Left Front discusses CRPF deployment
Special Correspondent
The Hindu, 8 November
Basu favours postponement of fresh deployment; ready for talks with Mamata
The Hindu, 8 November
Basu favours postponement of fresh deployment; ready for talks with Mamata
CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE: A Nandigram resident in grief as she is compelled to leave her house and join a relief camp on Wednesday.
KOLKATA: Leaders of the Left Front had asked West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to “postpone for now fresh deployment of the Central Reserve Police Force” in Nandigram and to re-initiate the political initiative to restore peace there, veteran leader Jyoti Basu said here on Wednesday .
Meetings convened twice between the political parties to explore ways to bring back normality might have failed, but another meeting could be held, Mr. Basu said, emerging from a meeting of Left Front leaders.
To a question from newspersons, the former Chief Minister said that if it is required he was willing to call Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee “one hundred times” if that would help resolve the impasse. “I have no quarrel with her… If they [the Left Front leaders] want it I will definitely call her. But if [those] leaders say all those living there will have to be Trinamool Congress members, then even if a hundred people die we cannot accept it.”
“What sort of a movement is this where roads have been dug up, bridges blown up… Is this a movement?” asked Mr. Basu on the agitation led by the Trinamool Congress-backed Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee.
“I have never seen or heard of such a movement ever before. What are the local police doing?”
Mr. Basu had expressed his views at the meeting on the deployment of the CRPF in Nandigram, but “no hard and fast decision was taken on a postponement,” Left Front Committee Chairman Biman Bose said later. “I have said it earlier and am doing so again: the State administration will take a decision [on any deployment].”
Mr. Bose wanted all democratic parties including the Trinamool Congress to resist Maoist activity in Nandigram if peace is to be restored there.
The three landmine explosions in the area on Tuesday, and reports of more mines being planted have raised suspicions of a Maoist hand. The methods employed suggest that the planting of mines was “probably” the handiwork of underground outfits like the Maoists, and they should be isolated by all political parties that believe in democracy, Mr. Bose added. The Trinamool Congress and the Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee should snap links with the outfit, “or else the peace process will be affected.”
Mr. Bose said he would “appeal to the administration and the Chief Minister to ensure that the administration acts properly in Nandigram and its surrounding areas.
Referring to Home Secretary Prasad Ranjan Ray’s suggestion that Tuesday’s violence was incited by firing from Khejuri, which is a CPI(M) stronghold, he said it “was made on the basis of misinformation.” Mr. Bose added: “What had occurred was cross-firing; it could not have happened from one side only.”
On the question of the role of some supporters of the CPI(M) in the violence, he asked: “If someone comes to attack, one can wait for some time but can one do so for eternity?” He added: “When… pushed to the wall one has to protect oneself in self-defence.”
Mr. Bose said a collective appeal had been made to the people of Nandigram to help initiate “a democratic peaceful process” and to take steps “so that all those who have had to leave their homes can return.”
KOLKATA: Leaders of the Left Front had asked West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to “postpone for now fresh deployment of the Central Reserve Police Force” in Nandigram and to re-initiate the political initiative to restore peace there, veteran leader Jyoti Basu said here on Wednesday .
Meetings convened twice between the political parties to explore ways to bring back normality might have failed, but another meeting could be held, Mr. Basu said, emerging from a meeting of Left Front leaders.
To a question from newspersons, the former Chief Minister said that if it is required he was willing to call Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee “one hundred times” if that would help resolve the impasse. “I have no quarrel with her… If they [the Left Front leaders] want it I will definitely call her. But if [those] leaders say all those living there will have to be Trinamool Congress members, then even if a hundred people die we cannot accept it.”
“What sort of a movement is this where roads have been dug up, bridges blown up… Is this a movement?” asked Mr. Basu on the agitation led by the Trinamool Congress-backed Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee.
“I have never seen or heard of such a movement ever before. What are the local police doing?”
Mr. Basu had expressed his views at the meeting on the deployment of the CRPF in Nandigram, but “no hard and fast decision was taken on a postponement,” Left Front Committee Chairman Biman Bose said later. “I have said it earlier and am doing so again: the State administration will take a decision [on any deployment].”
Mr. Bose wanted all democratic parties including the Trinamool Congress to resist Maoist activity in Nandigram if peace is to be restored there.
The three landmine explosions in the area on Tuesday, and reports of more mines being planted have raised suspicions of a Maoist hand. The methods employed suggest that the planting of mines was “probably” the handiwork of underground outfits like the Maoists, and they should be isolated by all political parties that believe in democracy, Mr. Bose added. The Trinamool Congress and the Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee should snap links with the outfit, “or else the peace process will be affected.”
Mr. Bose said he would “appeal to the administration and the Chief Minister to ensure that the administration acts properly in Nandigram and its surrounding areas.
Referring to Home Secretary Prasad Ranjan Ray’s suggestion that Tuesday’s violence was incited by firing from Khejuri, which is a CPI(M) stronghold, he said it “was made on the basis of misinformation.” Mr. Bose added: “What had occurred was cross-firing; it could not have happened from one side only.”
On the question of the role of some supporters of the CPI(M) in the violence, he asked: “If someone comes to attack, one can wait for some time but can one do so for eternity?” He added: “When… pushed to the wall one has to protect oneself in self-defence.”
Mr. Bose said a collective appeal had been made to the people of Nandigram to help initiate “a democratic peaceful process” and to take steps “so that all those who have had to leave their homes can return.”
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