Suvendu Adhikari had played a pivotal role in TMC’s Nandigram movement in 2007. (File)
Nandigram:
Amid speculation about his future policy decision, West Bengal Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday searched the ruling TMC for staging a simultaneous rally in Nandigram to mark “Nandigram Diwas”, saying a few people were visiting the region after 13 years of ‘Assembly. the elections are approaching.
Mr. Adhikari, who has been at a distance from the party leadership for several months, was addressing a rally to pay tribute to the martyrs of the Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee (Committee of Resistance to Expulsion from Land), who died today- there in 2007 during the anti-land acquisition movement, and said he would announce his next plan of action from a political platform.
The minister also said he would never use the BUPC platform for “vested political interests”. “The Nandigram movement was a grassroots movement. It was not from one particular individual. I have been with the people of Nandigram. After 13 years, a few people are now coming here as the elections approach.
“I want to tell them if they come before the polls, they will also have to come after the elections,” Adhikari said at the BUPC rally who did not have posters of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee or flags. of the TMC.
During his speech, the minister did not take the names of the party and its leader, and said that he “never believed in using the BUPC platform for political gain”.
“I used to come alone during those days and stood by the people,” he said.
His comments came in the context of TMC’s announcement that it will be holding a rally here to mark “Nandigram Divas”.
Posters of the chief minister and the party flag were seen on the ground where the TMC is to hold a rally later in the day to mark the 13th “Nandigram Diwas”.
“Anything I have to say about my next action plan, I will say from a political platform. I will say everything but not from this pious step,” he said.
West Bengal Minister and top TMC leader Firhad Hakim, who is due to speak here at the party rally, said: “It would have been nice if Suvendu had addressed the rally under the TMC banner.”
The BUPC is an organization that was formed by farmers from Nandigram to oppose the alleged forced acquisition of land for industrialization by the Left Front regime of the day.
The TMC, then the main opposition, had sponsored the BUPC and after coming to power, several committee members joined the party.
The land acquisition movements in Nandigram in the district of East Midnapore and in Singur in Hooghly are seen as two pillars that laid the foundation for the TMC government led by Banerjee in 2011.
Mr. Adhikari played a pivotal role in TMC’s Nandigram movement in 2007, which helped the party wrest power from the Left Front.
According to TMC sources, Mr. Adhikari has been distancing himself from the party for the past few months and running programs without the outfit’s banner.
He has not attended several party programs and state cabinet meetings in recent months, they said.
