[Marxistindia] Solidarity with West Bengal

[news from the cpi(m)]

                                                           June 20, 2009


Press Statement


The Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) now in
session at New Delhi has issued the following statement:


              Launch Solidarity Campaign with West Bengal


The Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) condemns
in the strongest possible terms, the violence and terror unleashed
against CPI(M) cadre, sympathizers and supporters in different areas of
Bengal. Since March this year 53 comrades have been mercilessly
butchered. In Lalgarh area of West Midnapore district eight CPI(M)
members and workers have been brutally killed and houses and offices
burnt. Many of these comrades belong to poor peasant, agricultural
labour or worker families, from minorities and oppressed castes. Two
members of the Forward Bloc, five villagers, three electoral officers
and four police personnel have also been killed.


Utilizing the electoral setback of the CPI(M), armed gangs led in the
main, by the Trinamool Congress have burnt and vandalized houses of
party comrades and party offices, and like in Khejuri and other parts of
East Midnapur, forcibly driven out hundreds of sympathizers and members
from their homes unleashing a reign of terror. In Burdwan district, a
veteran district committee leader and Chairman of the Electricity
Standing Committee of the Zilla Parishad, Falguni Mukherjee, was shot
dead at point blank range. The extent of the brutality can be seen in
the incident in Khejuri when an agricultural worker sympathizer of the
Party Pabitra Das was brutally beaten to death. These gangs have dug up
areas in the district refusing entry to the police to catch the criminal
murderers. In some areas like Murshidabad, a section of the Congress is
also involved in the attacks.


In Lalgarh the Maoist gangs with the direct and indirect backing of the
TMC have created a zone of terror against all CPI(M) members and
supporters. It is noted that the Maoist leaders in the area have openly
spoken about their contacts and help to the Trinamool led alliance in
all the developments in Nandigram. 


In one terrible instance in Lalgarh the body of a comrade was kept in
the open for three days and his family was not allowed to cremate it.
The Central Committee supports the efforts made by the Left front
Government in West Bengal to use both political and administrative
measures to free the area from Maoist gangs, to ensure the rule of law,
while taking all steps to reestablish links with the poor tribals living
in the area.


There is no doubt that this attack against the CPI(M) and its workers
and sympathizers is part of a wider gameplan by powerful vested
interests to weaken and destroy the Party in its main base of Bengal. At
the same time, these fascistic type of attacks on the CPI(M) are also an
attack on the minimum norms of democracy and must be a matter of concern
to all democratic minded citizens. 


The Party is proud of its courageous comrades in Bengal. The Central
Committee pays its deep homage to its martyrs and all those killed. The
Central Committee calls upon its units all over the country to launch a
powerful campaign in solidarity with comrades in West Bengal and against
the politics of terror unleashed by the Trinamool led alliance as well
as against the Maoist gangs. It appeals also to all democratic minded
citizens across the country to raise their voices against such terror
based politics against the CPI(M) and Left parties.


end