Fanning the flames

In Kolkata, Trinamool Congress workers led by Sonali Guha, MLA (pointing fingers), preventing autorickshaws from plying on a day of bandh called by the party to protest against the conflict in Nandigram, on October 31. - ARUNANGSU ROY CHOWDHURY

Nandigram erupts again. And with the Opposition spurning the governments offer of dialogue, a political solution is not in sight.

In Kolkata, Trinamool

What started off as a violent agitation against a rumour of land acquisition in Nandigram block in West Bengals East Midnapore (Purba Medinipur) district 10 months ago has, in fact, taken the form of a struggle for turf control between the Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh (Land Eviction Resistance) Committee a motley crowd consisting of supporters of the Trinamool Congress, the Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI), the Jamait-i-Ulema-e-Hind and naxalites and supporters of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). After incessant violence during which many lives were lost, properties destroyed and more than 2,500 CPI(M) supporters forced to flee their homes, there followed a relative calm in the month of September.

The Left Front government in the State had just started formulating a political strategy to ensure safe return of those rendered homeless when clashes broke out again on October 7. In the firing that followed, Parvati Mitra, 72, was killed and two others, including 10-year-old Mano Mandal, were injured. In Daudpur and Ranichak areas of Nandigram, another 200 people were rendered homeless and 25 houses were ransacked, allegedly by the BUPC. The violence that continued unabated for the next two days claimed the life of Manas Mandal, 49, a schoolteacher and zonal committee member of the CPI(M). Later, another 16 houses were reportedly ransacked.

Each side accused the other of precipitating the violence. When the CPI(M) claimed that the BUPC was trying to extend its control in Nandigram by encroaching on CPI(M) strongholds, the BUPC blamed the CPI(M) for trying to regain lost ground with an eye on the panchayat elections due next year. Areas of control are clearly demarcated in the region: Nandigram Block I, comprising five gram panchayats and 40 mouzas, is under the control of the BUPC; in Reyapada and Chandipur formerly known as Nandigram II and III the CPI(M) retains some hold, albeit in pockets.

The Telpatti canal separates Nandigram from Khejuri, a CPI(M) stronghold, where villagers, allegedly driven out of their homes by the BUPC for being CPI(M) supporters, have taken shelter in makeshift relief camps. But even in these impoverished shelters, they are not safe.

From mid-October, people all over the State got into the festive spirit of Durga Puja and Id. As though waiting for the celebrations to end, on the evening of October 22, armed BUPC men launched a fresh attack in which 50 families had to flee their villages in Nandigram II. A CPI(M) regional office and a panchayat office were ransacked; even the only library in the area was not spared. The attack took place in Takapura, in the BUPCs zone of control in Nandigram II, close to the relief camp at the Khejuri border. CPI(M) sources say the BUPCs idea was to attack the refugees in the camp.

In the week of violence that followed, six people four from the CPI(M) and two from the Trinamool Congress died. Intermittent skirmishes in Nandigram once again were turning into a full-scale battle. On October 28, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee claimed that an attempt was made on her life when she was touring the violence-affected areas of Nandigram. She alleged that three bullets aimed at her car were fired from across the Talpatti canal as her convoy was crossing the bridge over it. Subhendu Adhikari, a Trinamool Member of the Legislative Assembly, claimed that two cartridge cases were recovered from a spot near Mamatas car. Mamata Banerjee said that such ammunition was normally issued to the police from whom it must have found its way to the hands of CPI(M) cadre.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) condemned the incident. Taking a cautious line, WBPCC working president Pradip Bhattacharjee said: This is a very grave allegation and should not happen in any civilised society. It has to be properly looked into by a Central investigating agency. A ballistic expert of the Central government told Frontline that from what he saw, it was a .315 cartridge case. It is a soft-nosed bullet and the gun from which such bullets are usually fired are mainly used for hunting, but can be very dangerous, he said. However, he ruled out the possibility of the empty cartridge case landing near any place from the shooter. Going by Mamata Banerjees claim that shots were fired from across the Tekhali bridge, the experts opinion makes it clear that the cartridge cases could not have been found near her car.

The CPI(M) dismissed the Trinamool Congress accusation. It is so obvious that there is no shred of truth in her allegation, said Shyamal Chakraborti, CPI(M) central committee member. Biman Bose, the partys state secretary and Polit Bureau member, said at a press conference that this was not the first time that Mamata Banerjee was making such an accusation to create disorder in the State: On October 25, 1998, Mamata Banerjee claimed that she was shot at, and what followed was absolute chaos. She is trying to repeat her performance.

There is reportedly a difference of opinion within the Left Front about the strategy for dealing with the Nandigram problem. The Forward Bloc and a few leaders of the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) apparently believe that administrative action by the police and the magistrate alone should be adequate to control the situation. But Biman Bose and Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee are categorical in their assessment that the solution has to be a political one. The objective of the Opposition here is to create unrest and keep it alive, said Biman Bose.

Interestingly, Mamata Banerjee called for an achal (paralysis of the State a new term to bypass the Supreme Court prohibition on bandhs) on October 31, a day after the SUCIs bandh call.

The very idea of feuding armed groups controlling demarcated zones goes against the concept of an orderly state. Sensing the gravity and the political implication of the situation at the very beginning of the trouble in January, when the general public and the media had been misled into thinking that local people rose spontaneously against land acquisition for a proposed chemical hub, Bhattacharjee had publicly stated that the land acquisition notice be completely disregarded. He assured the people that no chemical hub would come up in Nandigram and that there was no move to acquire land.

He also asserted that it would be a dangerous political mistake to allow a liberated area to grow like a festering wound inside the State. During the latest phase of the problem, he said at a press conference on October 29 that he was still open to discussion on all the points raised by the Opposition provided peace returned to the area. There is no government [in Nandigram] for the last 10 months, the Block Development Officers and the panchayats cannot function, no developmental funds could be spent, the police cannot patrol and armed marauders including naxalites are roaming freely and among them is the notorious Ranjit Pal, who is an accused in the murder of MP Sunil Mahato [of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha], he said.

The name of Pal reportedly made the Union Ministry of Home Affairs sit up and take notice. Since Mamata Banerjee has been systematically campaigning against the State police for being partisan, Bhattacharjee said he had asked the Union Home Ministry to send a battalion of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) to tackle the situation. The government says it is seized of practically all issues raised by the agitators such as payment of compensation to the victims of police firing in Nandigram on January 3, stoppage of land acquisition proceedings, formation of joint peace committees, scrapping of any proposal for Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Nandigram and, above all, launching developmental projects in this backward area.

Development works in the region have come to a halt in the past 10 months . According to government estimates, around Rs.2 crore worth of rural development projects could not be undertaken at all and, as a result, the future budget allocation was also reduced by Rs.2 crore. The effective loss thus is Rs.4 crore.

In Nandigram Block I, Rs.1 crore has been lying unutilised in the Block Fund for failure to take up development works. Rs.85 lakh out of the untied funds also lies unspent. Same is the case with funds received from the Twelfth Finance Commission.

Approximately 50,000 man-days of work are lost, and this has added to the misery of the underemployed rural poor of Nandigram. Even the BPL (Below Poverty Line) list the first step in any anti-poverty programme has not been finalised in most panchayats in the region. The problems have been aggravated by the BUPCs blocking of practically all access to Nandigram by digging up roads, destroying culverts and setting up roadblocks to prevent free movement of men and material.

A similar situation befalls other welfare programmes such as Indira Awas Yojana, the mass immunisation programme, and schemes for drinking water supply and rural electrification. Many sanctioned drinking water wells have not been sunk; in Sonachura alone drinking water projects worth Rs.44 lakh are held up. The damage to government buildings, property and documents in gram panchayat offices, block development offices, health centres, and so on, has been assessed at Rs.20 lakh.

In the continuing violence, another 10 people, including 10-year-old Goshto Das, lost their lives until November 1. Mamata Banerjee has spurned the offer to hold a dialogue with the Chief Minister to bring back normalcy. Far from dousing the fire in Nandigram, her latest call for an achal will only keep it alive.