The CPM on Monday warned the people of Sandeshkhali against BJP’s communal politics that the party described was a ploy to weaken the democratic movement of the people to “spontaneously protest against the atrocities” perpetrated by local Trinamul leaders in the troubled zone in South 24-Parganas.

Speaking at a public meeting in Sandeshkhali, senior CPM leader Sujan Chakraborty said: “Villagers, particulary women, were tortured by Trinamul goons and they finally got together to fight against it. The protests have been a mass movement uprising of united people. The BJP was nowhere in the protests but is now trying to create a religious divide for political gain. Don’t let the BJP weaken the unity of the people.”

For the last one month, the CPM, which has been trying to regain its lost support base in Sandeshkhali, has been trying to return to political activities in the area by uniting people against the alleged atrocities of arrested Trinamul leaders like Sheikh Shahjahan, Shib Prasad Hazra and Uttam Hazra.

As BJP leaders, including Suvendu Adhikari and Sukanta Majumdar, have been making multiple forays to Sandeshkhali, the CPM decided to hold a rally in the area that already has given significant support to the saffron camp, said a local Left leader.

“BJP leaders have invoking the religious divide in their speeches when we need to unite the people. The people did not fight under any partisan banner. Our aim is to strengthen the unity of the people against the Trinamul’s goons but the BJP is trying to weaken the uprising through its communal and divisive politics,” said CPM leader Nirapada Sardar, who represented Sandeshkhali in the Assembly from 2011-2016.

The CPM became the first Opposition party to hold a rally in Sandeshkhali block-II, which has been witnessing an uprising since February 7 against alleged land-grab, physical torture and sexualassault by Trinamul strongmen including Shahjahan, Shib Prasad and Uttam. The rallies that the BJP held sofar were in Sandeshkhali block-I.

In his address, the former CPM MLA said since the Trinamul came to power in 2011, a large section of supporters of the Left had been victims of atrocities and land-grab of Bengal’s ruling party’s leaders.

“The attack on our supporters led to the weakening of our party organisation in the area. After coming to power, Trinamul goons grabbed the lands that they once got during the rule of the Left Front regime. The land of several villagers became infertile as saline water was routed into their lands to turn into bheris. The people have now come together to fight the Trinamul goons and this has scared Mamata Banerjee and her party. The united protest goes against the grain of BJP’s politics.... We urge the people to resist the BJP’s divisive politics,” Sardar said.

Speaking at the rally, CPM MP Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya accused Mamata of turning a blind eye to the plight of Sandeshkhali women. “She did not think twice before terming the women outsiders and she tried to save the goons,” he said.