Congress demands public apology from CM

kolkata: the congress has demanded a public apology from west bengal chief minister buddhadeb bhattacherjee for his remarks in siliguri on the state's unregistered madrassahs. "the chief minister is now backtracking. but he had blamed the madrassahs in an open meeting. later, his remarks were endorsed by party secretary anil biswas. these had severly damaged the secular fabric of west bengal.only a public apology can restore the confidence of the muslims," said pcc general secretary pradyot guha on wednesday. accusing the cpm of unleashing the menace of communalism over the otherwise quiet west bengal, congress circles pointed out that if the cm backtracks now, the minority community will get the signal that he was doing so under pressure from his party and front allies. guha pointed out that the cpm was worried after they saw the huge turnout at the rally organised recently by jamaat-e-ulema hind in kolkata. congress leaders had addressed the rally, lending support to the organisation. the congress is also critical of the cm's move to shift the blame for the madrassah controversy on the media. incidentally, bhattacharjee had claimed that he was misquoted by the media, including cpm's party organ ganashakti. the chief minister's statements on madrassahs were in tune with the stand taken by l.k. advani and tapan sikdar. "all that the chief ministyer wanted was to get some central fund by cosying upto vajpayee and advani. his motive has been exposed," guha pointed out. the pradesh congress also criticised the central government for disinvesting its stake in ibp and vsnl and offering vrs to employees. so many out-of-job people, along with the increasing number of educated unemployed, can only mean all-round gloom. pcc also pointed out that the chief minister and trinamul supremo mamata banerjee should take the initiative to reopen njmc, jessop and other ailing industrial units in west bengal. an all-party meeting must be convened on this, pcc leaders felt.