By IANS,
Kolkata : The Trinamool Congress Thursday expressed its willingness to broker peace in trouble-torn Lalgarh region in West Bengal and said it would participate in a public rally organised by Jharkhand Dishom party (JDP), which is spearheading the ongoing tribal agitation in the area.
Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee said here that the JDP has invited her party to participate at a rally in Bankura district Dec 7.
“I’ve decided to take part in their programme. They are also very deprived from the mainstream of our society and I think I should stand by them as a people’s representative,” she told reporters here.
Talking about her willingness to restore peace in the violence-hit Lalgarh, she said: “My party is neither ‘authorised nor empowered’ to sort out the issue. But given a chance, we can always step in to bring back peace among the tribals in Lalgarh”.
She said Lalgarh agitation is not specific to any political party, but a movement led by the backward tribal communities demanding economic development, peace and social justice in the region.
“The Trinamool Congress has no role in the Lalgarh tribal movement. The locals took the lead in that agitation and were up in arms against the police excesses,” Banerjee said.
“People are protesting against the state government and district administration irrespective of any political hue,” she said, adding the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led state government has no concern for the people who are living in that region.
“West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has no knowledge about the ground reality there. He’s just blaming the Maoists for backing the tribal movement in Lalgarh instead of doing any good work for them,” she added.
Trouble erupted in the tribal-dominated areas of West Midnapore district after the district police arrested some school students and allegedly harassed tribal women in connection with the blast at Bhadutala near Salboni, as the state chief minister and two union ministers were travelling to an event in the area.
The protesters dug up metalled roads and placed large tree trunks across them, virtually cutting off the region from the rest of the district.
They had also demanded a public apology from the district police for the alleged excesses committed against them during the course of investigation into the blast.