Ghandy’s article in FB mouthpiece raises a storm

Though the Bloc is known as a “silent sympathiser” of the Maoists as they had opposed the joint police operations in Lalgarh and criticised the imposition of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) on the CPI(Maoist),Ghandy’s article was published at a time when seven party supporters were butchered in Purulia district on December 17.

The article has raised a storm within the party and state secretary of the Bloc,Ashok Ghosh,has asked the editor of the publication,Rathin Chakraborty,to explain publicly.

“When people started asking questions about it,Ghosh told me to clarify the reasons for publishing the article. I can only say,if we can publish articles of Arundhuti Roy and Ram Jethmalani,on what basis Kobad Ghandy’s articles could not find space in the political organ of our party,” Chakraborty told The Sunday Express.

The issue has created more troubles for the CPM,which is at loggerheads with the Maoists in three West Bengal districts and has been campaigning for past one-and-a-half years against the Trinamool Congress for their alleged sympathy for CPI(Maoist).

However,CPM leaders have maintained a distance from the controversy,apparently in a bid not to irritate the junior partner.

“Although Bloc is an ally of the nine-party Left Front,all constituents are free to have their own policies and may hold different views on different issues. We should not make any remark on their understanding about CPI(Maoist),” said Md Selim,CPM spokesman.

Meanwhile,a defiant Lokmat editor Chakraborty said he is well aware that Ghandy is a ‘mastermind’ behind indiscriminate killing of political opponents including Left activists. He,however,approved the publication of the article as according to him the Maoists’ fighting for the poor and oppressed cannot be opposed by any Left politician.

“I do not see wrong in giving guest column status for Ghandy’s article. He wrote the article from Tihar jail and we had downloaded it from the website,” said Chakraborty.

A senior Bloc leader said,“When Maoists are targetting Left supporters,including Bloc activists in Jungalmahal,publication of the article was better avoided. Moreover,following the killing of seven party supporters in Purulia,our party has decided to create resistance groups in Jungalmahal with traditional weapons.”