Buddha uses Trinamul ‘Naxal link’ as weapon
Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee who had been on the defensive since the Netai killings has now decided to hit back. Determined to use the arrest of the two Maoists from a Trinamul Congress camp at Midnapore town on Monday as a weapon against both the Trinamul Congress and the Centre, he said on Tuesday that he would present it as clinching evidence of their links. “Can you believe what happened in Midnapore town yesterday? Police had information about the presence of some Maoists in the guest house which Trinamul Congress claims to be its camp. When the police went to arrest them, the Trinamul Congress workers tried to obstruct. Why did they resist when there were murder charges against these two persons?” he asked. He was speaking at a meeting organised by the construction labourers at the Rani Rashmoni Road crossing.
Mr Bhattacharjee said that he had now decided to expose the Trinamul Congress to the Centre. “I have decided to show the true colours of Trinamul Congress to Mr Chidambaram (Union home minister P. Chidambaram). I will tell him that your ally with whose help you are ruling at the Centre is sheltering Maoists in the state,” he thundered.
Upping his ante, Mr Bhattacharjee said that his government would not remain silent if the Trinamul Congress continued its nexus with the rebels. “I am cautioning the Trinamul Congress that if it continues its hobnobbing with the Maoists then the state government will take stern action against them,” he added.
This was the first time since Netai killings on January 7 that he was seen in such a belligerent mood. Following the killing of nine villagers by armed CPI(M) cadres at Netai village near Lalgarh in West Midnapore, he was a in tight spot. Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee went to town over the issue and put the CPI(M) in the dock. Linking Netai with Nandigram, she launched a sustained movement titled “Nandigram to Netai: We want justice for all massacres.”
The civil society once again took to the streets voicing its outrage like it had done after Nandigram. To add to the chief minister’s embarrassment, governor M.K. Narayanan decided to visit Netai to “find out the feelings of the people.”
But what unnerved the state government was the unusually tough stand taken by Mr Chidambaram. He virtually summoned Mr Bhattacharjee to Delhi to give him a piece of his mind. So far, Mr Bhattacharjee had been denying the existence of CPI(M)’s armed camps. “But post-Netai, he met Mr Chidambaram like a guilty student meets the headmaster,” sources said.
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