'Party workers murdered with 'criminals attached' TMC'

The CPI(M) on Monday alleged that two of its workers were murdered by "criminals attached" with the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal and claimed that there is clear complicity of the administration in denying justice to the victims.

On June 22, Tajimul Karim was killed in Amdanga in the North 24 Parganas district. On the same night another Left worker, Nizamuddin Mandal was shot dead at point blank range in Mathurapur in South 24 Parganas district.

"Tajimul Karim, an active worker of the party had been forced to live away from his home for quite a long time facing murderous threats.

"In the wake of the Lok Sabha election results violence, he had returned home. Nizamuddin also played an important role during the electoral battle and was the polling agent of CPI(M)," a statement from the CPI(M) politburo said.

It said the TMC has not drawn any lessons from the widespread opposition to their politics of violence and this continues unabated against the CPIM) and the Left.

"Though the pattern is familiar, the obnoxious behavior of the administration continues and there is clear complicity of the administration in denying justice and refusal to book the culprits," the statement said.

The Polit Bureau of the Communist Party of India expresses its deep anguish and grief over the murder of two young comrades in West Bengal "at the hands of the criminals attached to the TMC," it added.

Attacking the media, the party said that the violence against the Left did not "merit" any coverage by the mainstream media which, they alleged, promoted a "colored narrative" of showing the overall breakdown of law and order and rampant violence in the state enacted by both the TMC and the BJP.

"This narrative is only to reinforce the perception that politics revolves around these two forces.

"The Politburo extends its condolences and sympathy to the families of these two martyrs and expresses the resolve that the party will do everything possible to help in overcoming their grief," the statement added.