People's Democracy

Bengal CPI(M) On Incidents At Garbeta

THE sad incident at Garbeta in January 5 was the result of a desperate and isolated Trinamul Congress-BJP combine seeking to create an atmosphere of terror once again in the Pingla-Garbeta-Keshpur-Sabang-Pingla region and in the surrounding area. This was noted by the state committee of the CPI(M) in a statement issued on January 10 from the Muzaffar Ahmad Bhavan.

The state CPI(M) believes that 'normal activities' had been severely affected in the recent past in the Garbeta-Kespur-Sabang-Pingla region, when the Trinamul-BJP combine had sought to create terror. In a short time-period, no less than 98 CPI(M) workers were either killed or were reported missing.

Later, the people of the region came forward, by and by, to ensure that life became peaceful and normal once again. As a result, over the past four months, peace had returned to the area and normal democratic functioning had been appropriately reinstated, thanks to the mass protests and in the wake of effective steps taken by the administration.

These developments served to isolate the Trinamul Congress-BJP combine which had been responsible for the ambience of terror in the first place. Thrust into a corner, these elements, instead of opting for carrying out political activities in an atmosphere of peace, chose to once again go on the path of terror. The most recent incident at Garbeta has been the outcome.

The event at Garbeta, which took place on January 5, is being utilised to create tension and panic. The state police and administration have made detailed inquiries into the accusation of missing persons raised by the Trinamul Congress-BJP combine and by the People's War Group. It transpires that a massive amount of explosives, bombs and cartridges had been stacked in a house. Following a big explosion, the house got gutted.

The persons who are reported as missing had police records in an assortment of criminal cases. They were outsiders to the area concerned, and had been absconding for a long time. Indeed, the person who filed the First Information Report (FIR), too, had himself a police record of being associated with criminal activities.

The reasons why so many armed anti-socials who were outsiders had assembled at his house in Garbeta, needs to be explained by the Trinamul -BJP combine.

How did a section of the People's War Group (PWG) get involved with the incident?

The police must investigate and find out who had assembled at Garbeta and why. They must also look thoroughly into identifying the persons responsible for the explosion and the subsequent incident of arson that had occurred in the house there.

Contradictory statements have been appearing in copious manner in the press about the Garbeta incident. The developments point to a nexus attempt being made to re-introduce terror in the area.

Yesterday on January 9, the bodies that had been brought from Pingla in Midnapore to the Kharagpur state general hospital for post-mortem examination, had been sent to Kolkata for conducting a special post-mortem. The bodies are those of CPI(M) workers. They had been killed quite a long time back. The incident is a clear example of the violence-laden politics of the Trinamul-BJP combine.

In a blatantly motivated and planned manner, a malicious campaign has been launched by the Trinamul-BJP combine and the People's War Group against the CPI(M), even before the truth of the mater could be found out. The state unit of the CPI(M) registers a strong protest against this. The state unit of the CPI(M) also exhorts the people of the area to come forward in a united manner to prevent all efforts at reintroducing an atmosphere of terror in the area. It asks the state Left Front government to take all necessary steps to ensure strict measures against the persons responsible for the crime, after a full and complete investigation into the incident.