Mamata has done irreparable damage to situation: CPI(M)

Stating that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s stand on the Maoist situation in the State reeked of “opportunism, duplicity, indecisiveness and vagueness,” Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly Surya Kanta Mishra said here on Saturday that in the last four months she had done irreparable damage to the situation.

Addressing a public rally at Jhargram during the day, Ms. Banerjee said that she had fulfilled her promise of withholding the joint security operations, but the Maoists had not kept their end of the deal.

“She had kept her promise to the Maoists and this helped them to spread their influence in the region….Because she had kept her word, four people had to sacrifice their lives,” said Dr. Mishra, a Communist Party of India (Marxist) MLA from Paschim Medinipur referring to the recent killings by suspected Maoists.

Commenting on the Chief Minister’s seven-day deadline to the Maoists to “choose between arms and peace” the CPI(M) leader told journalists here that it was unlikely that the situation will be resolved in the coming seven days.

“We are not able to understand what the government wants to do in this regard,” he said adding that she was suffering from indecisiveness on the question of the Maoists laying down their arms.

Dr. Mishra pointed out that she had not acknowledged the presence of Maoists in the State so far and did so only when supporters of her party were killed.

When asked how different Ms. Banerjee’s approach to the Maoist problem was from that of the previous Left Front government, Dr. Mishra said that “there is no similarity.”

“The Left Front government had pointed that it is a multidimensional problem requiring a multi-pronged approach, while her problem is that she has given her word to the Maoists. Now after four months there seems to be some problem,” he added.

On the various projects announced by the Chief Minister, the CPI(M) leader questioned where the funds for keeping these promises would come from as the State government has said that it would have to borrow to even pay the salaries of employees.

He also expressed apprehensions that the projects would suffer a similar fate as that of a series of announcements made by Ms. Banerjee when she was the Railway Minister. The foundation stone of 16 Railway factories in the State were laid. It is likely that these projects will also remain mere foundation stones, he said.

‘Her stand reeks of opportunism, duplicity, indecisiveness and vagueness’

‘Her approach to Maoist problem is different from ours’