State being driven towards chaos, says Buddhadeb

Unabated violence against workers of Left parties

The former West Bengal Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, on Sunday said the Mamata government had little to show for itself except driving the State towards chaos, which defined its call for “change” in less than four months since assuming power.

“The violence being perpetrated on workers and leaders of the Left parties continues unabated, party offices of the Left are being forced to shut down, the Opposition is not being allowed to carry out its political activities, thousands of people are being forced to leave their homes because of their support to the Left… farmers are being evicted and their land taken away as part of a conspiracy hatched by jotedars and the ruling party engaged in subverting the trade union movement in various sectors by undermining workers' unity,” Mr. Bhattacharjee, Polit Bureau member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), said at a rally organised by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) at Serampore in Hooghly district.

“This is the change that the Trinamool Congress has been talking of. Will we allow them to move in such a direction? No, this cannot continue. I appeal to the people to remain cautious in the face of such activities,” he said.

It was not only those supporting the Left who were being targeted. Activists of the Trinamool Congress were also attacking workers of its alliance partner, the Congress, at various places. “And there are areas where hostilities have begun between different factions within the Trinamool Congress,” Mr. Bhattacharjee added.

He criticised the Centre for its failure to rein in the spiralling prices of essential items.

“The government is shirking from its responsibilities by leaving it to the market to determine the prices of these items,” he said.

Mr. Bhattacharjee said the Maoists “who had been pushed into a corner and forced into submission” during the tenure of the previous Left Front government “are now regrouping and surfacing” in different parts of Paschim Medinipur district.