Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee today accused the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government of tampering with the evidence in the Jnaneswari Express derailment case in which Maoist leaders are being accused.

Referring to the death of Umakanto Mahato, the prime accused in the case, she alleged that in the midst of the CBI inquiry such a death will raise questions against the state government. “The CBI is investigating the case, he was announced wanted by the CBI. In the middle of the inquiry he died in an encounter. This is an attempt at tampering with evidence,” said Banerjee. She was speaking at a Trinamool Congress gathering held in Kolkata to celebrate the foundation day of Chhatra Parishad, the students’ wing of her party.

“The state government is leading such an attempt, which cannot be allowed,” she said.

Since her Lalgarh rally, this was Banerjee’s first public meeting and she made it clear once again that she will not allow the ruling CPM to use the joint operation against Maoists for its own benefit.

Banerjee said: “Why they (joint force) will help the CPM to run armed camps in Jungalmahal. In 90 of such camps, CPM cadres and leaders are sitting with fire arms. The ruling party is hiring killers from Munger, awarding Rs 1 lakh for each murder.” She alleged that the CPM cadres kill people and leave behind Maoist posters.

“What we have been saying for the last five years, everyone is acknowledging now. Look at the Governor’s report, I am informed that he also raised the issue that how CPM camps are running in the area. The Centre also have knowledge about this camps. These camps should be rapped up by police immediately,” she said.

“If the police raids all the CPM offices in Jungalmahal, the Maoist posters would be recovered, then the gameplan of the CPM will be clear. They have thought that they will win all the 50 Assembly seats in this area. But this will not happen, we will also contest in all these seats. The CPM will not be able to retain even five seats,” added Banerjee.

Claiming that the CPM cadres are killing Trinamool supporters using the name of the Maoists, she asked her supporters to be cautious about the situation and called for creating ‘Ma Mati Manus’ brigade in every village. This brigade will guard the villages from armed CPM cadres, she added.

“The Chief Minister is giving arms to his cadres. But we will response in a democratic way, wait for a few months only,” said Banerjee.

As principals of 10 colleges shared dais with Banerjee today, she said that in the last 34 years of Left Front regime, merit has left the state. “We were lagging behind. At a later stage the initiative in IT sector was taken. I assure you all, we will try to keep our best students in our state. We will make sure that they can be given jobs in our own state. We will encourage all types of research, especially agriculture,” she added.

Partho Chatterjee, Leader of the Opposition, said the ruling party has transformed educational institutions into their party offices. From the peon to the vice-chancellors, everyone has to follow the party diktat.