14 March shameful matter for LF: Ashok Ghosh

Kajari Bhattacharya
NANDIGRAM, Dec. 23: Causing major embarrassment to chief minister Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Forward Bloc state president, Mr Ashok Ghosh, said at a public meeting held here today that the 14 March carnage was a “very shameful matter for the Left Front” and that it had caused Forward Bloc to “hang their heads in shame; that this is the Left Front we belong to.” FB leaders also said they support anyone who fought against the CPI-M’s atrocities in Nandigram. Concurrently, BUPC leaders today said they would welcome any party that broke the LF ranks to join the BUPC in their fight against “state-sponsored terror”.The veteran Forward Bloc leader strongly criticised Left Front chairman Mr Biman Basu for ignoring the FB’s request to hold a joint peace meeting in Nandigram after the Left Front meeting at Alimuddin Street on 17 March. “We have been forced to call this public meeting only at the initiative of the Forward Bloc, to save the Left Front.”At a well-attended public meeting, which was, surprisingly, even attended by a large number of BUPC supporters, Mr Ghosh slammed the Buddha-Nirupam-led government for not including smaller Left Front partners in deciding upon the state government’s industrialisation plans, and compared the industrialisation-friendly duo, unfavourably, with former chief minister Mr Jyoti Basu’s consideration for the LF partners’ concerns.“We were able to negotiate with the Jyoti Basu-led LF government in 1994 in deciding on how to bring foreign investment to the state, but unfortunately, we were not able to do anything to protect the state from Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Mr Nirupam Sen’s industrialisation plans,” said Mr Ghosh at the meeting held in front of Sitananda College in Nandigram today.For the first time in the Left Front’s 30-year history, Forward Bloc will contest the panchayat election in April-May 2008 alone, Mr Ghosh reiterated.BUPC leader Mr Abu Taher said he welcomed any Front partner that broke away from the LF to join the BUPC’s movement against the “CPI-M’s atrocities” in the troubled area.“The chief minister on 17 March had even claimed responsibility for giving the order for police opening fire on Nandigram villagers and had promised that peace would return with the joint efforts of the LF partners. But now, the Left Front in the state has completely lost its Leftist character,” Mr Ghosh said