Thaindian News

New Delhi, Oct 29 (IANS) Alleging a conspiracy behind the train hold-up in West Midnapore, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Thursday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to probe the “support” given by Trinamool Congress ministers to Maoist rebels in West Bengal.
Referring to the hours-long blockade of the Bhubaneswar-Delhi Rajdhani Express by Maoist-backed tribal activists on Tuesday in West Bengal, the CPI-M said: “The whole incident raises many questions that need to be probed.”

The CPI-M said: “All those who have travelled by Rajdhanis or Shatabdis know that the train hurtles at speeds of around 120 km per hour, and even when obstructions are noticed on the track, application of emergency breaks would lead to damage to both the tracks and the train.”

“In this case, however, the train peacefully ground to a halt,” the party said in an editorial in the latest issue of its mouthpiece, People’s Democracy.

The CPI-M questioned Trinamool Congress chief and Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee’s first reaction on receiving news of the hijacking - that CPI-M cadres had blocked the train to malign her image.

“However, when the graffiti on the train (written by the tribals) exposed the perpetrators of this outrage as belonging to the Maoists, the minister expressed her desire for a dialogue and even conveyed to those holding the train hostage to suggest a venue!

“Further, one of the Trinamool Congress ministers in the union cabinet, Sishir Adhikary, soon after the incident, boasted to the media that he had prior knowledge that such an attack would take place,” the CPI-M editorial said.

“Surely, the prime minister needs to probe the source of such ‘knowledge’ by his ministerial colleague and inform the nation,” the CPI-M said.

The CPI-M also accused the Trinamool Congress of not condemning the “Maoist outrage of stopping and damaging the train because of its political collaboration” with them. It also accused the Trinamool of pressurising the central government to withdraw the central forces from Lalgarh in West Bengal where they were deployed in June to fight the rebels.

“Ironically, such blatant support for the Maoists and their terrorist activities comes from a party that is in that very union cabinet headed by the prime minister who on repeated occasions had stated that Maoist violence constitutes the gravest threat to India’s internal security.

“The tragedy for the country is that this UPA government is continuing, displaying no discomfort, despite such a blatant contradiction. The prime minister owes an explanation to the country on this score,” the CPI-M said.