Confiscate illegal arms: Bengal intellectuals to Pratibha Patil

Ahead of West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s meeting with the Union Home Minister to discuss the state’s political killings, a group of anti-Left Front intellectuals on Monday met President Pratibha Patil and sought her intervention to dismantle the armed camps of CPI-M cadres and seize illegal arms in their possession.

“We told the President about the reign of terror in West Bengal. The violence is sometimes invisible and silent, sometimes it can be seen. But we brought to the notice of the President all that is happening here and how it is important to confiscate those arms ahead of elections,” said economist Abhirup Sarkar after the meeting with the President.

“Confiscating the arms is not only important for now, but also for the elections, so that a democratic poll can take place,” said Sarkar.

West Bengal is going to state assembly polls in a few months.

“These illegal arms are found in harmad (armed cadres or hired attackers) camps (of CPI-M) and they should be raided,” he said.

Briefing the media, theatre personality Arpita Ghosh said the President has expressed her shock to learn the events and she questioned again on it to be sure that it was really happening in this scale.

“She gave us a patient hearing,” said painter Subhaprasanna.

The intellectuals also have plans to meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi.

Concerned over the rising political violence and deaths in West Bengal, the intellectuals decided to take the state’s battle to the Centre.

The intellectuals in West Bengal were divided since the Singur and Nandigram incidents of 2006-2007 with the most vocal group now supporting Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress.

They earlier visited Lalgarh’s Nitai village where eight people died on Jan 7 in alleged firing by the armed cadres of the CPI-M.

The intellectuals said they would share their experience in the killing fields with the top leaders.

Meanwhile, on Jan 19, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will meet Union Home Minister P Chidambaram in New Delhi over the deteriorating law and order situation in West Bengal and the presence of camps of armed cadres of CPI-M, a charge the communists were parrying with alleged Trinamool Congress-Maoist nexus.