Poets and authors block road in protest against the West Bengal government for the Nandigram violence in Kolkata on Sunday.
— PTI
photo |
Kolkata, November 11
Three major Left Front partners, the RSP, Forward Bloc and the CPI, which had formed a mini-front against the CPM, met today in the city and decided to quit the front if the CPM’s vandalism in Nandigram was not stopped forthwith.
Minister from the RSP Kshiti Goswami has already decided to stop attending his office at Writers Buildings from tomorrow in accordance with his decision to resign from the cabinet over the killings of farmers at Nandigram by CPM muscle men. Irrigation minister Subhas Goswami (RSP) had taken a similar decision.
But, the Forward Bloc, which was also sore over the attack on the farmers, wanted that another attempt be made at the political level for resolving the Nandigram crisis, before leaving the front ministry. The CPI also favoured that the Nandigram crisis be resolved both at the political as well as administrative levels.
Though Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi asked the state government on Friday to take immediate steps for restoring peace at Nandigram, the situation there was far from normal today. The district administration and the police had not responded to the Governor’s instructions. Instead,
the police continued to help the cadres, armed with firearms and other lethal weapons, in a recapture drive.
There were reports of clashes and killings at Nandigram reaching at Writers Buildings. The police admitted that two more persons were killed in the firing near the Tekhali bridge today. The CPM could recapture most of their “lost areas” where the evicted people, camping at Khejuri, had been rehabilitated.
Meanwhile, intellectuals organised a protest in the city in protest against the killings at Nandigram. They were beaten up and sent to the police lock-up at
Lal Bazar.
Newly appointed police chief Gautam Chakraborty supervised an “operation” against the writers, poets, film and drama personalities, doctors, professors and other intellectuals who had gathered in front of the Nandan cinema. The 13th International Calcutta Film Festival was under way at the cinema. The protesters were demanding the closing down of the film festival.
The arrested people included director and actor Aparna Sen, director Gautam Ghose, Shaowli Mitra, Bibash Chakrabortyl, Bidishi Chakraborty, Prambata, Prof Sankha Ghosh Suvaprasanna and several others, who initially had been the supporters of the CPM. Bollywood actress Mousumi Chatterjee rejected the state government’s award of his “life-time achievement” in acting, which was to be presented to her today at the cinema. She boycotted the festival.
The intellectuals would support the 24-hour Bangla Bandh the call for which has been given by the Congress and the SUCI tomorrow. Trinamool Congress will launch a series of protests and rallies in the state from tomorrow, demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Budhadeb Bhattacharjee and the imposition of the President’s rule in the state.
