Centre sceptical of Trinamool's claim

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JAN. 6. The Centre finds itself constrained to take a rather sceptical view of the Trinamool Congress' claim that CPI(M) activists had torched more than a dozen people to death in Chotoangra village of West Bengal. The Union Government has not been able to get any confirmation of the deaths.

The Trinamool leader and Minister of State for External Affairs, Mr. Ajit Panja, met Mr. L. K. Advani, Home Minister, and other officials of the Ministry today. Despite repeated queries Mr. Panja was unable to provide any evidence of deaths; all that he managed to do was to cite newspaper reports that 18 Trinamool supporters had been torched to death, allegedly by CPI(M) activists.

The general impression is that Ms. Mamata Banerjee and her supporters have overreacted to unconfirmed reports, creating a laughable situation. The central leadership is trying to cut its losses, and consequently the visit by an NDA team to the troubled spot, scheduled for today, stands deferred.

Even the BJP, which found itself constrained to be seen as standing by Ms. Banerjee, could offer only tepid support to the Trinamool. Commenting on the violence and conflicting reports of casualties, the BJP vice-president, Mr. Jana Krishnamurthy, made a novel formulation. He suggested that the truth must lie somewhere between the Trinamool claim of 18 deaths and the State Government's assertion that there were no deaths.

He said it appeared the State Government had lost control over the situation and the party over the cadres. He charged that the law and order machinery had failed to control the situation.

The party did not favour imposition of President's rule and preferred that the ``people of the State teach a lesson'' when the Assembly elections were held later this year.

Mr. Krishnamurthy criticised the Congress for not taking into account the situation in the State and said it kept silent just as it had done in Manipur and Bihar earlier on imposition of President's rule.

``If the Congress, which is in opposition is alive to the situation it does not mean helping the government but to maintain law and order. It is its responsibility as a recognised opposition party.'' He said the party seemed to be engrossed more in its internal elections than anything else.

To a question whether the BJP felt that it was helpless in bringing West Bengal under Central rule in the wake of the violence, Mr. Krishnamurthy said maybe the Constitutional review Commission should apply its mind to the matter and suggest some measures giving some contingency powers to the Centre. This was necessary in the wake of the Supreme Court judgment, the recommendations of the Sarkaria Commission and the fact that the ruling combine did not have a majority in the Rajya Sabha.

``Safeguards are needed for the citizens,'' he added.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Front Page
Previous : Help India become knowledge superpower, PM tells
           NRIs
Next     : Ayodhya talks proposal runs aground