West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has announced plans to reopen cases linked to the 2001 Chhoto Angaria massacre and the 2007 Nandigram violence, warning that nobody accused of involvement would be spared.
Addressing a BJP rally in Garbeta on Saturday, Adhikari said he would pursue cases against those allegedly involved in the killings at Chhoto Angaria and the violence during the anti-land acquisition movement in Nandigram. He alleged that armed men had travelled from the CPI(M)'s party office in Garbeta, West Midnapore, to carry out what became known as 'Operation Sunrise' in Nandigram.
"I would reopen the cases against those involved in Chhoto Angaria (massacre) in 2001 and the ones who went to Nandigram to carry out a bloody Suryoday (Sunshine) after collecting firearms from the CPIM's party office at Garhbeta in West Midnapore. Not a single accused will be spared," he said.
Adhikari asks police to trace former CPI(M) leader
The chief minister also asked the West Midnapore superintendent of police to track down former CPI(M) leader Tapan Ghosh, saying he wanted to see him in jail.
Ghosh and Sukur Ali were prominent CPI(M) leaders whose names had surfaced in several cases of political violence. Both were acquitted in the Chhoto Angaria case in 2009 by a court in Midnapore.
The Chhoto Angaria killings took place on January 4, 2001, when at least five All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) supporters were allegedly killed by CPI(M) cadres inside a house in the village. Adhikari was a Trinamool leader at the time.
Nandigram firing left 14 villagers dead
The other case cited by Adhikari relates to the police firing in Nandigram on March 14, 2007, during an agitation against land acquisition. At least 14 villagers were killed in the firing.
The violence in the region continued later that year, when alleged CPI(M) workers attempted to regain control of areas lost during the anti-land acquisition movement. The operation came to be known as 'Operation Sunrise'.
The National Human Rights Commission, which took suo motu cognisance of the March 2007 firing, recorded that 14 people were killed and around 300, including 52 police personnel, were injured. The Calcutta High Court subsequently held the police firing to be unconstitutional and directed the CBI to investigate the incident and related cases.
Adhikari accuses AITC and CPI(M) of joining hands
Adhikari also accused the AITC and CPI(M) of coming together to create unrest in West Bengal, claiming that their political understanding threatened to revive a period of violence in the state.
"Aunty and Baby have become friends today," he said, in an apparent reference to former chief minister Mamata Banerjee and CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby.
Reacting to the chief minister's remarks, CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty criticised Adhikari for directing the police to act against a former party leader.
"Communist leaders are made of different material. Adhikari is not eligible enough to understand this. Like his predecessor, Adhikari too wants the police to act according to his whimsies and not follow the law. That's why he is directing the police that he wants Ghosh to see in jail. If he has the guts let him send them (CPI(M) leaders) to jail," Chakraborty said.