Fast losing its toehold in Bengal in the wake of nonstop attacks from the Trinamool Congress armed gangs, the left Front on Monday gave an ultimatum Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to ensure their safety or face mass unrest.
Emerging from the one-hour meeting with the Chief Minister at her State secretariat office, CPI(M) Politburo member Binman Bose, who led the 12-member left team, said, “The Chief Minister has heard our demands and assured action on case-to-case basis.”
The Monday’s meeting assumes significance for two reasons: first it was for the first time that Banerjee who had thrived on anti-CPI(M) politics and who had hardly spoken to the left leaders in her three-year-rule gave the left delegation an instant appointment and second the meeting took place against the backdrop of a remarkable rise in BJP’s support base following a steady migration of left supporters to the saffron fold.
When asked as to whether the left team was satisfied with the talks, Bose said, “There is no question of being satisfied or dissatisfied because the taste of the pudding is in its eating,” adding the left had given the Chief Minister an ultimatum of two-three days.
“We met the Chief Minister to tell her about how our workers and supporters are being attacked on a daily basis with thousands having fled their homes. If the Government fails to stop the ongoing violence in another two-three days then we will be forced to hit the streets.”
The left team presented the Chief Minister with a list of 157 of their supporters, who had allegedly been killed in the past three years, sources said.
“We have given her all the information showing how thousands of our workers have been forced to flee their villages and how their houses have been ransacked and burnt and how they are prevented from tilling their land,” the left leaders said, adding Banerjee had forwarded the complaints to the appropriate officials to look into the matters on “case-to-case basis” before taking action.
Banerjee’s spontaneous response to left delegation’s demand for an appointment is seen in terms of a growing concern in the Trinamool quarters over the steady migration of left supporters to the BJP which had secured 17 per cent vote share in the elections and finished second in as many as 34 Assembly seats.
Though the left secured about 30 per cent votes in the elections its leaders claim that they could have managed about 35-38 per cent votes if there were no rigging.
“The meeting was a need of the hour both for the left and Mamata Banerjee because the Trinamool is losing its support base on account of its misrule and the left is losing because of continuous attacks on its supporters who are naturally turning towards the BJP for protection.
“And in any case, the BJP stands to be the biggest gainer,” said poll experts like Shivaji Basu explaining the “urgency” from both the sides for talks.
Meanwhile hours before the Monday’s meeting, the house of a Forward Bloc leader and a former MlA was bombed at Coochbehar, the police said.
Dipak Sarkar the Bloc leader alleged the attack was mounted by the Trinamool to frighten him and the other left workers so that they withdrew from politics.