Suvendu Adhikari accuses CPI(M) and Trinamool of joining hands, vows to reopen old Garbeta cases

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday accused the CPI(M) and the Trinamool Congress of coming together to "bring back the days of anarchy" in the state, and said his government would reopen cases from the Left Front era in Paschim Medinipur district.

Speaking at a BJP meeting in Garbeta billed as "Save Democracy, Remove Anarchy", Adhikari pointed to the recent warmth between former chief minister Mamata Banerjee and CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby, whose parties have both joined the INDIA bloc's campaign against the Election Commission's special intensive revision (SIR) of voter rolls. "Today in Delhi, 'Baby' and 'Aunty' have become friends," he said, according to IANS. Sangbad Pratidin reported that he said "Aunty" referred to Banerjee.

Old cases

Adhikari said the BJP government, in office since May, would reopen files on alleged oppression and corruption by CPI(M) leaders and workers in the district during Left rule, IANS reported. According to a PTI report, he said this would include criminal cases against those who allegedly set out from the CPI(M)'s Garbeta office to take part in an armed attack in Nandigram during the 2007 agitation against land acquisition, and against those involved in the killing of Trinamool supporters at Choto Angaria village in Garbeta in 2001. "No one will be spared," he said.

He also criticised CPI(M) state secretary Mohammad Salim for saying in Garbeta recently that people had resisted when the BJP "came to attack" the CPI(M), PTI reported, and said the CPI(M) was trying to grow by exploiting the split in the Trinamool after the Assembly election.

Adhikari, who led the Opposition in the Assembly from 2021 to 2026, said he had fought both parties in the district, and recalled an attack on his convoy on Chandrakona Road in January, before the Assembly polls. "I have not forgotten anyone," he said, according to IANS.

Civic polls ahead

Looking ahead to the Kolkata and Howrah municipal elections, Adhikari said the "Mamata Trinamool and its friend, the red party" would be "demolished by the people", PTI reported. He cited BJP wins in the Rejinagar and Nandigram by-elections and the Falta repoll. He also said his government had strengthened border security, given land to the BSF for fencing along the Bangladesh border, and raised dearness allowance for state employees.

The other side

The Trinamool Congress and the CPI(M) had not responded to Saturday's speech in the reports available by late evening. Both parties say their joint protests are about the conduct of the SIR and the Election Commission, not an electoral alliance in Bengal; Banerjee has said the INDIA bloc will "stand united" at Sunday's rally at Delhi's Ramlila Maidan.

What happens next

The INDIA bloc rally against the SIR takes place in Delhi on Sunday, 1 November. In Kolkata, the Calcutta High Court has refused to stay the redrawing of the city's wards from 144 to 209 ahead of the civic polls, for which no date has been announced.