Mamata calls Bangla bandh on Nandigram issue

Kolkata, Mar 14 (UNI) The Trinamool Congress-led Krishi Jami Raksha Committee today called a 12-hour state-wide bandh on March 16 demanding resignation of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and protesting the ''state sponsored terrorism'' in Nandigram.

Alleging that a ''massacre'' had been committed in Nandigram, Trinamool Congres supremo Mamata Banerjee also demanded immediate imposition of President's rule in the state to restore peace in the embattled area.

''A state sponsored terrorism is going on in Nandigram where at least 20 people, including women and children, have been killed and about 200 injured in police firing. The chief minister has declared war on the people,'' she said at a hurriedly called press conference at her residence.

''It is a state sponsored terrorism for which the chief minister is responsible. We do not have any other option but to call a 12-hour state-wide bandh demanding his resignation,'' she told reporters at her residence.

Accusing the Left Front Government of deliberately attacking the Nandigram people, the Trinamool leader alleged that most of the deceased were women and children.

''We do not have any other option but to call the bandh despite the fact that Higher Secondary examinations will start on March 16 while CBSE examinations are already on. But it is a struggle for the people's livelihood and not a political one,'' she contended.

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