Trinamool disrupting communal harmony, says CPI(M)

The attitude adopted by the Trinamool Congress government towards one community is disrupting the communal harmony in the State and setting it on a “destructive course,” Leader of the Opposition Surya Kanta Mishra said here on Monday.

“The State government has taken such a stance in relation to one community that it is creating friction between communities. The administration is creating a communal divide in the manner in which it is dealing with one community,” Dr. Mishra, who is also a member of the Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), told journalists.

Citing the example of the police firing in Tehatta in the State’s Nadia district, Dr. Mishra said that the State government’s concerns were far more about the angle from which the firings were caught on camera than the situation that precipitated police action.

“Initially they (the government) said that there was no firing. But then the matter was caught on camera. So the investigation now is focussed on which angle the camera caught the firing on instead of the reasons why the firing at all occurred,” Dr. Mishra said.

The Leader of the Opposition said that the Trinamool Congress has singled out one community for its electoral gains and the treatment meted out to them is causing a backlash from others, affecting the communal harmony in the State.

The sops given out to minorities by the Trinamool Congress government particularly the announcement of an honorarium for Imams and separate housing and hospitals for Muslims has come under severe criticism.

Dr. Mishra also lamented the breakdown in law and order in the State adding that supporters of the Left Front were under attack across the State.

He also commented on the confusion created by the hike in bus fares announced by the State government.

The initial stand of this government was that it would not allow an increase in the fares for any services whether it was electricity tariffs, fuel prices or bus fares But what happened on ground is just the reverse – a massive hike in the prices of all, he said.