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Tuesday, Nov 13, 2007
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Trinamool taking Maoist help: Karat

Vinay Kumar

PHOTOS: ARUNANGSU ROY CHOWDHURY

CALM AFTER THE STORM: Central Reserve Police Force personnel keep vigil in Nandigram on Monday as local residents who left the area following violence have started returning.

NEW DELHI: Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Prakash Karat on Monday accused the Trinamool Congress-led alliance of taking the help of Maoist cadres to establish their hold over the Nandigram area in West Bengal where sporadic violence has gone on for the past 11 months.

“Since October-November, Maoists have built bunkers in Nandigram area, set up training camps and started expanding. It is now that people who have legitimate right to cultivate their land and live in that area have started returning to their homes. Normal life will be resumed soon and the State government will be able to take up all developmental work in the area. The process has begun to restore normality in the area,” Mr. Karat said.

He was addressing a press conference at the party headquarters after a two-day meeting of the party’s Polit Bureau here. Answering questions relating to the disturbances in the Nandigram area, he said National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan had also confirmed the presence and active involvement of the Maoist cadres in fanning trouble in Nandigram.

Mr. Karat said that even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the Maoists were the single biggest threat to the country’s internal security.

CPI(M) activists taking out a rally in Nandigram.

“The Maoists have entrenched themselves in the area and are running a parallel raj there, not even allowing the local administration, police and the State government to function. It is clear that people are not with the Maoists … rule of gun cannot be allowed,” he said.

Mr. Karat said the Trinamool Congress and its allies had tried unsuccessfully to dislodge the Left Front democratically in successive elections in the past and were taking the help of Maoists in the Nandigram area to dislodge Left Front’s elected representatives. “We are not going to allow them to dislodge our elected panchayat members and MLAs physically by using Maoists,” he asserted. He said there was no question of land acquisition or setting up of a chemical hub in the Nandigram area for which the State government has selected another place and wondered what was the entire struggle about. “From February onwards, Nandigram has become a zone where police, administration and elected panchayat members were not allowed. As of today, nearly 1,500 people are still living in refugee camps,” he said.

Asked if cracks had appeared in the ruling Left Front in West Bengal over the Nandigram issue, Mr. Karat said that as the biggest party in the government, the CPI(M) was conscious of its role and responsibility to maintain and strengthen the Front’s unity. Similarly, all other parties also have to be conscious of their roles to strengthen Left unity, he said.

Asked about the West Bengal Governor’s recent statement on the Nandigram issue, Mr. Karat said the CPI(M) had its views on the role of all Governors and the party upheld it. “The Governor can advise, report, confide and send his views to the State government or the Centre, we have no objection.”

The Polit Bureau also noted that after the March 14 police firing, efforts were made for political negotiations and peace talks for the restoration of normality and the return of all the affected people. “The gang up of political forces against the CPI(M) and the Left operating in the guise of the Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Samity virtually set up a parallel raj in the area. A dangerous phenomenon was their utilising the assistance of Maoist armed squads who came into the area from outside. The situation of utter lawlessness prevailed and bunkers were built and landmines laid. In this entire period 27 CPI(M) workers and supporters were killed,” the Polit Bureau noted.

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