KOLKATA: Three days after Trinamool leaders brokered a fragile peace that led to the removal of blockades in strife-hit Bhangar in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, the agitating villages returned to blockades on Friday after top CPI (ML) Red Star leaders Sharmishtha Choudhury, Pradeep Thakur and Shahnawaz Mollah were arrested and CID granted an eight-day custody of the trio by a local court on Thursday.
When Trinamool legislator and Bidhannagar mayor Sabyasachi Dutta, who led the removal of blockades on Tuesday, went for the second time to the area on Thursday evening, he was greeted by stone-pelting mobs and was surrounded by villagers who allegedly asked him to leave the area. Clashes ensued between the protesters and West Bengal Police, who escorted the mayor out. Police fired at least seven rounds in the air. Roads have been blocked in at least 16 areas in Machibhanga, Bakdoba, Khamarait, Shyamnagar and other agitating villages of Bhangar.
Some of the Bhangar residents had alleged that Trinamool cadres had thrown bombs in the area in the name of removing blockades. “I don’t understand red star or white star. If they come to disrupt peace, we will whitewash them,” Dutta said.
However, the agitators said that when outsiders Red Star leaders Choudhury, Thakur and Mollah were arrested, why same treatment was not meted out to Sabyasachi Dutta and his men, who are also outsiders to the area. “Mamata Banerjee had ordered to arrest all outsiders trying to foment trouble in Bhangar but orders were followed selectively. We will continue with our protests until the Red Star leaders are released, who stood with us during the time of need,” agitator Akbar Ali said.
CPI (ML) Red Star had not agreed to the suspension of the blockade on Tuesday. Apart from the three arrests, the party’s general secretary K N Ramachandran was allegedly picked up from Howrah station on Sunday and sent back to Delhi on Monday. He was supposed to address a public meet of agitators in Bhangar. The state government had from the beginning alleged the role of Red Star in igniting the protests in Bhangar.
In new worries for Mamata Banerjee, the second phase of blockade against the arrests has also brought to fore the support the parliamentary Naxalite party commands among residents of the 30 agitating villages of Bhangar.