Kolkata, Sep 29 (IANS) Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee Wednesday said the West Bengal government was carrying out mass killings in Maoist-hit areas in three districts with the help of the security forces.
‘Has the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) been able to restore peace in Junglemahal by clamping prohibitory order and launching joint operation over the past one year,’ questioned the Trinamool Congress chief while addressing newspersons at her residence here in Kalighat.
Junglemahal refers to Maoist-affected forests in West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura districts.
She said: ‘We want an impartial inquiry into the killing of innocent people of Junglemahal.’
‘With the help of troopers and the Superintendent of Police, West Midnapore, Manoj Verma, the CPI-M hoodlums are carrying out killings of innocent people. What the CPI-M had done in Nandigram in 2007, they are now doing the same thing in Junglemahal,’ alleged Banerjee.
Nandigram in East Midnapore has been in the news from January 2007, when farmers led by the Trinamool, launched violent protests against the state government’s attempts to acquire land for a chemical hub.
‘I have specific information that several people were forcible taken away by the CPI-M cadres backed by the security personnel from their houses at Bandorboni in Jhargram sub-division of West Midnapore district Sep 25, while conducting search operation after one Maoist and a trooper were killed in a gunfight between the joint forces and the rebels,’ alleged Banerjee.
Alleging that the CPI-M was killing people and Trinamool supporters every day in Junglemahal in the name of joint operation, she said: ‘If the situation demands I will go to Junglemahal and stay there during Durga Puja days.’
Banerjee has been demanding withdrawal of joint forces deployed June 2009 in the Junglemahal area to flush out the rebels.
She also blamed the CPI-M led Left Front government for violating constitution and killing people across the state.
She also appealed for peace and harmony prior to the Ayodhya verdict to be announced Thursday.
