Nandigram, Jan. 7: Trinamul MP Subhendu Adhikari today said party leaders allegedly involved in the Nandigram movement were “not scared of going to jail”.

“Our leaders who were associated with the Nandigram movement are not scared of going to jail,” the Trinamul MP from Tamluk told a rally of 50,000 supporters this afternoon in Nandigram.

Many Trinamul leaders like Abu Taher, Sheikh Khusnabi, Sheikh Sufiyan, Babul Akhtar and Khokon Sit have several criminal cases, including those of murder, pending against them for their association with the movement.

The leaders are all absconding and did not turn up to vote during the Assembly elections in 2011.

Before any election, preventive arrests are usually carried out.

“Police will work at the behest of the Election Commission once the Lok Sabha polls are announced. Before every election, the commission asks the police to execute pending arrest warrants. The police might get active and many of our leaders in Nandigram could face arrests,” a district Trinamul leader said.

On January 7, 2007, suspected CPM-backed goons killed three villagers at Sonachura in Nandigram. The Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee, comprising mostly Trinamul workers and leaders, was formed and clashes ensued with local CPM cadres.

The clashes led to several murders. It is, however, not clear if the absconding Trinamul leaders had any role in the killings.

Adhikari today addressed the rally in the memory of the three villagers killed in 2007. A 130-feet high martyrs’ column was installed at the venue.

Adhikari alleged that the cases against the Trinamul workers were “false”. “I am confident we will be able to come out of this problem soon,” he said.

In March last year, the state government had appealed in a Haldia subdivisional court seeking the withdrawal of over 100 criminal cases against Trinamul workers related to the Nandigram land war. The cases are pending.