New Delhi, Dec. 24: A day after the Trinamul Congress delegation met the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, to complain about the misuse of the Central forces by the Marxist government, the Union home ministry mounted pressure on the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, asking him to ensure that armed cadres which are active in parts of the state should be “immediately disarmed and immobilised.”
In a letter dispatched to Mr Bhattacharjee, the Union home minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, said that there is evidence to show that there are camps of armed cadres, under the name of “Harmad Vahini”, located near CPI(M) offices and houses of local CPI(M) cadres.
“If these armed cadres continue to take upon themselves the duties of maintaining law and order, I wonder what is the role of security forces, especially the Central paramilitary forces which have been deployed at the request of the state government” he asked.
According to reports received by the ministry till December 15 this year, the number of TC cadres killed and injured were 96 and 1237 respectively against CPI(M) cadres whose 65 cadres were killed and 773 injured during the same period.
“There are credible reports that the Harmad armed cadres are intimidating, and sometimes attacking, members and sympathisers of opposition parties. This, I am afraid, is completely unacceptable in a democratic system,” he said.
The quick reaction from the Centre indicated that the UPA is in no mood upset Trinamul.