Mamata, Abhishek pay tribute on Nandigram Diwas
Kolkata: Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson Mamata Banerjee and her party’s national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on ‘Nandigram Diwas’ paid tribute to those killed in police firing on this day in 2007 at Nandigram.
The party supremo took to social media on Monday and paid her respect to all the martyrs, including those who laid down their lives in Nandigram.
Abhishek, on the other hand, while referring to the Nandigram incident, said that the people of Bengal had taught the CPI(M) a lesson and now the BJP’s arrogance will also be shattered in a similar way.
In a post on X, Abhishek wrote: “On this fateful day in 2007, the brave people of Nandigram rose up against the barbaric attempt by the then Left Front government to snatch away their land, dignity and right to live with honour. The face of the oppressor has only changed, the oppression remains the same. The harmads of yesterday have returned as the jallads of today.”
He added: “Where once the Left Front relied on covert, “SCIENTIFIC RIGGING” the present regime resorts to SILENT INVISIBLE RIGGING. Bengal taught the Left Front a lesson it will never forget, today we send the same message to the zamindars of Delhi. Bengal will resist, relentlessly and resolutely. We will crush their arrogance in the ballot box and consign this politics of exclusion to the dustbin of history.”
In a post on X, Mamata wrote in Bengali, the English translation of which would be “We can forget our names but we will never forget Nandigram. Convey my humble tribute to all martyrs including those in Nandigram on Nandigram Diwas.”
The erstwhile Left Front government under Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had issued a notice to acquire land to set up a chemical hub under the Special Economic Zone to be developed by Indonesia-based Salim Group. When the villagers resisted, the police opened fire, killing 14 people on the spot, while another 70 people were wounded. Along with the police force, CPI(M) cadres entered the villages and tortured women and even children were not spared. Trinamool Congress had then alleged that at least 50 people were killed on the spot in police firing. Trinamool Congress observes the day as “Nandigram Divas” every year since 2012. The ruling Trinamool Congress often charges the CPI(M)with unleashing ‘barbaric attacks’ on the people of Nandigram in East Midnapore district in 2007.
