Kolkata, Jan 22 (IANS) Senior Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Gurudas Dasgupta Saturday said the killing of civilians in Netai village should not have happened and admitted that the growth of Trinamool Congress in West Bengal was due to the failure of the Communists to learn from their mistakes.
‘The incident at Netai village should not have happened. But I don’t blame the state government for this incident,’ Dasgupta said on the sidelines of a party programme here.
At least nine people were killed and 12 wounded Jan 7 in violence triggered by miscreants allegedly backed by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) near Lalgarh area of West Midnapore district. The incident led to a furore, prompting union Home Minister P. Chidambaram to summon state Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to New Delhi.
Dasgupta also dubbed as ‘not impartial’ the Election Commission team which recently visited various politically troubled areas of Bengal.
‘We want an impartial team to come and visit. The earlier people who had come were not impartial. If this recent team was impartial, we would not have not requested another team to visit,’ said Dasgupta.
But Dasgupta blamed the failure of the Communist to learn from their mistakes as a reason for the growth of the Trinamool Congress.
‘If Communists would have taken lesson from the fall of (erstwhile) Soviet Union and its past mistakes, then we wouldn’t have witnessed the growth of Trinamool Congress in the state. One of the reasons for the growth of this unholy force is our failures and mistakes,’ said Dasgupta.
Dasgupta also slammed the central government and said its lack of proper care towards the common man was the reason for the growth of the Maoist movement in India.
‘In the last 63 years after we achieved freedom, the pangs and problems of the poor have continued. The number of rich people has increased. There are still many people in India who don’t have access to the basic amenities. One of the main reasons for the growth of the Maoist movement in India and in West Bengal is underdevelopment,’ said Dasgupta.
