Mamata terms Birbhum clashes a 'conspiracy'

Reacting sharply to the Opposition’s attempt to compare the Birbhum clashes with those of Singur and Nandigram, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the question of comparison does not arise at all.

Yesterday, the villagers of Dubrajpur in Birbhum district chased away workers of Bengal Emta, a private coal mining company, and later clashed with the police, who fired upon the villagers.

Banerjee claimed the police acted on their own and she had no information.

“Here, the innocent villagers raised some issues with the company, which must be looked into sympathetically. The government is determined to protect them,” said Banerjee in an impromptu press conference on Wednesday.

When the villagers attacked the Bengal Emta workers, a large contingent of police led by the Birbhum Superintendent of Police (SP) Rishikesh Meena reached the spot.

According to the police, the villagers attacked them with bows and arrows and two policemen sustained serious injuries from arrow wounds. The police then fired to disperse the mob. As the news was flashed by television channels, politicians belonging to the Opposition parties started comparing it with Singur-Nandigram. The chief minister immediately swung into action and revolved the SP, who was later transferred to another district.

Dubrajpur’s peasants are opposed to the opening of coal mines by Bengal Emta. They demand a higher price for the land acquired by the government, a demand reminiscent of the Singur movement. The coal mine is supposed to supply to Damodar Valley Corp (DVC) for its thermal power plant.

On Wednesday in the press conference, Banerjee tried to distance herself from the Dubrajpur incident, by saying the police had not kept her informed of the development. She also charged that it was a “conspiracy” by vested interests trying to attack the government.

“We are a government of Ma-Maati-Manush, and will continue to stand by the poor villagers as ever. The villagers are innocent. They were incited by some interested party and it is a conspiracy against us,” said Mamata. She, however, denied that the police resorted to firing, “Despite tremendous provocation, the police showed restraint and did not open fire. For that, I am indeed thankful to the police.”

However, she did not explain why the SP was shunted out of the district.

Opposition leaders, who rushed to the spot, were livid. Congress’ Member of Parliament Abhijit Mukherjee visited the injured villagers at the Suri district hospital. While MPs belonging to the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Ramchandra Dom and Bangshagopal Chowdhury led a delegation to the Dubrajpur village, the Bharatiya Janata Party sent another delegation to the village.

Banerjee said that she had asked senior minister Partha Chatterjee to go to the spot, who after holding a meeting with the district magistrate came back without visiting the village.