The war of words through letters between the Union home ministry and the West Bengal government showed no signs of abating.
Home Minister P Chidambaram sent two more letters, asking Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to get down to the substance of the issue instead of objecting to superfluous issues.
“I desire that both of us should focus on the substance of my letter...and not be distracted by extraneous matters,” Chidambaram told Bhattacharjee. The home minister quoted Bhattacharjee’s letter to drive home his point that “it was not a happy situation” considering the level of violence in the state and lives lost as a consequence.
In response to Bhattacharjee contesting the number of casualties — the chief minister had claimed the CPI(M) was at the receiving end, with more casualties than either Trinamool Congress or Congress — Chidambaram said: “If our numbers are broadly correct in the case of CPI(M) cadres killed and injured, there is no reason to doubt our numbers regarding TMC and Congress cadres killed and injured. These numbers have been gathered in the same manner and from the same sources.” Emphasizing the need to disarm the cadres, he said: “If armed cadres continue to take upon themselves the duties of maintaining law and order, what is the role of the security forces that have been deployed at the request of the state government?”
“As regards the use of word ‘Harmad’, you will kindly appreciate that this word has been used extensively in the media and by a number of political parties. I don’t think that the word is per se offensive but, should you suggest another word or phrase to describe the armed cadres, I shall be happy to use that word or phrase.” Chidambaram invited Bhattacharjee to visit Delhi between January 3 and January 7 to have a “frank discussion on the subject and agree upon the way forward”.
