Mamata refuses to call off 48 hour Bengal Bandh

Kolkata, Dec 19: All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) supremoMamata Banerjee today refused to call off the 48-hour Bangla bandh fromDecember 21 unless the West Bengal government decided ''within 24hours'' to return the acquired farmlands to the Singur farmers.

In a sudden turnaround from her earlier decision to call off thestrike to press for a CBI inquiry into the alleged rape and murder of a19-year-old daughter of a farmer at Singur yesterday after ChiefMinister Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee had agreed to the demand, Ms Banerjeetold reporters from her ''Dharna Manch'' that she refused to call itoff unless the government announced its decision to return the acquiredland at Singur to farmers within 24 hours.

The sudden change in her stand despite the positive response fromthe Chief minister today towards her earlier demand, had not only put aquestion mark on her real intention behind sponsoring a 48-hour bandh,but also regarding her attitude towards the overall industrialisationprogramme of the state government.

Incidentally, the two days strike has been convened in the stateafter a gap of nearly four decades and first time by the TrinamoolCongress.

Meanwhile, as the indefinite fast of Ms Banerjee entered the 16thday today, life in parts of Central and downtown Kolkata came to a haltfor several hours this afternoon following a series of demonstrationand rallies by a number of opposition parties, including the BJP andSUCI, demanding exemplary punishment to the guilty for yesterday'smurder of Tapasi Mullick at Singur.

The women's wing of AITC also did not lag behind in throwing theCentral Kolkata traffic completely out of gear for a few hours whenseveral members laid down on the street in different formation carryingplacards and leaving the strong posse of policemen to be mutespectators.

However, this time the Congress has decided not to support theAITC-sponsored band call with WPCC Working President PradipBhattacharjee announcing the party's decision in this regard at aseparate news conference here this evening.

Meanwhile, All India Minority fourm today filed a PIL in CalcuattaHigh court demanding that the bandh called by any political party bedeclared as illegal.

UNI

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