December 24, 2010
Mamata gives clarion call to the great alliance with people
It’s time for the final showdown with the CPM, Mamata Banerjee thundered in the heart of Kolkata on Thursday, from the very spot where she had staged a 26-day fast during the Singur agitation four years ago. She again demanded the withdrawal of central forces from Jangalmahal — but without a word on her threat to resign. “Paramilitary units are being placed under the state police in Bengal and used to kill our men in Jangalmahal. Give marching orders to central forces,†Mamata said. Taking the cue, a Trinamool delegation took up the matter with PM Manmohan Singh in Delhi in the evening. The Trinamool chief announced a slew of rallies and ground connect meetings from December 27 to the first week of 2011. “The CPM’s time is up,†she said, to loud cheers from the Trinamool Chhatra Parishad gathering. “We are not going to do anything during Christmas. But take to the streets on December 27 and 28 and go the whole hog against CPM’s terror tactics from the first day of the New Year,†she urged the party supporters. “The Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government cannot lure us with money, blackmail us, or intimidate us as it earlier did with the opposition. Change in Bengal would have come as early as 2001. But the BJP government backed the CPM and the Congress-Trinamool alliance was wasted in bickering. Now that Trinamool has emerged as a major force, we bank on our alliance with the people,†Mamata said, reiterating her “manusher mahajot†against the CPM. Flaunting six volumes of publications on ‘CPM violence in the state’, which will be handed to the PM, Mamata said the state had turned into a breeding ground of red terror. “In no other state are central forces placed under the state police. The Bengal police is escorting the forces to the houses of our party supporters, calling them outside and handing them over to CPM harmads — all in the name of anti-Maoist operations. Many tribals, Sanatan Hembram being the latest, have been killed in these joint operations. This can’t go on,†Mamata said, urging supporters to hit the streets on December 27 against “CPM’s armed capture of villagesâ€.
Courtesy: The Times of India
Image Courtesy: Sambad Pratidin
