Trinamul Takes Swift Action Against Alleged Atrocities in Sandeshkhali

On Sunday, the Trinamul leadership reaffirmed that the party would not support those politicians who are accused of committing crimes against the people of Sandeshkhali.

In keeping with the discussion, Ajit Maiti, the president of the Bermajur Anchal Committee, was removed by Trinamul 24 hours after his appointment on grounds of torture and land grabbing.

The party leader was being pursued by a gang of enraged women who were carrying sticks, brooms, and maybe an axe when she sought refuge in the home of a civic volunteer at 2:00 pm. After gheraoing his hiding location for five hours, the woman was finally taken into custody by the authorities on the grounds that she had committed crimes against him.

Partha Bhowmick, a senior Trinamul official and minister of irrigation, said at Sandeshkhali on Sunday: "The party does not support the unrest among people in Sandeshkhali, which was caused by the unlawful work of certain individuals (of Trinamul)."

"People ought to express their resentment towards leaders who engage in misconduct," Bhowmick said, declaring Maiti's dismissal.

On Saturday, Maiti was named the local unit president of the party, taking over from Sirajuddin Sheikh, the brother of the group's leader, Shahjahan Sheikh, who is now on the run.

The peasants, however, charged Maiti of using his political influence to commit crimes on them and acting as a proxy of Sirajuddin and Shahjahan.

Abhishek Banerjee, national general secretary of the Trinamul Congress, reiterated at Maheshtala that the party does not endorse "unlawful" activities. He said that the high court's intervention caused a delay in Shahjahan's detention.

"Trinamul is not guarding Shahjahan but the judiciary.... Lift the stay (order) and see what the police do next," he said.

Additionally, the MP for Diamond Harbour said that "police need to probe the protest in Sandeshkhali."

"No matter how big the leader is, if anyone is involved in any injustice, strict action will be taken against him by the state government," he said.

Trinamul, in Sandeshkhali, was forced to act against Maiti on Sunday after the recent uprising by over 200 village women in Bermajur.

Maiti was waiting for party leaders Sujit Bose and Partha Bhowmik to arrive in Bermajur on Sunday morning. According to informed sources, Maiti was being watched by village ladies who grew upset. They pursued him for around 200 meters until he sought safety in a volunteer's home. Before a police squad headed by DIG-Barasat range Bhaskar Mukherjee hurried in, Maiti was detained there. The ladies were instructed to leave and file a formal complaint against Maiti by Mukherjee. However, the ladies insisted on Maiti's arrest and would not back down. He was finally taken into custody by the police and taken to the Minakhan police station.

"Maiti is the subject of several allegations, all of which will be investigated. He would be taken into custody if necessary, a top police official from the Basirhat police district said.

Prior to taking office as president on Saturday, Maiti served as the secretary of Trinamul's anchal committee for around two years. On Sunday, she seemed "panicky."

Maiti was assaulted and his home vandalized by the locals on Friday as well, but he was able to escape.

There was a tangible rage directed at him. "Shibaprasad Hazra and Uttam Sardar, Shahjahan Sheikh's principal advisers, are less threatening than Ajit Maiti, who had maintained a low profile. As an agent of Shahjahan and his brother Sirajuddin, Ajit used to oversee the Bermajur region, identifying agricultural land that needed to be forcibly occupied in order to be converted to bheris (ponds for pisciculture). A lady who attended the gathering on Sunday said that it was his responsibility to find the peasants who dared to speak out against the land grab or to report it to the authorities in order to seek justice.

"It was on his orders that the police used to implicate our men in false cases," she said.

On Sunday, Minister Sujit Bose engages with residents in Sandeshkhali.

Pashupati Das Maiti blamed the Sheikh brothers for the crimes and refuted the accusations. He said that in their hands, he was a "stooge."

He stated that Sirajuddin had intimidated and physically assaulted him to get him to work for him, despite his initial claims to be a BJP volunteer. "I never did anything wrong, but I got spoilt living with bad leaders," he stated, indicating that he wanted to leave Trinamul.

However, Minister Bhowmick said, accompanied by cabinet colleague Sujit Bose, "Any work that harms people can never be supported." They were speaking with locals in several Sandeshkhali neighborhoods. Two of our senior party members have been requested to take charge of the organization in Bermajur, and Maiti has been dismissed. The people have our word that their lands will be recovered.

One of the villagers who had placed Maiti under gherao on Sunday expressed the following sentiment: "We hope the police arrest Maiti, else they will face a different situation tomorrow (Tuesday)."

An impartial six-person fact-finding delegation led by former Patna High Court Chief Justice L. Narasimha Reddy was briefly detained by the police in Bhojerhat earlier in the day while en route to Sandeshkhali. In the same manner, a Congress team was denied access. According to reports, Congress spokeswoman Soumya Aich Roy passed out after a skirmish with the police.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Press Time staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.