Kolkata/Garbeta: CM Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday ordered the arrest of CPM neta Tapan Ghosh, saying he would like to see him in jail. Speaking at a BJP rally in West Midnapore’s Garbeta, Adhikari also announced that govt would reopen the 2007 Nandigram ‘Suryadaya’ case and pursue action against those allegedly involved in violence in Chhoto Angaria and Keshpur.Ghosh and Garbeta zonal committee secretary Sukur Ali were arrested by CBI as the key masterminds behind the Jan 4, 2001 Chhoto Angaria massacre. The incident involved an attack on the house of Trinamool worker Baktar Mondal, where five TMC workers were allegedly burnt alive. In 2009, 13 accused, including Ghosh and Ali, were acquitted for lack of evidence.Launching a scathing attack on CPM, Adhikari said: “Mohammad Salim dared to claim a few days ago that BJP had come to attack CPM and that people had resisted them. I will reopen the Nandigram ‘Suryadaya’ case. Those who went from the CPM party office in Garbeta with firearms to carry out the blood-soaked ‘Suryadaya’ operation will not be spared.”Nandigram, which witnessed a violent land acquisition movement in 2007, became the scene of CPM’s ‘Suryodaya’ operation on Nov 10 that year, as the then ruling party sought to regain its political foothold in the area. Several netas of the anti-land acquisition movement were killed in violence.Referring to Ghosh and Ali, Adhikari asked about their whereabouts. “Where is Tapan Ghosh? Is he still here or has he fled? SP madam, I am instructing you to trace Tapan. I want to see him behind bars,” he said.The CM also referred to the 2024 Lok Sabha election-day attack on BJP candidate Pranat Tudu in Jhargram, who is now the MLA from Binpur. Asking Tudu to send him a copy of the FIR, Adhikari said he would examine how many people had been arrested in connection with the incident. “Those who had not been arrested would be dragged to jail by their hair,” he said.Adhikari recalled an attack on him near Chandrakona PS while he was returning from Purulia ahead of assembly polls. “I had spent the entire night at the police station. I remember everything,” he said. The CM reiterated that he would give govt jobs to family members of those who died in political violence since 1998. Garbeta would be granted subdivision status in the next state budget, he said.CM trains guns on ‘Baby-aunty friendship’CM Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday accused Trinamool and CPM of developing a political understanding to create unrest in the state, alleging that the two parties were now working together despite their past rivalry. “Baby (CPM’s MA Baby) and aunty have become friends in Delhi. By aunty, I mean ‘Pishi’. That is why whenever we try to push development, they resort to creating unrest,” he said. Adhikari also warned that the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool and its “new-found Red allies” would be wiped out in Kolkata and Howrah municipal polls, accusing them of trying to create instability in the country.
