Centre should intervene into Nandigram incident: Mamata

Kolkata, Mar 23: Warning that the Prime Minister would be ''put to the dock'' if the Centre did not intervene into the Nandigram incident, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee today said her party would send people's signature to the President, demanding dismissal of the Left Front Government.

''The crime in Nandigram is greater than in Gujarat. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh cannot shirk his responsibility. He will be put to the dock if the Centre does not intervene, '' Ms Banerjee said while speaking at a rally, held as part of the ''March to Assembly'' programme, demanding resignation of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.

However, the Trinamool-led Krishi Jami Raksha Committee, the organiser of the programme, refrained from taking out a procession to the Assembly ''to deny the administration the opportunity to whip up trouble''.

Asserting that the UPA Government at the Centre ''has to answer'' for the ''bloodbath'' in Nandigram where 14 people were killed following police firing, the Trinamool chief said the victims of the incident were women and people of the minority community which provided ample scope for central intervention.

Ms Banerjee, who had been demanding President's rule in West Bengal under the provision of Article 356, alleged that even children were killed and women raped by CPI(M) workers, who had forced into Nandigram with police.

''The Prime Minister has reportedly asked our Governor over phone why he issued a statement condemning the Nandigram incident and why he visited the injured in hospital. I would say the Governor has done the right thing as a human being. But the Prime Minister is not asking the state Government why the Nandigram killings took place, '' she said.

She announced that the Krishi Jami Raksha Committee would embark on a signature campaign between March 26 and 31. '' The signatures would be sent to President A P J Abdul Kalam, demanding sacking of the state Government and arrest of the Chief Minister, '' she said.

UNI