Subhas Chakraborty after Mamata’s walkout. Picture by Amit Datta |
Minutes of the all-party meeting, from Mamata Banerjee’s arrival to her departure.
3.05 PM
• Mamata steps into Mahajati Sadan with leader of the Opposition Partha Chatterjee, Trinamul Congress MLA Sisir Adhikary and three members of the Bhoomi Uchchhed Pratirodh Committee.
• The Trinamul chief strikes a belligerent note even before the meeting starts, refusing to sign the attendance register.
• The meeting begins with a minute’s silence in the memory of those who died in the Nandigram police firing.
• Mamata breaks her silence with a demand. “Let us say that silence has been observed to pay homage to those who died in the genocide.”
• CPM state secretariat member Shyamal Chakraborty intervenes, saying the issue should not be politicised.
• Forward Bloc secretary and convener of the all-party meet Ashok Ghosh plays peace-maker. “Yes, we have paid our respects to the victims,” he says.
• Ghosh then starts the proceedings, talking about pro-people industrialisation. Mamata interrupts him. She wants the meeting to go straight into the March 14 ‘‘genocide’’.
• CPI minister Nandagopal Bhattacharyya begins reading out the resolution. Mamata and Congress leader Somen Mitra object. “How can there be a resolution before discussion?” he wants to know.
• Mamata then asks Ghosh whether decisions taken at the meeting would be implemented by the state government.
• Bhattacharyya replies: “Please calm down. Don’t worry. Our chief minister has said if there is a consensus, it would be implemented.”
• Ghosh says a resolution will be taken to condemn the police firing and punish those involved in the killings.
• But Mamata is not pacified. “Then what about the Nandigram genocide? I have come to the meeting to discuss the mass killings. Otherwise, the meeting becomes irrelevant. Why haven’t genocide and mass rape been included in the proposals? Even a constable hasn’t been arrested,” she screams.
• The Bloc secretary says chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has admitted to mistakes in Nandigram. “I think that should suffice.”
• CPM’s Subhas Chakraborty wants the meeting to discuss all acts of violence, starting from the January 3 attack on policemen.
• Mamata flies into a rage and slams Subhas for “justifying” the police firing. “Your have no right to insult us and the people of Nandigram,” she says.
4.56 PM
• Mamata stomps off with her party leaders in tow. “After all this, there’s no point staying in the meeting,” she says.
• CPM leaders dial Bhattacharjee and party state secretary Biman Bose for help. But their Delhi-bound flight is about to take off and their cellphones are switched off.