Naxalites attack Tata show room on Singur issue

Kolkata, Dec 4: In the running sequels to the confrontation between the government and the opposition over the Singur issue, alleged Naxalites attacked and damaged a Lexus Motors showroom in the city this morning catching the administration unaware.

A private television crew, shooting the incident was manhandled and captured by the show room employees suspecting them to be privy to the 'miscreants'.

According to police, a band of youths smashed the glass panes of the Tata Motors showroom on Shakespeare Sarani with stones and sticks in a five minute operation.

They were carrying posters protesting the acquisition of farm land at Singur for the Tatas' small car factory and the 'police atoricites on the local people' on December two.

The attackers, who ran away as soon as the show room employees came out in strength, also left leaflets in the name of Revolutionary Socialist Front (RSF), a splinter Naxalite organisation, which declared to resist the land acquisition for the project.

''The incident took place at about 1030 hrs, shortly after the show room opened the shutters. The youths, who seemed to be lurking around, suddenly appeared to shower stones and hit the massive window panes with sticks. They were also shouting slogans,'' the sources said.

Though the attackers managed to escape, the crew of a private television channel who happened to be present at the spot, bore the wrath of the show room employees. Alleging that they were accompanying the attackers, the employees allegedly slapped and kicked the television personnel and locked them up in the meeting room.

The incident took place two days after police shot rubber bullets, fired tear gas shells and used batons to control a violent crowd largely comprising Naxalite activitsts, attacked them at Singur in Hooghly district during the work for demarcation of the acquired agricultural land for the Tata Motors' small car factory.

Official sources said the Naxalites, belonging to different groups, had been working behind the shadow of Trinamool Congress in the area for quite sometime against the project to hijack the issue from Mamata Banerjee, who hogged the limelight for the movement.

During the Saturday's clash with police, the Trinamool leaders were not at Singur and the Naxalites, aided by few SUCI activists, successfully stole the arc light in their favour with massive coverage of the incident, they said.

UNI