WB Panchayat Polls: Left Front, Allies’ Joint Protest Against Violence Sees Big Participation

Kolkata: A large protest march against “widespread violence, vote-looting and fraud” in the panchayat elections in West Bengal, was held here by the Left Front and its allies on Thursday. The organisers estimated participation by more than 10,000 people, including Congress and Indian Secular Front (ISF) leaders, workers, and supporters. The procession ended at Entali Market in Central Kolkata after beginning from the Lenin statue in Esplanade.

The march was led by Left Front chairman Biman Bose, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leaders Mohd Salim, Surjya Kanta Mishra, Sujan Chakraborty, ISF MLA Naushad Siddiqui, and leaders from Congress, Forward Bloc, Revolutionary Socialist Party and Communist Party of India.

Basu, while flagging off the march, said: "All of us, who are against BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) and Trinamool Congress (TMC), have joined today's protest. Let's stand shoulder to shoulder and fight. We must all speak out against this terror. This gloomy day can only be ended by the people working together.”

ISF MLA Naushad Siddiqui told People's Reporter that: "People spontaneously came to the streets today on short notice. They are looking for solutions to end the tyranny the ruling party. The panchayat election winners were ejected from the counting centre without receiving certificates. Winners were proclaimed losers. Bengal is now facing a challenging situation and must be liberated from oppression. We must all fight together.”

At a roadside meeting at the end of the rally, CPI(M) state secretary Salim alleged: "Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee fought the first polls with fake certificates. The country’s Prime Minister has also come to power by making fake certificates. Trinamool is grabbing power by making fake certificates for panchayat elections, too. But the people of Bengal will not accept the panchayat created on fake certificates."

On BJP's role in the panchayat elections, Salim said: “The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has destroyed democracy in West Bengal with money through Mamata Banerjee. She goes in states where RSS runs, including Tripura, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, and Uttar Pradesh. A Bengal partition is being planned again. The BJP wants to make North Bengal a separate state from Cooch Behar”, adding that “the people of Bengal will stand against this plot to partition Bengal again."

Several Left Front leaders mentioned the fraud in one counting centre after another. ISF’s Siddiqui shared the experience in Bhangore, where their candidate, even after winning, was not given the certificate. Opposition parties’ agents and candidates were thrown out from the counting centres and TMC was declared the winner and given the certificate, he added.

The Left Front also paid tribute to 49 workers from all political parties and common people who died in the panchayat poll violence.

Apart from Kolkata, many people from North and South 24 Parganas, Howrah, and Hooghly participated in Thursday’s protest rally.