Asok & Left 58 arrested

Siliguri, April 10: Former CPM minister Asok Bhattacharya and Darjeeling district Left Front convener Jibesh Sarkar were arrested today from the CPM office in Siliguri, hours after repeated clashes between Trinamul and the Left party on Hill Cart Road. The Darjeeling Left Front has announced a 12-hour strike in the district tomorrow. Exams and emergency services will be exempted from the strike. In all, 59 Left leaders and activists were arrested today in Siliguri. The Left this afternoon took out a rally of 400-odd supporters to protest the alleged inefficiency of the Congress and Trinamul in running the Siliguri Municipal Corporation and also to condemn the ransacking of a CPM party office by suspected Trinamul supporters yesterday. A poster of SFI leader Sudipta Gupta, who died in police custody in Calcutta, was also seen among the rally banners. The marchers assembled in front of the CPM Darjeeling district party headquarters, Anil Biswas Bhavan, around 6pm after marching down Hill Cart Road. Around the time the Left rallyists were hanging out outside Anil Biswas Bhavan, Trinamul took out a rally to protest the SFI’s attack on state finance minister Amit Mitra in New Delhi. There were around 1,000-odd supporters, led by Gautam Deb, the north Bengal development minister. Trinamul’s office in Siliguri is located barely 500m from CPM’s office. When the Trinamul marchers were passing by the CPM office, some of the ruling party’s supporters at the tail of the procession started shouting anti-CPM slogans, according to eyewitnesses. Soon bricks started flying in the heart of Siliguri. Police personnel already present there somehow dispersed both sides after a round of lathicharge. Traffic was halted on Hill Cart Road for some time. After around 30 minutes, the Trinamul supporters returned and another round of clashes started. The Trinamul supporters threw bricks at the CPM office and ransacked shops located near it. The CPM cadres rushed inside the party office. Asok and Jibesh were in the party office with several leaders such as Saurav Das, the district SFI secretary, Shankar Ghosh, the district DYFI president, Saman Pathak, former CPM Rajya Sabha MP, Dilip Singh, former chairman of the Siliguri Municipal Corporation, and senior CPM leader P. Roy. All were arrested later. The police pushed back the Trinamul supporters who then gathered at Hashmi Chowk, barely half a kilometre from the CPM office on Hill Cart Road, and started a protest meeting there. Minister Gautam Deb, who had led the Trinamul rally earlier in the evening but was not seen during the clashes, was present at Hashmi Chowk. Around 8pm, according to CPM sources, a police team came to Anil Biswas Bhavan and arrested all the leaders present there. The 59 people arrested were taken to Siliguri and Bhaktinagar police stations. Bhattacharya, who was taken to Siliguri police station, said: “We were sitting inside our party office when Trinamul organised the attack as per instructions of the north Bengal development minister. Later, police officials entered in our party office and arrested most of our senior leaders.” He added that the police had told him that “I, Jibesh Sarkar and Saman Pathak can take release on bond and that our other leaders and supporters will not be released. We have said that either all of us have to be released, or we would not accept the release.” Jibesh said: “The Darjeeling district Left Front has called a 12-hour strike in Darjeeling district tomorrow. Exams and emergency services would be exempted.” Krishna Pal, secretary-general of the district Trinamul, said: “The CPM cadres attacked our peaceful rally today. We will hold a rally tomorrow in protest of the attacks organised by the SFI on our chief minister and other ministers in Delhi. Around 5,000 people will assemble for the rally.” The Trinamul has filed a complaint against Asok, Jibesh and 23 other people for attacking their supporters. In South Dinajpur earlier in the day, alleged Trinamul supporters beat up former CPM ministers Narayan Biswas and Minati Ghosh when they went to Harirampur to see the damage a Trinamul mob had done to an RSP office yesterday.