Six people,including a woman,were killed and over 20 injured in firing by suspected armed CPM cadres in Lalgarh in West Midnapore district today even as the administration attributed it to a political clash. The villagers,who had gathered to protest the demand by armed Marxist cadres that they volunteer for night patrols and arms training,were fired at from a house at Netai village in Belatikri gram panchayat in Lalgarh police station area. "There is a woman among the six dead. The injured have been rushed to hospital where the condition of five is serious," a senior police officer said. Villagers alleged that armed CPM cadres,living in the house of a CPM activist Ranjit Dandapat for the past four months and for whom they were forced to cook and wash clothes,fired on them from inside. Home Secretary Gyan Dutta Goutama said the incident was the result of a political clash between the Trinamool Congress and the CPI-M. "The firing in Lalgarh is a result of a political clash between the Trinamool Congress and the CPM. Six people have died and 16 were injured," Goutama told reporters at the state secretariat. "The condition of one person is serious," he said. Asked whether there was a Maoist hand in the firing,Goutama said,"I don't know of any such thing. The detailed report is yet to come. Once it comes,then I will be able to tell you what happened exactly." PWD Minister Khiti Goswami said,"It takes two hands to clap. Both parties have weapons and the clash is a result of that." Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee accused the CPM of resorting to the politics of terror by using its 'harmads' (armed cadre). Banerjee,who took out a procession with the bodies of three party supporters killed in Burdwan yesterday,said,"They are claiming that we are doing politics with dead bodies. But they are doing the politics of killing and terror. Let them stop it,we will also not parade bodies." Banerjee said Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had taken exception to the word 'harmad' used by Home Minister P Chidambaram in his letter to him on law and order in the state. "But those who are resorting to such killings cannot be called anything else but harmads," she said before leaving for Lalgarh. Banerjee said she was on the streets to seek justice from the people as the state government had failed to deliver it. She said her party would not call a bandh to protest the killings,but would condemn it through a 'dhikkar diwas' (condemnation day) tomorrow. WBPCC president Manas Bhunia demanded the resignation of the chief minister saying he had lost total control of the administration. "There prevails jungle raj in the state. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has totally lost control over the administration. He has no right to be in power for a single moment and should step down immediately," he said. Bhunia said he would inform the Prime Minister,Union home minister,the finance minister and Congress president of the situation in the state. Trinamool Congress Chief Whip in the Lok Sabha Sudip Bandopadhyay said the Assembly elections should be held in the state immediately. "The people's verdict should be taken." Lalgarh was 'recaptured' by the CPM on October 9 last year after they fled the area in the wake of the Maoists targeting them after the launch of anti-Maoist operations by the joint security forces on June 19,1999. Chidamabaram had written to Bhattacharjee on December 22 questioning the utility of central forces in anti-Maoist operations when armed CPM cadres had taken the responsibility of law and order on themselves. This had led to an exchange of letters between them,with Bhattacharjee objecting to the use of the word 'harmad' to describe CPM activists,though remaining silent on the question of armed CPM camps in the West Midnapore district.
