A tyre burning on the deserted Dinhata-Cooch Behar Road on Wednesday

Dinhata, Feb. 6: A personal agenda was unmistakable in the violent politics unleashed by Udayan Guha in Cooch Behar over the past few months, Forward Bloc leaders admitted today.

As power department, PWD, Jute Corporation and panchayat offices were raided and ransacked, one man’s role became all too apparent.

The street-fights continued even after Udayan was anointed Forward Block district secretary in December and a section of his own party questioned the methods used “to wrest control” of what had virtually been his father Kamal Guha’s fief since the 1960s.

Kamal Guha, once the Bloc chairman and unquestioned leader of the party in north Bengal, had won the Dinhata Assembly seat every time from 1962 to 2001 but for one slip in 1972. Old and ailing, he left his seat to his son in 2006. And Udyan lost it.

Kamal Guha died last year.

Senior Bloc leaders of Cooch Behar said the violence was essentially aimed at “catapulting himself to the forefront”.

“How else can you explain violence only in Dinhata and not in any other part of Bengal during a statewide Forward Bloc movement?” a senior leader asked.

Udayan had led the people armed with sticks and cans of petrol yesterday.

Even before he was anointed district secretary, Udayan had taken it upon himself to lead protests that often ended in violence. The first of these was in last July, when he led a delegation to submit a memorandum to the Jute Corporation office. It was ransacked.

Similar scenes were played out in other protests that Udayan led, on issues ranging from power cuts to land acquisition.

CPM leaders alleged that the new district Bloc chief encouraged zonal leaders of his party to deliver “provocative speeches” that further aggravated the situation.

Udayan denied inciting violence ever. “It would not be correct to say that,” he said.

“We believe in a democratic movement. Our supporters do not intend to create problems or indulge in violence. It is the police that beat up our supporters. This injustice cannot continue.”

A senior Bloc leader said Udayan believed that the violence would help him consolidate his position in the district before the panchayat elections, due in May.