Jalpaiguri, April 9: Clashes between the RSP and CPM, stemming from control over tea garden workers, are not new at the Tukra-Jateshwar division of Birpara tea garden.

In the seventies, it was the RSP which held sway over the garden under the banner of the Dooars Cha Bagan Workers’ Union.

Two decades later, the Citu-affiliated Cha Bagan Mazdoor Union (CBMU) swept into power with faces like Nandeshwar Gope at Birpara and Tarakeshwar Lohar in Dalgaon tea estate.

The rule was established and the union leaders held sway, till Dalgaon burned in the fury of a job backlash last November and yesterday, when garden workers attacked the houses of Gope and his henchmen and set them on fire.

According to Bhaskar Nandi, the politburo member of the CPI (M-L PCC) faction, yesterday’s attack on the Birpara Citu secretary’s house was nothing but a boiling over of the resentment that had been accumulating since 1992 when the heads of two RSP leaders were found on the garden and 137 supporters driven out.

The families stayed away from Birpara until February 1997, when they found out that the management had rendered them jobless.

Protesting against the action, the workers wrote to the management explaining they were unable to return to the garden because of safety reasons.

“We are unable to return to the garden since we fear that Nandeshwar Gope and his associates will finish us off like the RSP leaders who were killed in 1992. They have also threatened us not to return to Birpara,” read the letter.

“Interestingly, the RSP remained silent over the entire issue. It was we who raised our voices against this harassment. By creating pressure on the administration, we managed to rehabilitate them in the garden once again. But the resentment between the two sides stayed on and yesterday’s incident was an outburst of that anger,” said Nandi.

According to him, numerous complaints had been lodged against Gope with the police by the labourers. “But nothing ever came out of the protests and it was typical of the police to declare yesterday that Gope was clean,” he added.

The district CPM leaders, who have blamed the RSP for creating trouble in the garden before the general elections, maintained they have no complaints against Gope.

“His house was located in a labour line and he lived a life that was same as the others. As far as his assets are concerned, he is the owner of a small chunk of land at Falakata. He is a good worker at the grassroots and we have never received any complaints against him,” Manik Sanyal, the Jalpaiguri district CPM and Citu secretary said.