President's Rule must in West Bengal: Sushma Swaraj

Nandigram (East Midnapore), Jan 10: Senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj today demanded imposition of President's Rule in West Bengal in view of the recent atrocities on peasants here.

Addressing a public rally here and in Soudkhali, she said her party would meet President APJ Abul Kalam and apprise him of the grim scenario of Nandigram.

She met peasants from Nandigram Bhumi Raksha Committee who told her about the cruelties meted out on them.

''Women in tears have narrated to me the cruelties meted out to them by both these groups,'' Ms Swaraj said. ''The poor farmers have told me that they will not sacrifice their fertile farmlands for the sake of industrialisation,'' she said.

Ms Swaraj was accompanied by a five member BJP team from Delhi along with Trinamool Congress leader Mukul Roy from Kolkata for an on the spot assessment of the situation following trouble over the reported move for farmland acquisition for Special Economic Zone (SEZ).

She further said the CPI(M) led government should be ousted as they were "involved in mass killing" in the area with the help of police.

Demanding that no SEZ should come up on agricultural land, Ms Swaraj said the BJP had already taken a stand on this issue.

''There must not be SEZ on agricultural land. It can be set up only on fallow land because there is the question of food security.

This is the declared policy of the party,'' she told reporters in Kolkata earlier. The BJP leader said the party's decision was based on the report of a committee chaired by former BJP president Venkiah Naidu.

Ms Swaraj alleged that the killing of peasants was done by the CPI(M) government in a planned manner. ''Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee should resign immediately. We will soon meet the President seeking his intervention,'' she said. Congratulating the people for their 'heroic' resistance, Ms Swaraj said, ''I have come here to see how the local peasant has undauntedly resisted the atrocities of the government sponsored violence.

Accusing local MP Laxman Seth and state minister Susanta Ghosh as the main brain behind the carnage, she said the local CPI(M) party and not the police was responsible for the atrocities.

She addressed two short meetings each in Sonachura and Soudpur villages. She was accompanied by among others party leaders S S Ahluwalia, Shahnawaz Hussain and filmstar Dharmendra.

Meanwhile, Nandigram continued to be tense though police forces entered the interior places today.

Inspector General(Western Range) R K Gupta sent a report to the Writers Building fixing the responsibility on the local police, especially SP, East Midnapore, Ashok Dutta, for the incident.

UNI