hakim on Friday accused the party of creating trouble and “strengthening the CPM”.

According to Hakim, “What Congress is doing is unfortunate. For 34 years, nothing was done on Nazrul. Mamata Banerjee is trying to do something to honour him and the Congress is opposing it.” According to Hakim, the poet’s family has appreciated the government’s initiative.

Hakim also took offence at the outburst of Murshidabad Congress leader Adhir Chowdhury against the district Trinamool on Thursday. Hakim said: “A leader in Murshidabad will talk of criminalization and we have to go on listening to it? Who is a bigger criminal that him?”

Hakim said the Congress was running the government at the Centre because of the support from Trinamool. “People are with us, we don’t want assurance from anyone else,” he said.

On Thursday, Adhir had said that the Congress should pull out of the government in Bengal due to the Trinamool’s “efforts to push them aside”. To this, Hakim said “Trinamool will not lose if the Congress pulled out of the government, but if the Trinamool pulled out of the government at the Centre, the Congress would be in trouble”.

This has prompted political observers to read between the lines and look at how it may mean that the Trinamool may be having a long-term agenda in mind. Hakim is known to be close to the CM and the press conference was held at her insistence, say insiders.

The comments drew sharp reaction from Congress leader and minister Manas Bhunia. “In democracy, anyone can speak his mind. But there should be some etiquette and restraint and a ‘Lakhsmanrekha’. No one should take advantage of democracy to cross it.”

Congress became touchy over the issue that a building named after Indira Gandhi, where the Congress leader and former Prime Minister stayed, could get another name. On Friday, too, two demonstrations were held in front of Writers’ Buildings.

Hakim said “prior to the elections, all political parties quote Nazrul to say, ‘mora eki brinte duti kusum Hindu Musalman’, but when elections are over, forget all about the minorities and also about Nazrul.” He said Trinamool was respectful towards Indira Gandhi and naming the house Nazrul Bhawan did not mean that Indira Gandhi’s name would be wiped away.

According to Bhuniya, “I have informed the matter to Shakil Ahmed, and he is observing the whole issue. The CM can take a decision, she is the head of the government. However, I told her about the sentiments of Congress workers while returning from Murshidabad.”

Bhunia added that he had spoken to Mamata “and told her to consider the matter”. “The CM said that nowhere had she mentioned that the name Indira Bhavan would be changed even if the bungalow housed the Nazrul museum,” said Bhunia.