Kolkata, Nov 10 (IANS) The people of West Bengal will teach BJP a lesson as they had taught the CPI(M)-led Left Front in the state in 2011, the Trinamool Congress’ general secretary and the party’s Lok Sabha member commented on Monday on the occasion of the 18th anniversary of the massacre in Nandigram of East Midnapore district in which 14 people were killed in police firing on this day in 2007.

However, instead of directly naming the BJP, Banerjee described the saffron camp as “the zamindars of Delhi”.

“Bengal taught the Left Front a lesson it will never forget. Today, we send the same message to the zamindars of Delhi. Bengal will resist, relentlessly and resolutely. We will crush their arrogance in the ballot box and consign this politics of exclusion to the dustbin of history,” Banerjee said in a social media post on Monday afternoon.

Vehemently criticising the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in West Bengal, Banerjee described the revision exercise as “silent invisible rigging”.

He also said that the “silent invisible rigging” by the BJP is just the new face of Left Front’s “scientific rigging” in West Bengal before 2011.

“On this fateful day in 2007, the brave people of Nandigram rose against the barbaric attempt by the then Left Front government to snatch away their land, dignity, and right to live with honour. Only the face of the oppressor has changed; the oppression remains the same. The ‘harmads’ of yesterday have returned as the ‘jallads of today’. Where once the Left Front relied on covert, “SCIENTIFIC RIGGING”, the present regime resorts to SILENT INVISIBLE RIGGING,” Banerjee said in his social media post.

To recall, in 2007, Nandigram was rocked by a movement against proposed land acquisition by the previous Left Front government for setting up a chemical hub there. The protesters, mainly led by Trinamool Congress and allegedly assisted by Maoists, totally isolated Nandigram from the rest of the state by cutting off all the approaches.

On this day in 2007, finally, a huge police contingent reached Nandigram to free the area from the protesters. Severe clashes between the protesters and police broke out, and ultimately, 14 people were killed in the police firing.

The tragedy is presumed to have played an important role in the toppling of the 24-year Left Front regime and the beginning of the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress regime in 2011.

–IANS

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