Didi rejects fake encounter theory
Breaking her silence over the killing of top Maoist commander Kishenji, chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday defended the joint security forces’ offensive at the Burishole forest in Jangalmahal. She virtually rejected the charges of Kishenji’s death in a “fake encounter” raised by the human rights activists.
She said, “I initially did not know about the gunbattle in Jangalmahal as I was in Delhi when it took place. I first learnt about it from the press. After inquiring, I came to know that Kishenji and his associates were given three days’ time to surrender. But they did not. The forces then announced over the mike that they will be given safe passage which is common in peace talks.”
The chief minister added, “Without paying any heed to the announcement, the rebels chose to attack the forces and fired around 1,000 rounds. This prompted the forces to counter them. The forest was surrounded by villages. Had the forces not retaliated, around 500 villagers would have been killed. The rebels had a plan of carrying out a large-scale subversive activity. They had even planned to kill me.” The Trinamul Congress chief was addressing a campaign rally for her party candidate for the Kolkata South Lok Sabha bypoll Subrata Bakshi at Behala in the evening.
Lashing out at the human rights activists, she asked them: “Where had you been for 21 days when I sat in a dharna in Kolkata? How many rallies did you take out against the killings of the EFR jawans at Silda camp or 166 passengers of Gyaneswari Express or sub-inspector Partha Biswas and NGO worker Soumyajit Basu?” Ms Banerjee added: “Were their lives not precious? Even workers from our party and CPI(M) fell prey to the Maoists. It pains me. So do not teach me about human rights.”
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