January 9, 2011
Mamata hears and heals – Didi helps teen find mother
Netai, Jan. 8: If one convoy took away the criminals and the arms yesterday, another that rolled into Netai village this morning gave Janata Adak some hope. The girl, in her late teens, had been crying inconsolably since yesterday as she could not trace her mother after the firing from a CPM camp in the Lalgarh pocket killed seven persons and left several injured. “She is crying because some local people have told her that her mother is dead,†said a man standing next to the girl. Janata’s mother Geetali was part of the group that protested outside the cadre camp yesterday. Minutes later, an eight-car convoy carrying Mamata Banerjee snaked its way into the village. As the Trinamul chief emerged from her car, the villagers surrounded her and poured out “horror stories†of “CPM atrocitiesâ€. Janata was in the group but unlike the others, she kept crying. Mamata did not miss her tears. She asked her aides to find out where Janata’s mother was. Within minutes, Mamata offered a ray of hope to the girl, a student of Goaltore College. “Don’t cry, your mother is alive…. She is in Calcutta’s SSKM Hospital,†Mamata said, as Janata looked up in disbelief. Geetali, she said, had suffered bullet injuries. SSKM sources said her condition was extremely critical. “The bullet has pierced her abdomen, causing severe damage. Several organs, including the small intestine, have got torn,†an SSKM official said. He said Geetali had undergone a surgery and was still unconscious. Mamata told her aides to ensure proper treatment of Geetali. The widow is the family’s only bread-winner. Mamata reached Netai around 12.30pm. However, she did not deliver any speech during her hour-long stay there. Even as the villagers surrounded her expecting a speech, Mamata chose to let the villagers do all the talking. Lending a patient ear, the Trinamul leader asked them to narrate what had happened yesterday. “For over a month, we were forced to supply food to the camp…. Young people were forced to take arms training. Two days ago, three of us fell ill but still the cadres ordered us to report for training. It was then that we decided to oppose their excesses,†Mantu Roy told Mamata. At times, the leader’s eyes turned moist as villagers spoke about their “sufferings at the hands of the cadresâ€. Instead of stopping them mid-way or holding the CPM responsible for their plight, Mamata kept noting down all that she was being told. In between, she spoke briefly to party MP Subhendu Adhikari gave him some instructions. She wore a sombre look most of the time. Only when the villagers told her about “threats from CPM camps in adjacent villages that firmness crept into her voice. “Nothing will happen…. You will be safe,†she said, only to slip back into silent mode. All the while, she stood just 200 metres from CPM leader Rathin Dandapath’s house, which used to house the cadre camp. Yesterday, a convoy from two CPM offices reached Netai and allegedly escorted to safety the armed cadres who had opened fire. Mamata maintained the same silence in Lalgarh too. She skipped a scheduled party meeting there and headed straight to Midnapore town, where she took part in a silent march with the bodies of those killed in Netai. She opened up only in the evening during a rally in Howrah. “The CPM’s attack on the people in Netai was pre-planned. The district magistrate and the police chief of West Midnapore were called to Writers’ to work out the plan. This is why the police did not take any action,†she said. Courtesy The Telegraph
