CM Suvendu Adhikari warns CPM: Will reopen Nandigram, Chhoto Angaria cases, won’t spare anyone

“We have not forgotten what they did. They did the same thing in Keshpur. The time has come to settle all accounts,” he said, recalling an alleged attack on him at Chandrakona Road while he was returning from Purulia. (Express File Photo)

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Saturday threatened to reopen cases related to the Chhoto Angaria massacre of 2001 and the violence in Nandigram in 2007, warning that those involved would not be spared. Addressing a ‘Save Democracy’ rally in Garbeta, he also accused the CPI(M) and the Trinamool Congress of joining hands to revive political violence in West Bengal.

Targeting CPI(M) state secretary Mohammad Salim, Adhikari said, “You had the temerity to say that the BJP came to attack the CPI(M) and people resisted.” He said he would reopen cases against those who allegedly travelled from the CPI(M) office in Garbeta to Nandigram with firearms during the 2007 anti-land acquisition movement.

“I will reopen the crime files committed during the Left Front era in Nandigram and Chhoto Angaria. I will reopen the cases of those who went from the CPI(M) office in Garbeta with guns to create the bloody sunrise in Nandigram in 2007. Not a single person will be spared,” he said.

Adhikari also recalled a confrontation with former CPI(M) leader and minister Sushanta Ghosh, claiming that party leaders had threatened to break his legs if he entered the area. “Within three days, I went to Chandrakona Road and held a meeting standing on Sushanta Ghosh’s chest,” he said.

The CM accused the CPI(M) and the TMC of coming together to create unrest in the state. “What the Trinamool is today is the CPI(M). The two have merged and want to bring back those days of anarchy,” he said.

He also referred to the alleged assault on BJP MP Pranata Tudu during the 2024 elections and asked her to send him a copy of the FIR. He said he would examine how many people had been arrested and threatened action against those still at large.

“We have not forgotten what they did. They did the same thing in Keshpur. The time has come to settle all accounts,” he said, recalling an alleged attack on him at Chandrakona Road while he was returning from Purulia.

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The Chhoto Angaria massacre refers to the alleged killing of 11 TMC supporters by CPI(M) workers in the village in Paschim Medinipur district on January 4, 2001.