By IANS
Singur (West Bengal) : Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee Saturday said the Buddhadeb Bhattacharya government in West Bengal has unleashed "state terror" to suppress people's resistance against forcible land acquisition for industry.
As a daylong shutdown called by the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) to protest the arrest of its leader by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Tapasi Malik rape and murder case ended, the Trinamool leader took over a rally in the area as she flayed the government.
She also presented the victim's mother before the people to narrate how the 18-year-old girl's rape and killing was blamed on her father by the communists.
"CPI-M has unleashed state terror. The chief minister has many faces. He says different things at different times during a day. He has unleashed the cops on people and rewarding the policemen who help him in repressing movements," Banerjee said, accusing Bhattacharya of double standards.
"They (communists) have raped and killed a young girl like Tapasi. They have not spared even infants in unleashing violence or slapping police cases," Banerjee fumed.
Some 997 acres in Singur was chosen by Tata Motors for its small car project last May, triggering a violent face-off between the government and farmers led by civil society groups and parties like the Trinamool Congress.
While some farmers committed suicide, Tapasi Malik of Bajemelia village in Singur was raped, killed and her body was torched inside the area fenced off for the project.
CPI-M Singur zonal committee secretary Surhid Dutta and party supporter Debu Malik are in CBI custody for their role in the crime.
"The CPI-M now says that the arrest of its leader Surhid Dutta is a conspiracy, soon after the chief minister said he would do his job (that of allowing fair investigation irrespective of the party colour). Is the chief minister not a party member?" asked Banerjee.
About 50 people comprising members of the land war victims' families and people suffering in trouble-torn Singur and Nandigram in East Midnapore would leave Saturday for New Delhi and Thiruvananthapuram to tell people across India how the CPI-M has unleashed terror to grab land in West Bengal, she said.
Banerjee said she feared the CPI-M might try to stop the CBI probe even at this stage.