West Bengal: 72-hr PCPA bandh in three districts
Posted by Admin on July 18, 2009
LALGARH: Both the People’s Committee against Police Atrocities (PCPA) and the Maoists have called bandhs one after the other.
While the Maoist-backed PCPA has given a call for a 72-hour bandh in West Midnapore, Bankura and Purulia districts from Sunday to protest the month-long operation and torture of innocent villagers at its core committee meeting near Lalgarh on Friday, CPI(Maoist) has called a bandh on July 22, immediately after this strike ends in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and Bengal in protest against the price hike of petrol, potato and essential commodities.
“We saw police and CPM-backed goons torture innocent people in the name of anti-Maoist operation for the past one month. They even heckled women. Many villagers have even been forced to leave villages. So, we have called a 72-hour bandh, demanding a stop to such torture and immediate withdrawal of <a security forces from the area,” said PCPA leader Chhatradhar Mahato.
“We have also decided to distribute farmlands among landless farmers and labourers of CPM leaders, who have left. Everyone knows that CPM leaders had encroached and evicted many farmers,” he added.
For example, CPM’s Binpur zonal committee secretary Anuj Pandey, who left Dharampur on June 14 following the exchange of fire between CPM and Maoists, used to possess two bigha vested land, after evicting the original patta holder.
According to PCPA, Anuj and his two brothers Ujjwal and Manas have 7 bigha cultivable land and 2 bigha vested land. Anuj’s maternal uncle and CPM zonal committee member, Binoy Pandey, and his three brothers had 12 bigha in all. Binoy’s brother Amal Pandey became Dharampur gram panchayat pradhan and owner of a 30-bigha plot. Another CPM leader, Dalim Pandey, and his three brothers have 12 bigha at Harina. All of them fled Dharampur and Harina on June 14.
CPI(Maoist) leader Bikash said: “Maoists will observe a bandh in Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and Bengal to protest the price hike of essential commodities like petrol and potatoes on July 22.”
TOI
Indian Vanguard 
Rajarshi Chaudhuri said
Calling for bandh (general strike) is a cliche method of struggle. All the constitutional parties (right or left) indulge in calling those futile bandhs, and I surely wonder what the PCPA or the Maoists will achieve by engaging in the same kind of frivolity. Just display of power!
Distributing farmlands to the poor – a constructive and progressive act – and then utter disruption by calling bandh side-by-side!