Trinamool cooperated with Maoists in Nandigram: Party MP

KOLKATA - Embarrassing his party yet again, singer-turned-Trinamool Congress MP Kabir Suman has claimed in his recent book that the Trinamool and Maoists were hand in glove during the Nandigram land agitation in 2007.

In his just released book “Nishaner Naam Tapasi Malik” (Tapasi Malik - An Emblem), Suman writes that Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee and other party leaders held a meeting with pro-Maoist leaders Prasun Chattopadhyay and Raja Sarkhel in 2007.

On Nov 6, 2007 a meeting of Krishi Jomi Raksha Committee (Save Farmland Committee) was held at the Trinamool headquarters Trinamool Bhavan after fresh violence erupted at Nandigram. The onslaught and violence was perpetuated by CPI-M, he writes.

In that meeting, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee along with leaders like Shovandeb Chatterjee and Sougata Roy, activists like Prasun Chattopadhyay and Raja Sarkhel were also present. Both (Chattopadhyay and Sarkhel) are now behind bars under the draconian law Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), Suman writes.

Suman also said that former Indian Administrative Service officers such as Debobrata Bandopadhyay and Mostaq Murshed also attended the Nov 6 meeting, in which he spoke of armed resistance against the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) backed goons in Nandigram.

Sumans revelations in this book comes days after Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) leader Bikram in a statement cited the outfit’s “old links” with Banerjee and Trinamool, and said it had worked side by side with Trinamool during the peasant agitations in Singur and Nandigram, besides the rebel movement in Lalgarh.

A CPI-M delegation that called on union Home Minister P. Chidambaram Thursday cited Sumans writings to buttress their allegations of a Trinamool-Maoist nexus in West Bengal.

Over the past few years, the state witnessed violent protests over acquisition of land for setting up industrial units at Singur and Nandigram.

Sumans relations with Trinamool were strained after he came out in protest against ‘Operation Greenhunt’ carried out to flush out Maoists. He went against the official stand of his party and wrote songs eulogising pro-Maoist leaders Chatrodhar Mahato and Lalmohan Tudu. While Mahato is in jail under UAPA, Tudu was killed allegedly in police firing last year.

Suman even wished to resign from Lok Sabha and all party posts early March 2010, but later backtracked after consulting with Magsaysay award winning writer Mahesweta Devi.

According to Suman, Krishi Jomi Rakha Committee was an alliance which included Prasun Chattopadhyay and Raja Sarkhel, who represented Gana Pratirodh Mancha.

However, Trinamool leader and union Minister of State for Urban Development Saugata Ray claimed he had never met Prasun Chattopadhyay or Raja Sarkhel.

I dont remember any such thing and I have never met Prasun Chattopadhyay and Raja Sarkel. I dont even know them, Roy told IANS.