Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Thursday walked out of an all-party meeting for restoration of peace at Nandigram leading to its adjournment, following sharp differences with CPI(M) leader Subhas Chakraborty on terming the March 14 police firing in the village as 'genocide'.
Banerjee, who entered the venue, Mahajati Sadan, along with Leader of the Opposition Partha Chatterjee at 3:15 pm walked out at 4:55 pm and headed for her Kalighat residence.
"There is no use in staying at the meeting," an angry Banerjee said.
Without touching upon the differences between Banerjee and Chakraborty, meeting convener and senior Forward Bloc leader Ashok Ghosh said, "We have decided to adjourn the meeting and call another one shortly, the venue and date of which will be fixed.
"More meetings are necessary to restore peace at Nandigram," he said.
The issue that led to the adjournment of the meeting was the word 'genocide' which the Trinamool chief wanted to include in the resolution.
Subhas Chakraborty, the transport minister, however, disputed this, claiming 'the mob first attacked the police which opened fire resulting in some casualties and this can't be called genocide'.
On repeated queries if the resolution at the meeting mentioned 'genocide' at Nandigram, Ghosh, parrying the issue, said, "Mamata Banerjee raised the 'genocide' part. That can be discussed."
Claiming that the meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere, Ghosh said, "I am very very satisfied because all the participating parties placed their views. The chief minister had wanted to let us know each other's mind. That has been achieved."
However, some differences cropped up at the meeting, he admitted.
Ghosh said bilateral, trilateral or even group meetings could be held before holding another all-party meeting 'for which we need to do our homework well'.
Ghosh said development of a vast stretch of land around Nandigram in East Midnapore district had remained stalled due to violence for a long period - "This is unfortunate. All political parties want development, but there is a fundamental difference among some of the parties on the Nandigram issue."
