CPI (M) State secretary and Left Front chairman Biman Basu admitted that the Front members did discuss “the issue of BJP” with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday during the course of their meeting at the Secretariat.
Ms Banerjee told the Front constituents that she is “fighting the BJP” in her own way. The Front assured the Chief Minister of its commitment to fight the BJP.
The meeting, however, has provided new ammunition to BJP State president Rahul Sinha, who has criticised both the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Left for “joining hands” against his party.
The Left Front has submitted an eight-point demand to Ms Banerjee and requested the Chief Minister to convene an all-party meeting to assess the situation at the ground level.
The Front chairman said that that they had “discussed the BJP” in their one-hour long meeting with the Chief Minister. “The Chief Minister said a few things about the BJP. That, however, is not an issue to discuss. We always fight the communal forces and never indulge in any provocation on part of communal forces,” said Mr Basu. He clarified that the Chief Minister never enquired about large-scale defections by Left Front activists to the BJP. However, a Left Front constituent told The Hindu that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief did enquire as to why the Left Front’s offices were “getting converted” into BJP offices.
“She said, ‘I came to know that in many places your party offices are getting converted into offices of other parties,” said a senior Front leader who was present at Monday’s meeting, adding that Ms. Banerjee “indicated” the BJP. “However, we told her, that is an internal matter of the Front…rather you ask your cadres to stop attacks on Front members,” the Front leader said on condition of anonymity.
The Left Front has placed an eight-point demand before the Chief Minister in their first-ever meeting with Ms. Banerjee since the TMC came to power in 2011. The demand makes it clear that the Front wants TMC activists to stop attacks on activists of the Left parties. It has also asked for “safety and security” of the ordinary people, irrespective of their party affiliation, and also requested the Chief Minister to provide “security” to women.
“Police should remain neutral and perform its duties, party offices and offices of mass organisations should not be attacked and people who were forced to flee their villages should be allowed to return,” said Mr. Basu quoting from their demands
. The Left parties have also highlighted the need to maintain “communal harmony in the State” and ensure “positive action” to maintain peace. Huge documents were submitted to the Chief Minister with records of the attacks on the left activists. A list of 157 activists killed so far in violence has also been submitted. “The Chief Minister said that she will look into all incidents on a case-to-case basis and we accept that she needs time to scrutinise cases….so we have decided to take a little time and observe what the Chief Minister does. If nothing happens we will hit the road again,” said Mr. Basu.
