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Political Notes |
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All-party meeting on Nandigram ends in fiasco: Mamata walks out
The all-party meeting convened to bring peace to trouble-torn Nandigram in Kolkata ended in a fiasco on May 24 after Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee walked out over a remark by a CPI(M) Minister. The meeting was into its second hour when Mamata repeatedly raised her demand to punish police officials who had ordered the firing resulting in the death of 14 people in March. She also wanted the meeting to brand the killings as “genocide.”
Reacting to her statements, CPI(M) representative at the meeting and State Transport Minister Subhas Chakraborty said that the police were provoked to open fire after being attacked. “I cannot stay in this meeting after this remark,” Mamata said before rushing out of the venue keeping the other participants dumb-founded.
Ashok Ghosh, State Secretary of the Forward Bloc who took the lead in organising the meeting, said it is evident that more talks are required to restore certain issues. We will hold similar meetings like this in the future.
Biggest ever operation against Naxalites in Jharkhand
Security forces have launched the biggest ever operation against Naxalites in the forest areas of Latehar, Paranu and Garwah regions of Jharkhand. This is the first time that the security forces have ventured deep into the forest areas to tackle the Naxalites.
In the last few weeks, security forces have not only managed to flush out Red activists from the forests of Jharkhand, they have also seized huge quantities of arms and ammunition from them “During the past fortnight, security forces have launched two major joint operations in the region which was earlier considered a haven for Naxalites and had remarkable successes,” said an official.
“The biggest catch came on May 25 during the joint operation launched by the CRPF and local police. Forces seized 200 kg. sophisticated explosives, stored in five water tanks, 12 looted police rifles, 5000 rounds of ammunition, a large number of hand grenades, Naxal literature and several lakh rupees in cash,” said the CRPF IG (Operations), A.P. Maheshwari.
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