Siliguri, Jan. 7: The district CPM leaders of Darjeeling are at a loss trying to explain the difference in the stands taken by the party and the state government with the Trinamul Congress accusing them of doublespeak.

“We do not have any clue as to who stopped police from arresting a prominent leader of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha at Bagdogra Airport on Monday,” said Jibitesh Sarkar, a state committee member of the CPM that runs the state government. “The party is not aware of any such administrative instruction but wants the police to arrest all those named in the complaints lodged after violence at Rohini and on the Kurseong court premises last week.”

On Monday, the police had gone to Bagdogra to arrest Morcha vice-president Pradeep Pradhan, but retreated after instructions from “higher levels”. Morcha supporters torched a house at Rohini last week after one of their leaders had been lynched a few hours earlier. They also beat up the murder accused the next day in court. Pradhan’s name figures both in the arson and the assault cases.

The district Trinamul has accused the CPM of double standards. “On one hand, the CPM-led state government is preventing the police from discharging their duty. On the other, party leaders are submitting memorandums urging arrest,” said Gautam Deb, the Darjeeling district Trinamul president. “It is because of such doublespeak that the police spirit has dampened.”

The inspector-general of police, north Bengal, K.L. Tamta, had yesterday said the Bagdogra retreat had left his force depressed.

He said the police “Gandhigiri” was creating a wrong impression.

Today, the police chief said in a toned down manner: “ I have appealed to all political parties through the superintendents of police to ensure that their supporters, who have cases pending against them, to surrender before the parliamentary elections.”