Sikdar finds voice, villagers mum

While the decibel level is rising over the attack on Union Minister Tapan Sikdar, the villagers of Khamarpara, where the BJP leader was atta...

While the decibel level is rising over the attack on Union Minister Tapan Sikdar, the villagers of Khamarpara, where the BJP leader was attacked, seem to have lost their voices.

They spoke in hushed tones as Sikdar and his men arrived today to hold a rally at the spot where he was assaulted. The people who applauded his anti-CPI(M) rhetoric were mostly outsiders, travelling under protection of the police party accompanying Sikdar. Security personnel and commandos were deployed at the meeting venue and along the 10-km stretch to the village.

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But very few villagers in the area were willing to talk. Those who did, expressed fears about the day when neither Sikdar nor the huge police contingent will be there to protect them. ‘‘We can’t bank on Sikdar’s rhetoric,’’ one of them said.

The village, where the panchayat is run by a Trinamool-BJP combine, had been painted red overnight with posters and slogans that read: ‘‘If you want peace, vote for the CPI(M).’’ Residents, who don’t belong to the CPI(M) camp, say they are not sure whether they will vote on May 11.

A member of Khamarpara gram panchayat, Bhanumati Ghosh said: ‘‘They are intimidating villagers not to come out for voting. At night, they come to threaten Trinamool and BJP supporters in their houses.’’

‘‘These terror tactics are new in the area. They are bent on taking over all panchayats run by a Trinamool-BJP combine,’’ a resident, Uttam Mondal, charged.

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The attack, however, has shifted the focus back on the former BJP chief, who had been increasingly marginalised in state politics after Tathagata Roy became the state unit president. From the Prime Minister to his deputy, enquiring after his health and Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya apologising for the incident, Sikdar has got a shot in the arm. He headed straight for the rally from the private clinic in north Kolkata today, his face still bandaged.

‘‘We will retaliate if those who were involved in the attack are not arrested,’’ Sikdar said at Khamarpara.

‘‘The CPI(M) has let loose a reign of terror and a section of the police are hand in glove with them. If this continues, there will be a bloodbath,’’ warned Sikdar.

…as yet another minister chased

Subrata Nagchoudhury
Kolkata, May 7

Barely 48 hours after Union Minister and BJP leader Tapan Sikdar was assaulted by CPI(M) supporters, a senior minister of the Left Front Amar Chowdhury was attacked and chased away by CPI(M) cadre brandishing firearms during an election meeting at North 24-Parganas late yesterday evening.

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Chowdhury, an RSP leader and Public Works Department (PWD) Minister in the Left Front Cabinet, was whisked away to safety by supporters when armed CPI(M) cadre chased him. He ran for about a kilometre before getting shelter in the house of a party supporter.

He escaped unhurt but at least seven RSP supporters were assaulted by the CPI(M) mob.

The RSP meeting at Jelekhali village under Sandeshkhali police station, had to be called off as tension gripped the area.

Sunderban has been a traditional stronghold of the RSP. But it is also a region where the CPI(M) and the RSP have bitter fights over control.

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In the run-up to panchayat polls this year, at least 15 murders have taken place in clashes between the two sides and had forced a section of RSP leaders to talk of a poll boycott.

The clashes resulted in total breakdown of talks over seat sharing between the two parties in the panchayat polls.

However, the Public Works Department Minister, taken aback by the attack from the coalition partners, immediately called Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya and informed him about the incident. He later lodged a complaint with police.

In a separate complaint to police, the injured RSP members named at least seven CPI(M) cadre who had led the mob. Police have made several arrests in this connection.

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Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya assured Amar Chowdhury of action against the guilty and added that he has asked senior party leaders to identify the culprits.