Kolkata, Feb 18 (Inditop.com) As relatives and friends of the security personnel killed in Monday’s Maoist attack in West Midnapore’s Shilda area continued to protest Thursday, Gorkha Janamukti Morcha (GJM) activists tried to whip up ethnic sentiments saying the West Bengal government only pushed the Gorkhas forward to fight the Maoist ultras.
“The state government only sent Gorkhas to fight the Maoists. And when they were killed, no scope to pay tribute to these brave martyrs was given,” GJM general secretary Roshan Giri told Inditop.
He said: “The state government was supposed to send the bodies of 13 Eastern Frontier Rifles (EFR) jawans, who were Gorkha, by air. We waited for the entire day to receive the bodies but they arrived at 11 p.m. Wednesday in a decomposed form.”
“We could not perform the last rites Wednesday night,” he said, while condemning Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s role in the whole issue.
Giri said: “We know, Bhattacharjee will not give any statement as he does not care about the death of any Gorkha jawan. We don’t expect anything from him also.”
Meanwhile, hundreds of friends and family members of the deceased security personnel blockaded Keshari road in West Midnapore demanding Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s statement on the entire incident.
The agitators blocked roads at seven different points near Kharagpur in the district and burnt tyres while pressing for their demand to provide better security for paramilitary troopers posted in Maoist-infested regions.
“We want Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to give an official statement about the whole incident. He should at least listen to our problems and provide better security infrastructure to our jawans who are fighting against the Maoist ultras in western districts of the state,” a distraught neighbour of one of the killed jawans said.
