The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Saturday hit out at “pro-Trinamool Congress intellectuals in West Bengal” who have charged that the CPI (M) and the Left Front government of West Bengal conspired to cause the Jhargram accident to score some political points against Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Sitaram Yechury, CPI (M) Polit Bureau member, said in a statement that this reminded him of happenings in Germany when false charges against a communist party leader were used to signal a witch-hunt against communists.
Instead of joining the collective effort to provide relief and assistance to victims of this ghastly incident, all kinds of conspiracy theories were being spun. Decrying this, he said it was strange the Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee continued to talk about a “bomb blast” at the site when the Union Home Ministry denied this and talked about possible sabotage.
Mr. Yechury charged that Ms. Banerjee was deliberately trying to shield “the actual culprits” by suggesting Maoists might not be behind the sabotage. It was shocking that all this was being done to influence municipality elections in West Bengal and to further petty partisan interests, he said.
The Railway Minister was also trying to “cover up her own serious lapses of leadership.” How is that during the five months of 2010 there have been many more major railway accidents that in any year since 1980, Mr. Yechury asked.
