THE All India Agricultural Workers Union (AIAWU), in a statement issued on May 14, has condemned the brutal murders, the destruction of rural democratic institutions like the panchayats and the gross violation of the right to life by the murderous gangs of the TMC in West Bengal who are out to finish whatever rights the poor have to protect themselves from the brutal attacks of goons defended by the state machinery.

The murders of 12 people are reported in a climate of widespread destruction of public and private property, with the state machinery either refusing to act or even helping these criminals. State minister Rabindranath Ghosh actually led booth capturing in Coochbehar.  Similar murderous attacks were unleashed in Jalpaiguri, Maldaha, East and West Burdwan, North and South 24 Parganas, Hooghly, Howrah, Bankura, Murshidabad, North Dinajpur and Nandigram, to name only a few centres where such brutal attacks and booth capturing have taken place. In areas of Nadia, Murshidabad and North Dinajpur, AIAWU has congratulated the people who resisted the attacks. It also offered its deep felt condolences to the families of CPI(M) activists Debu Das and his wife Usha who were burnt alive in Budhakhali in South 24 Parganas, Taibur Rahman Gain killed in Amdanga in North 24 Parganas, Apu Manna and Jagneshwar Ghosh of Nandigram who were shot to death after voting in Nandigram. It also offered its condolences to all those belonging to other parties who have been killed in this mass orgy of destruction.

It is a shame that the TMC has used the same tactics of terrorising the agricultural labourers, rural poor, farmers, students and small traders as the BJP, which led by its MLAs, MPs and ministers, has recently unleashed in areas like Gurgaon and Bahadurgarh in Haryana, Alwar in Rajasthan, Unnao and AMU in UP, Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir and Aurangabad in Maharashtra, using methods similar to those used by the state government of West Bengal. AIAWU has called on the Election Commission, the judiciary and democratic masses to come out on the streets and protest against this growing lawlessness all over the country and said it is time to defend our constitutional rights being violated by parties in power with no concern for the people.

The All India Agricultural Workers Union has called on all its state units to protest against this violation of democratic rights in the panchayat elections in West Bengal, as well as the continued attacks of the governments of Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, UP, Maharashtra and Jammu and Kashmir on the lives and safety of the mass of people in our country.