A day before Mamata Banerjee takes the oath as chief minister of West Bengal, the state government has sent an urgent request to the Union home ministry for more central para-military forces (CPMF) and extending the tenure of the forces already present in Bengal, fearing post-poll violence.
Four persons have already died in revenge killings in South Bengal. And, reports are coming in from several districts that upbeat Trinamool activists and supporters have started forcing CPI (M) supporters to surrender and join their ranks.
The worst affected districts are West Medinipur, Hooghly, Bankura and North 24 Parganas, where CPI(M) workers are reported to have been forced to flee from their villages and take shelter in district towns or elsewhere. Thousands of people have bought peace by surrendering to the Trinamool, whose workers have ‘captured’ a number of party offices of the CPI (M) in these districts and are targeting more.
Yesterday, a Left Front delegation went to meet the state governor to complain about law and order. In some places, all-party meetings are being organised to restore peace, but this is yet to yield positive result.
CS TO CENTRE
Fearing further escalation of violence, the state government has requested the Union home ministry to extend the CPMF presence for another two months. At present, there are around 500 companies of CPMF in the state, brought for the elections. They are scheduled to return after May 23. According to state government sources, in view of the growing violence in the districts, chief secretary Samar Ghosh has written to the central government to retain 144 CPMF companies for another two months.
According to the state administration, at least three CPI (M) workers were killed in the last four days. Of them, Jiten Nandy, a CPI (M) zonal committee secretary in Garbeta, West Medinipur, was attacked by Trinamool supporters in his office. Amit Lohar, a local committee secretary at Saltora, Bankura, was killed in similar fashion. Purnima Ghorui, a CPI (M) sympathiser, was killed at Raina, Burdwan. Kamal Sheikh, a Trinamool activist was killed in Behrampur (Murshidabad) two days earlier, allegedly by Congress workers.
Yesterday, Trinamool supporters attacked CPI (M) leader Majid Ali's house at Shashan, North 24 Parganas, and ransacked it, assaulting his family members. Later police went there and rescued the family. A number of CPI(M) leaders have already gone into hiding, fearing for their lives.
CHANGING REALITIES
The attacks indicate a well-knit pattern, like they did after the 2009 Lok Sabha elections in districts like South 24 Parganas and East Medinipur, where the Trinamool forced the CPI (M) activists into submission and their party offices were closed. A number of people had to leave their area and some more had to buy peace by paying a hefty fine. This time, TMC supporters have gheraoed the CPI (M) offices, or in some cases a CPI (M) leader's house in West Medinipur, Bankura and Hooghly and called police to the spot. Invariably, the police has recovered some weapons from those places.
According to one senior police officer, it is difficult to belief that knowing the situation, the CPI (M) workers would dump their weapons in their party offices or near their homes. However, within days after the electoral defeat, the party is so fundamentally disarrayed that it is unable to protect their workers on the face of these growing attacks. As a result, in most of these areas, CPI (M) supporters are surrendering to the Trinamool and shifting their allegiance.
In Kolkata, the most visible of this change is taking place in the informal sector. Almost all auto rickshaw owners have changed their party colour overnight and hoisted the Trinamool flag.
A number of small shop owners have followed suit. There has been an attempt to take over the CPI (M)-controlled state non-gazetted police association by Trinamool supporters among the police force. They tried to capture the office of the Left-affiliated police association at Lalbazar, the city police headquarters in Kolkata, but were thwarted. Indications are that this trend will spread fast among teachers, bank employees, state government employees and organised sector workers.
However, this pattern is so far absent in North Bengal. A CPI (M) activist from Siliguri said this culture of political vendetta was not the norm in the region. So, for the moment, it is restricted to South Bengal.
