Kolkata: IN a gruesome
incident, Kartick Mondal, a member of Katwa zonal committee of CPI(M) was
brutally killed by TMC goons in his village. Mondal (64) was an extraordinary
human being -- retired teacher, a singer and song writer, organiser of Adivasi
Lokshilpi Sangha, the organisation of the folk artists and a leader of the
peasant movement. He was very close to people.
On the night of 6th October,
Mondal returned to his village in Katwa after attending a meeting of the
cultural organisation. In a pre-meditated attack, the armed goons were waiting
in a bush near Mondal’s house and attacked him savagely. Mondal was killed on
the spot. As the villagers rushed in hearing shouts, the assailants fled from
the spot.
Police was informed but did not
bother to reach the spot for two long hours, though the nearest police outpost
was only 4 km away. When the police reached the spot, the villagers demanded
that they carry out a house-to-house search as they suspected that the killers
were not still able to run away. But the police refused to do so. Even the
request to bring sniffer dogs was also denied. Angered, the villagers refused
to hand over the body to police till midnight. It was clear that there was
complicity between the ruling party murderers and the police.
Thousands of people paid
tributes to Kartick Mondal in his last rites the next day. Villagers came out
in numbers all along the 25 km road from the Katwa town to the village. People
were literally crying . The village women brought flowers from their own home
to lay at Mondal’s body. Katwa-2 block observed a spontaneous bandh to protest
the murder. The police, who refused to arrest the killers, used force to break
the bandh. Seventeen CPI(M) activists were arrested.
A terror regime has been let
loose in the district of Burdwan. One after another murder of CPI(M) leaders
has taken place in the last 28 months, that included district secretariat
member, district committee members and zonal committee members.
SCHOOL CANDIDATE’S BROTHER
KILLED
Bedbaria, a village at Chapra,
Nadia resembled the state of democracy in West Bengal on the afternoon of 06th
October. As 60 villagers were evicted from their residence, 10 houses were set
on fire after being robbed and Ashadul Seikh (42 years) got brutally killed for
the ‘grave mistake’ his brother has committed by participating in the elections
of a school guardians’ management committee as a candidate of the progressive
democratic guardians.
On the same day when the chief
minister was busy in inaugurations of high-budget festive makeshifts (Puja
pandals) in the glare of lights and glitters in Kolkata, the residents of
Chapra witnessed a spine chilling episode of terror or whatever the CM and her
disciples term as ‘democracy’ that has been practiced day by day for the 28
months in this state by them. Bedbaria Higher Secondary School’s Guardians’
Management Committee elections were scheduled to be held on this day and
filling up of candidature was done prior to that as per practice. Ashadul
Seikh’s brother, Ramjan Sheikh, was one of the candidates despite threats from
Trinamool Congress not to contest.
Just after the elections were
over, an armed gang attacked the house of Ramjan, who was not present in the
house. His brother Asadul was attacked with sharp weapons and was killed on the
spot. Theirs and 10 other houses were set on fire, and got burned to the ashes.
Ramjan’s daughter and two nieces were burnt and hospitalised. 60 villagers had
to flee from the village.
The ordeal did not end there.
TMC barred Asadul’s body to be brought to village burial ground and the burial
had to be done some 20 km away. Despite
clear allegation and FIR from Asadul’s wife, the police did not arrest any
assailants. Instead, Ramjan Sheikh was arrested due to the pressure from the
ruling party.
AGRI WORKER BEATEN TO DEATH BY
POLICE
Over to police, directly. The
TMC was eager to win control over a School Management Committee at Indapur, Bankura. The ruling party leaders threatened the
villagers not to oppose them. The
agricultural workers of Boga village disagreed to let the ruling party have a
clean sweep in the election, so they protested. The consequent result was
merciless attack on the village, this time directly led by the police. They unleashed massive lathicharge on the
village labourers, entered in poor peoples’ homes, ransacked and unleashed a
reign of terror. Binod Bauri (55 years), an agricultural worker, was beaten to
death by the police. When the villagers
went to the police station to lodge a FIR, the police refused to take the
complaint saying that Binod died in a heart-attack. The police then rushed to
the village with the body of the dead agricultural workers and forced the
relatives of the dead to burn the body without post mortem. Bauri had numerous
injuries and wounds on his body. The village was practically surrounded by
police and villagers were forced to remain silent. However, CPI(M) leaders went
to the villages and visited the homes of the poor people. The villagers
described the incidents to them.
VETERAN CPI(M) LEADER KILLED
On 8th October, veteran CPI(M)
leader Bharat Mondal was murdered in Kultali village in South 24 Parganas
district. He was returning after attending a Party meeting, riding on a
motorbike of another Party leader. On the way, they were both attacked by TMC
activists. They threw bombs and then fired. Bharat Mondal was attacked by sharp
weapons too. He was killed on the spot and Samsuddin Sardar was seriously
injured.
Mondal was instrumental in
organising the villagers in Kundakhali Godabar where Left Front won the
panchayat in the recent elections. Mondal was the key eye-witness in the murder
of CPI(M) leader Icha Gayen, who was murdered in August, 2012. Thousands of people gathered in the night in
the village and blocked roads. They also refused to hand over the body to
police. Police faced huge protest from the people. A 12-hour bandh was observed
in Kultali in protest of the murder.
