Mamata Banerjee wants joint forces to quit West Bengal’s Maoist-hit areas

KOLKATA - Railway Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has said her party would continue to demand withdrawal of the joint security forces from West Bengal’s Maoist-affected districts.

Talking to reporters here, Banerjee said she had repeatedly brought to the notice of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and West Bengal Governor M.K. Narayanan that the State’s ruling Communist Party of India-Marxists (CPI-M) was using the joint forces to set up camps to shelter party hooligans.

Mamata Banerjee alleged that the CP-M was throwing to winds all norms of democracy and the Constitution so as to eliminate their opponents.

She alleged that in the garb of police personnel including those of paramilitary outfits like the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the CPM cadres were looting village after village, rendering hundreds of families homeless.

“The CPI-M goons are indulging in violence across the state. They continued their politics of killing even during the Durga Puja days during Oct 13-17,” she said.

“This government is using Constitution as careless duty and CPI (M) has kept it aside. We respect the Constitution I don’t want to use other words. They have ground the Constitution to dust and totally misused administrative power and used its own people as armed forces and looted village after village, killed our workers and rendered many homeless even during the Pujas,” she added

‘If the Centre can condemn the violence in Kashmir, Gujarat and Mumbai then why is it remaining mum on West Bengal,’ she questioned.

She said: “We will build up a democratic movement to drive out the CPI(M) which can’t remain in power by indulging in murder, loot and violence.”

She further said that on October 23, TMC would hold a major rally in the city that will start from Bidhan Nagar and end at the Gandhi Bhavan at Beliaghata. (ANI)