The All-India Forward Bloc (AIFB) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Friday strongly condemned the murder of seven AIFB tribal leaders at Jhalda in Purulia district of West Bengal by Maoists. The AIFB declared a ‘Purulia bandh' on Saturday to protest against the killings.
In a statement here, the AIFB Central Committee said the victims, including a woman panchayat leader Chapala Garihat, were taken to an unknown destination by Maoists and later the local people found their brutally defaced bodies.
Those killed included Kinker Singh, Bhupeshwar Mahata, Ananta Mahato, Aju Singh Moor and Govardhan Singh. They were all party leaders and members of the Agragami Adivasi Samiti, AIFB's tribal body.
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Besides Purulia and Midnapore, Maoists were active in Jhalda, and the panchayat samiti had taken up welfare activities and development work in the region, the party said.
The increasing popularity of the samiti and the AIFB eroded the Maoists' support base and this may have provoked them to resort to these killings, it said.
The CPI(M) Polit Bureau said in statement that this was the first time such a big number of killing of political activists had taken place in West Bengal and showed the depth to which Maoists “depredations could stoop.” The killings added up to 221 Left activists and leaders since the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.
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The Polit Bureau expressed confidence that these “vile attempts to drown the Left movement in blood will end up in failure.” As in the past, the Left movement would not be cowed down and the entire peace loving and democratic-minded people in Jangal Mahal and rest of the State and country would overcome this campaign of terror.