Kespur Line

Author: Editorial
Publication: The Statesman
Date: November 23, 2001

The CPI-M were exposed after its political cleansing in Midnapore, Hooghly, Bankura and north 24 Parganas districts both before and during the rigged election of 10 May last. What Alimuddin mandarins said at Kespur recently has reinforced popular perceptions that its ideology is Stalinism. The opposition must be annihilated or forced into submission. Suryakanta Misra even complimented Kespur party comrades for their glorious victory against Trinamul. His message was meant to buck them up; both for physically liquidating Trinamul supporters and politically decimating them through terror resulting in the party candidate Mrs Nandarani Dal's highest ever margin of victory - 108,000 - recorded in any Indian assembly election. Mrs Dal was rewarded with a key ministerial portfolio. In the Panskura parliamentary by-poll of June last year the Trinamul candidate was ahead by 18,000 votes in Kespur. This was not secured by entirely fair means either, as Trinamul too terrorised Left voters. However what the Marxists did in retaliation to regain lost ground in Kespur, Garbeta, Pingla, Dantan, Sabang, Arambagh, Khanakul, Goghat, Kotolpur, Jeypur and Nanoor is the most sordid chapter of their 25-year rule in West Bengal. The Choto Angeria, Suchpur and over two dozen refugee camps of Trinamul, BJP and Congress supporters bear testimony to that.

That the party remains committed to armed violence and is happy with the policy is best explained by the recent remark of Susanta Ghosh, the minister cum leader of Marxist storm troopers in Midnapore. He ensured that Trinamul could not run their party offices. Other CPI-M ministers agree. No opposition activity is allowed in Kespur, Garbeta and Pingla. To put this into practice, the CPI-M last week did not allow most Trinamul and BJP candidates to file their nominations for the 77 panchayat seats in Midnapore. The Opposition won heavily in the last local poll. With the entire administrative and election machinery under total Marxist control the outcome of the panchayat poll due a year hence cannot be in doubt.
 

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