Police report blames factional feud in Trinamool for Bhangar agitation

KOLKATA: The recent agitation over land acquisition in Bhangar in South Parganas district that claimed two lives and left many injured was the result of a factional feud within the ruling Trinamool Congress, according to a ground report submitted to the Mamata Banerjee government by the police.

The police has said trouble had been brewing over the past four months or so owing to atussle between two factions in the party, one of which was unhappy with the other for having made money in land deals in the area while its leaders went “without their due”.

So this faction resorted to “mislead” the villagers, the report said. A group of four scientists led by a senior retired scientist visited the village more than five times, it said, and convinced the villagers that the nearly complete power sub-station there would create an “electro-magnetic field” leading to infertility among women, crop loss and drying up of farmland.

The “unhappy” faction even allowed ultra-left activists to gain prominence in the area, the report said. At least 17 different groups and organisations, including some Muslim ones, visited the minority dominated area and brainwashed the people, it said.

The report listed the following reasons behind the violent land agitation at Bhangar.

FACTIONAL FEUD
Bhangar Block II, the flashpoint, has 12 panchayats, all of which Trinamool Congress had won uncontested. Without support from inside, no group can enter the area and speak to the villagers, the report said. It mentioned names of two senior leaders of Trinamool Congress, holding them responsible for the violence leading to the termination of an almost complete power sub-station being built by the Power Grid Corporation of India.

Bhangar’s MLA Abdul Rezzak Mollah, who joined Trinamool Congress before 2016 assembly election, is now a minister in Banerjee’s cabinet. Before being expelled from CPM, Mollah held the charge of land and land reform department in the Left Front government.

Arabul Islam, senior Trinamool Congress leader and former MLA of Bhangar, had to leave his seat to Mollah. This arrangement triggered a fierce infighting, the report said.

Significantly, the land was acquired in 2013 under the supervision of Islam. Although it was a direct purchase the villagers now claim that the decision was imposed on them by the leadership in the area at the time. Meanwhile, the land price in the area started rising after plots were purchased for a resort.

Several promoters invested money in the adjacent multi-crop land. However, another faction of Trinamool Congress, which acquired political power later in 2016, could not play any role in the deal. So, the issue of profit sharing cropped up between two factions and led to the flare-up, according to the report.

ENTRY OF OUTSIDERS
A group of Trinamool Congress leaders reportedly contacted some of the groups and individuals and facilitated their entry in the village.

First, a group of scientists led by a senior scientist, who retired from a research institute of central government, reached the village and spread the electro-magnetic theory to convince the villagers.

The group visited many areas in the village subsequently. Following the scientists’ visit to the area, several outside organisations started visiting the area. The report lists 17 such organisations, including Bharat Bangladesh Pakistan Joutha (joint) Mancha, Writers’ Intellectuals Forum, AISA and IC (Independent’s Consolidation) among others.