Siliguri, Aug. 30: In the wake of rampant raids by the police to track down Kamtapur Peoples’ Party activists in north Bengal, KPP leaders are thinking of forming an “anti-CPM front” to protest against the “police witchhunt”. Their prospective list includes Left Front partners, CPI and the RSP.
The move, sources said, was an attempt to place a “unified challenge” before the CPM which, the KPP believes, is “masterminding the unnecessary harassment of party activists in the name of hunting down KLO militants”.
The KPP top brass will issue notices to the Trinamul Congress, Congress and BJP leaders soon, party sources said.
An observer of the Kamtapuri movement said the police were “harassing” innocent persons on the pretext of searching for militants.
“The police also settle for ‘proxy catches’ in their bid to crack down on KLO insurgents,” he said.
KPP chief Atul Roy told The Telegraph: “Forming an anti-CPM front is the need of the hour. Only then can we put collective pressure on the government on the witch-hunt issue.”
“Our activists complain that policemen don’t heed their reasoning during raids. It is shameful that they can’t tell the difference between between KPP and KLO activists. This highly irrational behaviour is unbecoming of law-enforcers,” he added.
Political analysts feel the KPP has been dealt a double blow in the wake of heightened KLO militancy and the subsequent police action. The KPP is already riven by bitter factionalism with the Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar district units in utter disarray.
KPP observers feel the outfit is too loose an organisation to effectively cope with the “twin threats” — that of KLO militancy and internal differences.
Accusing the CPM of reaping advantage of its organisational machinery, Roy said: “Their (CPM) cadre, in nexus with the police, are engaged in singling out KPP men in remote villages of Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar. It is a pity that policemen follow the cadres’ diktat and arrest KPP supporters instead of KLO militants.”
Senior KPP leader Indradev Burman said: “The CPM leaders have lost their sense after the KLO attack on the Dhupguri party office. Unable to flush out KLO militants hiding in camps located on inaccessible terrain bordering Bhutan, they have mobilised the police force to nab KPP followers instead.”
“The denominational affinity that tags us with similar outfits waging agitations for a separate Kamtapuri state is proving to be a major worry. The truth is that apart from ideology interactions, we don’t share bonds with the KLO or other such groups,” Roy added.
Denying the accusations levelled against the party, state minister Asok Bhattacharya said the CPM did not feel threatened by the prospective anti-CPM front. “The political rhetoric indulged in by KPP chief Atul Roy matches Mamata Banerjee’s, proving that they are on the same boat,” said Bhattacharya, who is the MLA from Siliguri.
“As far as the arrest of KPP supporters is concerned, we have always said the KLO and the KPP are the one and the same,” he added.
