Jajpur: A faceoff between the members of two tribal outfits over observation of the 14th anniversary of Kalinganagar firing has threatened to scupper the event to be observed January 2.
The issue has caused a major headache for the Kalinganagar police as the latter have failed to solve the conflict between the two groups. Sources said, both Bahujana Kranti Morcha and Kalinganagar Bisthapana Birodhi Janmanch sought to observe the anniversary differently.
Members of Bahujana Kranti Morcha alleged that Kalinganagar Bisthapana Birodhi Janmanch observes Kalinganagar firing as a function and not as a tribute to the martyrs.
They claimed that the Bahujana Kranti Morcha struggled to give justice to the martyrs’ families in the form of giving them basic facilities and proper compensation. On the other hand Kalinganagar Bisthapana Birodhi Janmanch claimed that they were trying to make the Kalinganagar firing a movement on a national scale. For this they will cover all the streets of the country to give justice to the martyrs’ families, and they will not allow the Bahujana Kranti Morcha to put up the banner of it’s during the anniversary observation.
Every year on this day, scores of tribals under the banner of Kalinganagar Bisthapana Birodhi Janmanch and Bahujana Kranti Morcha observe the Kalinganagar firing anniversary at ‘Birabhumi’ or the martyrs’ tower. Police had gunned down 14 tribals, including three women, January 2, 2006 while they were protesting against a boundary wall construction at Tata Steel’s Kalinga Nagar plant.