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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Confident TMC & anxious Left shun Netai by Naresh Jana

Confident TMC & anxious Left shun Netai by Naresh Jana

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published Published on May 5, 2011   modified Modified on May 5, 2011
A deathly silence hangs over Netai. In neighbouring areas, poll campaigning is on in full swing but the village where nine persons were killed in firing from a CPM camp on January 7, is untouched by it.

The Trinamul Congress is not canvassing in Netai as it is “confident” that nobody will vote for the CPM in the area. The CPM, on the other hand, is avoiding campaigning in the area as it fears that such a move may revive “memories of the firing” in the poll season and “create fresh tension”. West Midnapore’s Netai, where CPM cadres had fired at villagers protesting their “atrocities” in front of an armed camp, goes to the polls on May 10.

Mrigen Maity, the district chairman of Trinamul, said: “We are not campaigning in Netai at the moment because we know that the villagers will not vote for the CPM after what happened on January 7. The villagers are yet to recover from the trauma.”

Some CPM workers in Netai, which has around 1,250 voters, said on condition of anonymity that they had been asked by the district leadership not to campaign in the village. “The district leaders fear that if we canvass in the area, it may create tension and revive the memories of the incident. It may hurt our poll prospects further,” said a party worker.

Amar Basu, the CPM candidate for Jhargram, under which Netai falls, said the party leadership had not chalked out the campaign schedule for Netai. “Besides, I am busy campaigning in other parts of Jhargram. The Binpur leadership of the party will decide on the canvassing programme in Netai,” he said, avoiding a direct reply when asked why he had not visited the village. Netai and Lalgarh, 4km away, are under Binpur block I.

Tapas Mondal, 50, whose wife Arati was one of those killed in the firing, said Trinamul leaders and workers were confident that none from the village would vote for the CPM in the wake of the January 7 massacre. “Trinamul has not held a single campaign rally or procession here. Jhargram Trinamul candidate Sukumar Hansda occasionally comes to our village to take Krishnagopal Roy (a popular retired schoolteacher) and Tanmoy Roy (a party worker) to campaign rallies in neighbouring villages,” Mondal said.

Dwarikanath Panda, a retired teacher, said the “wounds of the firing” were still “fresh” in the minds of the Netai residents. “Nine persons were killed and 24 others were injured. We are yet to overcome the shock. The mood here is still sombre,” Panda said.

“When I visit neighbouring areas such as Ramgarh, Kantapahari and Lalgarh, I see the political parties organising hectic campaigns there. But no party has campaigned in our village. We, however, are not feeling bad about this,” he added.

Sixty-year-old Ranjit Patra, who lost his 20-year-old son Arup in the firing, said he missed the “bustle” of a poll campaign. “A deathly silence hangs over our village. Public meetings and door-to-door campaigns are being organised regularly in the neighbouring areas. The silence here keeps reminding me of the firing and my loss.”

Poll graffiti are also hard to find in Netai. Only some walls sport Trinamul writings but none of the CPM.

The Telegraph, 5 May, 2011, http://telegraphindia.com/1110505/jsp/bengal/story_13942040.jsp


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