Salua:
Four days after the massacre of the 24 Eastern Frontier Rifles (EFR) jawans at Silda, the anger among the bereaved families continues to be on the boil. They are angry at the state government for its failure to ensure security at the camp, and against the Maoist leader Kishenji who masterminded the attack and called it Operation Peace Hunt.
Families of the EFR jawans blocked the road at Salua in West Midnapore district to protest the death of 24 jawans at Silda.
"We have a message for Kishenji - Twenty-four of our Nepali and Assamese jawans may have died, but we are not lamenting that. We are ready to sacrifice our lives for the country. Twenty-four thousand, 24 lakh people are ready to die. We want to see his face, then, we Gorkhas will teach him what we can do," said Rakesh Thapa, a Salua resident.
At Siliguri on Wednesday night, there was anger over the delay in the arrival of bodies of 15 EFR jawans, 13 of whom belong to the Darjeeling hills. The families and members of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha had to wait for 12 hours for the bodies to arrive.
"This incident is the total failure of Buddhadev Bhattacharjee and his government. The bodies if shown any respect should have been sent by flight. The people of the hills have been waiting since 10 this morning and there is still no sign of the bodies of the EFR jawans. We had enough of this nonsense," said Roshan Giri, Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.
At Salua, too, there is anger against the government and the families of jawans are threatening to on an indefinite hunger strike unless Buddhadeb Bhattacharya himself comes over and confirms compensation to the bereaved families.