Surjya caution after ally beef flak - Leader issues directive against participation in events that can hurt sentiments

TT, Calcutta, Nov. 5: State CPM secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra today issued a directive barring cadres from participating in any event that could hurt the sentiments of any community, a day after Left allies criticised Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya for publicly eating beef last week to protest rising intolerance in the country.

Sources said the decision to issue the directive was taken during a state committee meeting of the CPM today.

A section of the CPM state committee members was today said to have described Bhattacharyya's decision to eat beef in public as "not in good taste''.

"A section of the party views this public demonstration of beef consumption as a counterproductive move. It could spur the BJP to indulge in communal polarisation in the state ahead of the Assembly polls," said a CPM leader.

At the programme organised by the Bhasha O Chetana Samiti, a private organisation with Left leanings, Bhattacharyya openly consumed beef along with poet Subodh Sarkar.

The event was held to protest the lynching of a Dadri man on unsubstantiated rumours that he had consumed beef and the police raid at Kerala House in Delhi to check if buffalo meat was served there.

Mishra, the sources said, clarified the leadership's permission will have to be taken if at all such events were being organised for the "greater good" of the party.

Asked about the directive, a CPM state committee member said today: "Bikashbabu has embarrassed the party to a certain extent. He should have been more responsible in his behaviour. All of us are concerned about rising intolerance in the country.''

"But protesting against that does not mean standing in Esplanade and having beef with thousands of people watching such a childish act. Our party secretary has asked everybody not to take part in such programmes in general and to ask for permission if at all participation is necessary,'' the CPM leader added.

Yesterday, in the presence of Mishra, allies RSP, Forward Bloc and the CPI had told Left Front chairman Biman Bose that former mayor Bhattacharyya should not have participated in such an event that had "communal overtones".

Bose saw reason in the arguments of the Front constituents and had urged Mishra to ensure that such acts are not repeated. Mishra had then told the allies that he had spoken to Bhattacharyya.

A section of the party is said to have questioned whether it was proper for CPM leaders M.A. Baby, Nilotpal Basu and Ritabrata Banerjee to demonstrate against intolerance by having beef fry in the Kerala House. Baby is a politburo member and Basu is on the central committee while Ritabrata is a CPM Rajya Sabha MP.

But a CPM state secretariat member defending the Kerala House act of his comrades today said that it was to protest the police swoop on the place, adding that it was not a public demonstration of meat consumption to protest against intolerance.