CPI-M attacks intellectuals for silence on Maoist violence

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) today spoke out against civil rights groups and intellectuals for not criticising the Maoists for killing political workers in West Bengal.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) on Saturday spoke out against civil rights groups and intellectuals for not criticising the Maoists for killing political workers in West Bengal.

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Condemning the killing of five CPI-M members and supporters in West Midnapore and Purulia districts in West Bengal on Friday by Maoists, the CPI-M politburo said the incident was "yet another instance of the true nature of the Maoists".

"The civil rights groups and intellectuals who support the Maoists by speaking out only against the police and paramilitary operations must answer the question - are they defending the Maoists so that can they carry on such killings of political opponents with impunity?" the CPI-M asked.

"It (the incident) gives the lie to the manufactured campaign that the Maoists are engaged in a struggle to defend the cause of the tribal people and other oppressed sections," the politburo said in a statement in New Delhi.

With these murders, the number of CPI-M members and supporters killed by the Maoists since the Lok Sabha elections in the three districts of West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura is now 121, the party said.

"They all mostly came from tribal and poor backgrounds," it said.

The party said it would continue to fight the Maoists "politically and organizationally with all the resources at its command".

The party said it "will expose the game of the Maoists who are out to help the anti-Communist forces like the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal".

The politburo expressed its "deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the martyred comrades".