Trinamool holds rally with supporter’s corpse

KOLKATA - Trinamool Congress Monday held a rally here with the body of a party supporter allegedly killed by Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-backed hooligans in West Bengal’s West Midnapore district Sunday.

The rally started from Peace Haven, where Sanatan Hembram’s body was kept, and marched towards Shyambazar, where the party’s students wing - Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad (TMCCP) - was holding a pre-scheduled agitation programme protesting a recent attack on them by supporters of the Students Federation of India (SFI), the students wing of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).

The procession along with the body was later taken to Trinamool Congress Bhavan in Topsia through central parts of the city. A makeshift podium was also set up at Esplanade area, where several senior leaders of the party and its allies paid their last respects to Sanatan Hembram.

The rally caused major traffic disruption in the central parts of the city.

At Trinamool Congress Bhavan, party supremo Mamata Banerjee and other senior leaders including Sishir Adhikary, Shovan Chatterjee, Sudip Bandhopadhyay and Partha Chatterjee paid homage to the victim. The body was then handed over to the family members for last rites.

The rally comes four days after Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and state CPI-M chief Biman Bose placed wreathes on the body of Swapan Koley, an SFI activist who died in a student clash Thursday.

Meanwhile, the CPI-M accused Trinamool Congress of playing ‘ugly politics’ over a corpse.

“The Trinamool rally was scheduled a day before the incident happened. It can not be stated that the rally was held to condole the death. The body was only imported into the rally to draw the crowd,” CPI-M central committee member and former MP Md. Salim said, adding that Sanatan was a pro-Maoist activist.

The state Congress too was critical of ‘the politics over a dead body’.

State Congress general secretary Maya Ghosh said: “The Congress does not believe in such things. It does not send a positive message to the people.”

West Midnapore Police Superintendent Manoj Verma Sunday said: “Sanatan was an active member of the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities’ (PCAPA) armed wing and he was named by Maoist leader Dilip Mahato arrested earlier.”