Left parties violence in West Bengal

CHENNAI: Left parties on Wednesday condemned the alleged attacks on Opposition party offices, flagpoles, party workers and Lenin statues in West Bengal and Tripura following the Bharatiya Janata Party’s victory in the West Bengal Assembly elections.

In a statement, CPI state secretary M Veerapandian alleged that BJP workers had indulged in violence in several places after the party’s electoral victory. He claimed that Opposition party offices were attacked and Lenin statues vandalised in multiple locations, while Left party offices in Tripura had also come under attack.

CPM state secretary P Shanmugam alleged that BJP had secured victory in the West Bengal Assembly election through irregularities involving the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, and said BJP cadres were carrying out violent attacks on Opposition offices, flagpoles and party workers in the State.

He alleged that a statue of Lenin in Murshidabad district had been vandalised and that CPM offices in Tripura were also facing attacks.

Describing the incidents as “anarchic violence”, Shanmugam said the CPM Tamil Nadu State Executive Committee strongly condemned the attacks allegedly carried out by BJP cadres.

Veerapandian said Lenin was an unparalleled leader of the global working class and a guiding force for the liberation of labourers, adding that vandalising his statues amounted to a major attack on the working class.

Shanmugam said fascist forces might damage Lenin’s statues, but could never erase his ideology. He urged the police in the concerned States to immediately arrest those involved in the attacks and restore peace.

The CPI called upon workers and secular forces to unite and resist such attacks, while the CPM urged democratic forces to raise their voice strongly against the alleged violence by BJP cadres.