Protest blockade leaves CM’s wife stranded

A day after the carnage at Netai village in Lalgarh, supporters of the Trinamool Congress and Congress, the principal state opposition, erupted in protests, putting up blockades at several intersections of the city and throwing traffic out of gear for the better part of late morning and afternoon on Saturday.

A day after the carnage at Netai village in Lalgarh, supporters of the Trinamool Congress and Congress, the principal state opposition, erupted in protests, putting up blockades at several intersections of the city and throwing traffic out of gear for the better part of late morning and afternoon on Saturday.

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Even Mira Bhattacharjee, wife of CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, was left stranded in a blockade.

Tapan Das, the state president of Kishan Khet Mazur Congress, who led the blockade, said: “The local police along with her security escorts requested us to make way for her but we refused.” However, the district police claimed that they led Bhattacharjee out of the chaos within 20 minutes.

A group of city-based intellectuals who have been prominent faces of the anti-land acquisition movement at Singur and Nandigram also took out a rally condemning Friday’s massacre. They have also decided to visit Lalgarh on January 11.

About 5,000 people attended the rally led by theatre artistes Saonli Mitra, Bibhash Chakraborty, Bratya Basu, painters Suvaprasanna and Samir Aich, poet Tarun Sanyal, singer Pratul Mukhopadhyay and scientist Abhee Dutt-Mazumdar.