WEST Bengal has passed two blood-soaked months after the assembly elections. Almost every day, news of attacks on Left activists, supporters and common people have become regular.

From the electoral process began, till date, a total of 12 people have been murdered by the TMC goons. On June 8, CPI(M) activist and polling agent Amit Pradhan (32) was murdered at Bhagwanpur, East Midnapur. Nirmal Mondal was murdered in Khejuri as he was active in the election campaign for the Left candidate. Sk Sajjat (20) was shot dead by TMC goons on June 14 at Gosaipur village near Bishnupur industrial estate. Rafikul Hassan Sk (55), an active  CPI(M) worker of Kulsona village in Manglkot, Burdwan was attacked by TMC leader Nazir Sk and his group as they chopped him with sharp weapons. He was admitted to hospital and died. He died on June 15. Arun Sardar, an active CPI(M) worker was brutally murdered by TMC goons on June 15 at Taldangra, Bankura for being the polling agent of the CPI(M). Saifulla Gazi of Bankipur village, Magrahat of South 24 Paraganas was murdered on June 30 by TMC hooligans as he organised campaign in support of the Left Front. Ibrahim Ali of Khanakul, Hooghly was killed after he returned to village on police assurance. On July 2, Basudev Sarkar, a Party member under Indus zonal committee was forced to commit suicide due to mental torture. Narotam Mandal, an active CPI(M) worker of Kakdwip, South 24 Paraganas was brutally murdered by TMC hooligans on July 19, as  he refused the proposal of joining the TMC.

But these fatal attacks are just the tip of the iceberg. The nature of TMC terror is both extensive and intensive. The attack, intimidation by the ruling party is not limited to the leading cadres of Left parties only. All shades of opposition are being attacked.

One of the main areas of attack is on the livelihood of people. Hundreds of peasants and share croppers have been ordered by the ruling party not to cultivate their lands. This has happened particularly in those areas where the Left and opposition have won in the elections. In a bizarre case, uncles of a TMC MP and cine star Dipak Adhikary, better known as Deb, were banned from cultivating their lands in Mahishda in Keshpur block of Medinipore Paschim district. His uncles are CPI(M) activists, one of them being a zonal committee member too. Deb, who originally hailed from this village, is also elected from this constituency. The lands thus unattended on theTMC order include lands of his father also. This is but an example of the aggressive eviction of peasants from their lands in the state.

Villagers are denied jobs under MNREGA and rural development projects. ICDS workers are a special target as a large section of them have lent their support to Left parties.

In villages, one of the weapons of terrorisation is the so-called ‘fine’, which is in reality nothing but extortion. Left supporters and common people are charged hefty amounts to secure their stay in villages. Hundreds of crores of money is being collected by ruling party hoodlums in this process. Murders have taken place, like that in Kakdwip, for refusal of this fine.

As a consequence of such atrocities and violence, many cadres and supporters of the Left are being forced to leave their villages. Large scale ‘political migration’ of the CPI (M) and Left activists and leaders, leaving behind their traditional livelihood, has only added misery for the toiling masses. Different party headquarters at the district levels are turning out to be virtual relief camps that reverberate the agony of the homeless. 

TMC has unleashed a terror targeting offices of Left parties and mass organisations. More than 816 Party offices and 157 mass organisation offices were either ransacked, destroyed, burnt or ceased. This has been done with a design to terrorise general people of the areas.

It would be a mistake to see these attacks in isolation. The political aim is to prevent the Left from regrouping after its electoral reverses so as to weaken the opposition moves to resist the reversal of the historical achievements of the people of West Bengal under the Left front regime and to weaken the democratic rights of the people so assiduously advanced and strengthened by the Left Front government. The pattern also indicates an effort at the extinction of all opposition in the state.