Sujata became victim of vendetta agenda

BARATALA (Contai, Midnapore): Back in 1998, a then 22-year old Santanu Purakait was the general secretary of the SFI-led Calcutta University Students'' Union. Less than a year later, back in his native village of Baratala in Contai _ Santanu had joined the Trinamul Congress in order to fight the "injustices" of the same CPM that he had once belonged to.On Thursday, standing out among a crowd of dhoti-muffler clad villagers _ a jeans and jumper clad Santanu led the slogan-shouting team at the funeral procession of 21-year old Sujata Das _ the Trinamul worker allegedly murdered by CPM cadres on Tuesday night. A few metres away, an obviously intoxicated Bimal Bar shouted, "enough is enough. Sujata''s death has to be avenged." Bimal was once the right hand man of local CPM strongman and former panchayat pradhan Sripati Das - one of the main accused who is now absconding. As the mass of villagers gathered near Sujata''s father Paresh Das'' house a little after 2 pm to light the funeral pyre _ local Trinamul workers explained that Bimal too had recently switched loyalty. The cases of Santanu and Bimal cannot be seen in isolation. For, in this sub-division -- once a red bastion -- political loyalties have switched quickly over the past year-and-a-half. And herein lies the anatomy of a possible explosive confrontation. The advent of a forcible opposition to the CPM in the whole of Khejuri I and II blocks is a fairly recent phenomenon and the CPM has only itself to blame for inviting trouble. Villagers here perhaps do not understand the statistics about industrial growth or the lack of it _ or about civil liberties. Much like the days of the British Raj _ the "real ruler" to them is not ones sitting in Writers'' Building, but those calling the shots in their areas. And if one man has been more responsible than others in inviting the wrath of the people on the CPM and the Marxists it has been party zonal committee member and former panchayat pradhan Sripati Das. "Over the years he has amassed a huge amount of wealth by robbing and fleecing us," said local resident Ranjit Mondal. Das today owns six houses in Baratala and Bamanchowk _ including two pucca ones. He has also become the president of the local school _ an 87-year old institution which locals say is in a dilapidated state since Das pocketed the Rs 600,000 that the education department gave for its development. "Moreover, he never paid anyone anything for things he bought from them. In the last five years he has never paid any shopkeeper or vendor money for the fish, meat, vegetables or consumer goods that he bought," said local school teacher Parulbala Das. One of Das'' sons has married Sunita Das, younger sister of Sujata. Both the police as well as local CPM leaders like Himangshu Das use this as an alibi to plead innocence. "Why would Das kill his own daughter-in-law''s sister." Himangshu said. The police also believe in the logic that a ruling party never incites violence since it stands to lose more than it may gain. Trinamul leaders like Sisir Adhikari and Khejuri block president Tushar Kanti Jana though say that Sujata was killed to take revenge. "She was a CPM member till 1998. Moreover, thanks to her leadership Trinamul has been able to wean away many CPM cadres. They wanted her out of the way," Jana said. It is, therefore, as a senior policeman pointed out _ not a CPM-Trinamul rivalry but a war of revenge between the CPM cadres who have long tortured villagers _ and old comrades who have now taken the tricolour in hand. And it is perhaps in this battle between old comrades where Sujata became an unwitting victim.