BJP TODAY

May 16--31, 2003 - Vol. 12, No. 10

Desperate CPI(M) taking recourse to violence prior to Panchayat elections
Attack on Tapan Sikdar
By Our Special Correspondent

Desparate at the prospects in even the otherwise rigged Panchayat elections on May 11, the CPI(M) cadres have gone berserk killing workers of their "friend in Delhi" the Congress Party and of course the BJP and Trinamool Congress cadres who have put up a united front against the Marxist marauders.

The latest victim of the goon-dominated Marxist cadres has been the Union Minister of State for Small Scale Industries and veteran BJP leader Tapan Sikdar at Kaipul in North 24-Parganas district. The Minister's car was damaged and he received injuries on the right side of his neck, according to reports from Kolkata. He was later admitted to a nursing home.

However, more serious has been the mutual killings in north Bengal, particularly in the north Dinajpur district with the epicentre at a large settlement called Chopra. While the CPI(M) lost some of their cadres in violent attack by Congress workers, the Marxist goons retaliated in kind killing and maiming Congress supporters, including even female members of their families.

The media too has not been spared. A reporter of the Telegraph and another of the Hindi news channel Aaj Tak, who had gone to "cover" the incident at Chopra were about to he lynched by the Marxists when a woman teacher of the local school intervened and kept the reporters within their school premises till darkness fell and then asked them to quietly escape from the village. The TV reporter's camera was smashed.

The CPI(M) cadres have become desparate because even some Left Front partners are opposing them in the election and there are widespread fears of cross-voting by them.