M A I N   N E W S

Mamata tried to organise riots in 1984: Surjeet
Trinamool leader rubbishes charges; to move court
Tribune Reporters

Kolkata, August 19
Veteran CPM Politburo member, Harkishan Singh Surjeet has alleged that during the 1984 Sikh riots, Ms Mamata Banerjee and several other Congress leaders in Bengal, were involved in an attempt to kill Sikhs in Kolkata.

But their attempts were foiled by the then Chief Minister, Jyoti Basu who gave shoot-at-sight orders against the miscreants.

Mr Surjeet made these allegations in a writing published in the current issue of People’s Democracy, the CPM mouthpiece, which the Rajya Sabha MP, Sitaram Yechuri edits.

Strongly reacting to the allegations, Ms Banerjee said it was false, malicious and defamatory and she was going to the court to seek legal action against Mr Surjeet. She alleged that the CPM was now launching a campaign against her and other political adversaries for making a political gain in the forthcoming Assembly elections.

Defence Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, who was in the city today, also denied the allegations, saying these to be “untrue”. He expressed surprise that Mr Surjeet could make such allegations against Ms Banerjee, who was then very much in the Congress(I).

Interestingly, the writing claimed that when the riots broke out in Delhi and several other places after the killing of Ms Indira Gandhi in December 1984, there was no Trinamool Congress and Ms Banerjee had been a popular and most courageous Congress(I) leader fighting against the CPM.

Mr Surjeet alleged that during the anti-Sikh riots, the “shouting woman leader” along with several other ruffians had been attempting to massacre the city’s Sikh people in the city but their attempts were foiled due to the timely intervention of Mr Jyoti Basu, Chief Minister, who had then given shoot-at-sight orders if any attempts were made to kill Sikhs, claimed Mr Surjeet.

Ms Banerjee strongly reacted to the allegation and said that it was not only a lie but a false, malicious and defamatory charge for which the CPM leader was liable for punishment. She was not even in the city on that day when the assassination took place, said one of her close aides.

Ms Banerjee said a legal notice had already been served on the printer and publisher of the “People’s Democracy” and also on Surjeet for writing something false, fabricated and malicious” against her.

NEW DELHI: Reminiscing his personal experiences during the riots in which he “could well have been one of its numerous victims,” the former CPM General Secretary also said that the then President Zail Singh had “pleaded utter helplessness” and even said that he himself dare not step out of Rashtrapati Bhavan.

In his article entitled “Remember The Day”, Mr Surjeet, recalling his personal experiences, says he himself could have become a victim of the 1984 riots. Mr Surjeet along with then CPM General Secretary EMS Namboodiripad, party stalwarts M Basavapunnaiah and Samar Mukherjee had gone to pay homage to Indira Gandhi, whose body was lying in state at the Teen Murti Bhavan on November 1, 1984.

“While we were still inside the sprawling Teen Murti Bhavan, some from among the crowd spotted me and ran towards me. There was no way to escape them, I thought. I asked Comrade EMS and others to leave me alone, because it was amply clear that otherwise they, too, could be attacked. However, it was at this point of time that a CID officer hurriedly came to me and advised me to somehow reach his jeep that was parked at some distance,” he writes.

After the narrow escape, Mr Surjeet says he went to the party central office, where he was forced to spend the next three days.

Surjeet recounts that he saw a crowd of “no less than 5,000 people near the Teen Murti Bhavan raising “high-pitched” anti-Sikh slogans, a sight “that was enough to freeze anybody with horror”.

“It was clear that this was no spontaneous mob, nor were their slogans a spontaneous product of anger. Rather, to anybody who took a bit of trouble to watch the scene, it was clear that all this was being organised and orchestrated by some group working from behind the scene,” he says.