CPI(M)'s New Public Vigil Campaign on Disproportionate Assets of TMC Leaders Take Off in Bengal

Kolkata: The West Bengal unit of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has launched a new campaign against alleged disproportionate assets of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders in the state. Named 'Public on Vigil', the campaign asks people to register their complaints about alleged corruption and illegal activities by TMC leaders.

The campaign is digitally monitored and hard copies of the forms where the data is to be filled are also publicly available.

So far, according to sources within the CPI(M), the Left Squad's 'Public on Vigil' campaign page got over 10,000 hits online and nearly 1000 allegations regarding the said issues have come in.

Earlier, CPI(M) Politburo member and former state secretary Suryakanta Mishra on his Facebook page, had appealed to the people of the state to fill in the form and help the party in finding the alleged cases of huge assets made by the TMC leaders while being in power in the state.

The cases of disproportionate assets came into the limelight after the slain TMC leader Bhadu Sheikh was accused of running a mafia empire in Rampurhaat, Birbhum, with an income of more than crores of rupees per month. After switching to the TMC from Congress, when the former came to power in 2011, Bhadu had reportedly grown to become one of the richest and most influential people in Rampurhat. He has been accused of many extortion activities as well. After he was killed by assailants in Rampurhaat, his supporters allegedly set fire to four houses in the village, burning alive at least eight people, most of them women and children.

It has also been alleged that local TMC MLA Ashis Bandhyapadhya's nephew owned cars and a huge garden house at Rampurhaat after gaining from Sheikh's empire. Even district TMC president Anubrata Mondal and now arrested TMC block president Anarul Hossain also allegedly gained immense wealth through Sheikh whose alleged mainstay was illegal stone and sand mining and cow smuggling.

"We will go deeper into these aspects so that no further incident like the Rampurhaat carnage can occur in the state," said CPI(M) West Bengal state secretary MD Salim while talking to reporters in Kolkata. Speaking to Newsclick on the 'Public on Vigil' campaign, he said the people of West Bengal would bring out the anomalies.

The campaign's website requires the user to fill the form with their name, mobile number, and address, and the name of the TMC leader against whom the allegation is being made. Though the digital model has initially been used to record the allegations, printed forms will soon be made available for the same, according to sources in the CPI(M) digital unit looking after the initiative.

The name and the personal particulars furnished by the users will be kept secret as per the campaign policy. A team will verify the claims made by the complainant, and then the same will be made public on the state CPI(M) 's website.

According to sources in the CPI(M), the ruling TMC leaders have allegedly made tens of thousands of crores with 'cut-money' (illegal commission) from various running public welfare schemes of the state government and it is only the tip of the iceberg that has so far been noticed.

Named 'Paharai Public' in Bengali (public in vigil), the CPI(M) has claimed that this endeavour would help contain the endless hafta and cut-money practices and arms trade in the state.