On the eve of panchayat polls, CPM state Secretary Biman Bose issued a veiled threat to intellectuals, including actor Aparna Sen, calling them “kujon (evil people) and self-appointed observers”.

Bose alleged that the State Election Commission (EC) has made a mistake by allowing a group of intellectuals to visit Nandigram.

A group of intellectuals, including Aparna Sen, theatre personality Shaonli Mitra, painter Shuvaprasanna were stopped by policemen on their way to Nandigram and were sent back to Kolkata on Saturday.

Bose said he had written a letter to the EC asking it not to allow intellectuals to visit Nandigram on Sunday, the poll day. The letter adds that the West Bengal Panchayat Act has no provision for such visits. “No rule permits such self-appointed observers to visit Nandigram during the polls. They may be great personalities in their own field, but they should confine their activities to their fields only. If they go to Nandigram there will be trouble and anarchy. They are ‘kujon’ and all ‘sujon’ (good) citizens should stop it,” said Bose at a media conference at Alimuddin Street.

He added: “Now it is so hot there. They should visit Nandigram during the winter. We will make it a tourist spot by then. If they want to walk, they can do it anywhere else. The police should not allow them to enter Nandigram,” he said.

“The State Election Commission today rectified their mistake by stopping them from entering Nandigram. We have lodged our protest with the Commission and will submit a list of people who can be allowed to go there,” the chairman of the Left Front stated.

Conceding that the Left Front had failed to come up with pre-poll alliances in certain areas, Bose said the party will work towards post-poll alliances.

“At the gram panchayat level, there has been no alliance in several places. The phenomenon is less in panchayat samities. We are trying our best to form alliances. However, after the polls, we will form alliances among our partners,” he added.

Bose said that in North Dinajpur, the Congress had distributed money to villagers during campaigning, and the people had resisted the move. In Satengabari, he added that locals had resisted Trinamool Congress supporters as they tried to snatch ballot papers.