Massacres were conventionally supposed to be the handiwork of terrorists and they apparently always occurred either in the badlands of Bihar, in the vale of Kashmir, in the hinterland of Assam or in the doab of Punjab. Not any more. Political murders in Midnapore may soon reach the proportions of the killing fields of Kampuchea. The latest case of a blood chilling carnage that has claimed the lives of at least 11 people has taken place in the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM)-ruled West Bengal. The Midnapore murderers have even bettered the grisly criminal record of the Ranvir Sena. In a gruesome operation, reminiscent of Stalinist pogroms, CPM gunners allegedly butchered several poor villagers in the Hemnagar village of Midnapore district, and later cleared up the bloody mess to let the top party brass deny that no killing had ever taken place. Unfortunately for the CPM, The Indian Express team discovered used cartridges, grenade shells, blood soaked walls and clothes, burnt bones and other cluesnailing the West Bengal government's lie. For once it has been proved without doubt that the Marxist-style massacre was not the figment of imagination of Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee. Whether those killed were Trinamool supporters or, as the CPI-ML Liberation leader Kartik Pal claims, activists of the People's War Group, is beside the point. The fact of the matter is that defenceless people were killed allegedly by CPM goons, their bodies disposed of, and attempts made to get rid of all evidence of the massacre. The local administration, under pressure from the political bosses, provided confusing signals: It first claimed it was goat blood, later accepted it was murder. Finally came official denials from Writers Building in Kolkata that the act was never committed. Tch Tch.indeed, very chottolok type of activity by the bhadrolok leadership. The chilling silence by the CPM top brass after the crime has been committed is, indeed, galling. Moreover, Hemnagar is not an isolated incident. About 11 Trinamool supporters were killed in Nannur about six months ago. In the last two years, there has been a series of political murders and retaliatory killings in West Bengal between the CPM and the Trinamool, claiming 64 lives. Given the CPM government's attempt to destroy evidence as highlighted by the Hemnagar case, the figures could be much higher. For a political party that until recently had become a model of sorts for left liberals, the Midnapore syndrome is perhaps indicative of the political degeneration, criminalisation and lumpenism that has set in due to the party's uninterrupted reign for the last 24 years. The murderous record of the CPM are not only bound to become the agenda for the Assembly elections, slated to be held in a few months, but will also negate its positive achievements of agrarian reforms and other welfare activities. For Marxists, who have all along been championing the cause of human rights, Hemnagar - in a cruel twistof irony - has turned out to be one of the greatest acts of human rights violation in recent years.
