December 2007 Edition
Shocked Kolkatans support protest
in anguish
People ask: Is Buddhadeb any different from Modi?
Rita and Umesh Anand
New Delhi
ARMED Marxist cadres have overrun villages in the Nandigram area of West Bengal’s East Midnapore district to beat into submission people who have been refusing to part with their land for a chemical hub and a special Economic Zone (SEZ). Between November 6 and 10, the cadres, using guns and bombs and reinforced by criminal elements, put an end to opposition by the villagers.
Nandigram was blockaded and the carnage was brief and brutal. It left some 40 people dead and several thousands are reported either missing or homeless. Senior Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leaders have justified the recapture of Nandigram on national TV. West Bengal’s Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, said it was an “eye for an eye” and that the villagers had been “paid back in their own coin”. Prakash Karat, senior CPI(M) central leader, said Maoists were behind the villagers and had to be evicted with violence. But the use of armed CPI(M) cadres to butcher innocent people while the police and the entire government machinery looked on has made thinking Indians fear a model of governance that doesn’t differentiate between party and State. Huge protest rallies have been held in Kolkata and addressed by Medha Patkar, champion of the disenfranchised, who was earlier refused police protection and, together with other activists, beaten up by CPI(M) cadres when she tried to go to Nandigram.“The CPI(M) must realise that its cadres can’t do what they like and declare‘The Red Sun has risen’ because when that happens the Sun of Democracy sets on the other side,” Medha Patkar told Civil Society after finally entering Nandigram. She lamented the CPI(M)’s unwillingness to accept opposition to its policies.
She said letters seeking a dialogue on Nandigram received no response. “I was
often told by groups in Bengal about how undemocratic and intolerant the CPI(M)
is here. I really did not believe it. But now I have experienced it for myself.”
There have been protests in Mumbai and Delhi as well with the Lok Sabha
Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who belongs to the CPI(M), being turned away
from the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus by students.
Significantly, the rallies in Kolkata have been attended by Bengali film-makers,
actors and intellectuals like Mrinal Sen, Subhaprasanna, Anjan Dutt,
Rituporno Ghosh, Joy Goswami, Nabanita Deb Sen, Aparna Sen and Bibash 
Chakraborty. Many of them are known to be Left-leaning. Damning criticism
has even come from Ashok Mitra, the former West Bengalfinance minister. “We are all very scared. The CPI(M) is the ruling party and in government.
They should extend the same facilities and benefits to everyone regardless of
their political affiliations,” film director Aparna Sen said. “But the party and
the government have become one. Anybody who is not a supporter is seen as
an enemy. Every single person in Nandigram has some vulnerabilities.”Nandigram has also brought into focus the flaws of a development process in
which industry and governments take decisions without consulting people on
projects. Industry can hardly be expected to feel comfortable with bloodshed
and the killing of innocents. It will feel concerned about the future of investments
made on commitments from leaders like Bhattacharya who are clearly cut off from reality. Sustainable business initiatives need peace and inclusion. A
massacre may be a show of political strength for theCPI(M), but industry will
worry about cadres who hold so much sway over the fortunes of a party.
Few independent observers accept that there was any significant Maoist
presence in Nandigram, though it is established that the Trinamool Congress
has been trying to making political capital out of local discontent.
On the other hand it is well known that the villagers were CPI(M) supporters till early this year when plans for the chemical hub and SEZ were sprung
upon them and the Buddhadeb Bhattacharya government began brow beating
them into giving up their land for the project.
Said activist and writer Mahasweta Devi to Civil Society: “The ground reality is that Nandigram Block 1 and Block 2 were largely dominated by the CPI (M) and other Left parties. Panchayats and other local bodies consisted mostly of Left Front supporters. But they did not want the SEZ.” Bhattacharya repeatedly pledged himself to the project (which is getting investment from the Salim Group in Indonesia) to strengthen his pro-industry image. But there was no consultation with villagers. Their opinion was not sought on whether they wanted the project or how they should be compensated for the loss of valuable and fertile land and innumerable traditional livelihoods. The villagers sealed Nandigram and cut themselves off to protect their land after they were first attacked in March. CPI(M) cadres on that occasion moved in under the cover of police gunfire and tear-gas. In all 14 people were killed but rape, molestation and arson told a much more brutal story. The March attack was followed by a national outcry. The media and social activists descended on Nandigram. Having survived that attack and worried that they might be forced into parting with their land, the villagers made supporters of the CPI(M) leave the area. They also refused to allow government officials to enter. Thereafter the situation continued to simmer with sporadic violence. The evicted CPI(M) families were not allowed to enter the villages. The government on its part seems to have made no effort to restore normalcy
As matters came to a head in November, appeals from both sides began reaching
the West Bengal Governor, Gopal Krishna Gandhi, who is a grandson of
the Mahatma and enjoys wide respect for his impartiality.
The Governor, however, could not succeed in getting the government to act
and finally he issued an unprecedented public statement saying: “At the time
of writing, the most accurate description 
for Nandigram is the one used by
our Home Secretary, namely, it has become a ‘war zone’. No government or
society can allow a war zone to exist without immediate and effective action.”
The Governor went on to say: “Those who had to flee Khejuri must come back
with full confidence and dignity. And no quarter should be given to the cult of
violence associated with Maoists. But the manner in which the'recapture' of
Nandigram villages is being attempted is totally unlawful and unacceptable.”
Activists like Medha Patkar, Mahesweta Devi and Saonli Mitra and innumerable
others have said that the victims of the November violence have all been
ordinary villagers and not Maoists. The dead and injured included women
and children who were taking out processions on November 10 to ward off
the full-scale assault that the CPI(M) cadres were planning.“If this can happen in Nandigram, the CPI(M) can do the same thing anywhere
in West Bengal,” is the refrain from Kolkata.
Old Kolkata hands point out that a bandh called on November 12 was spontaneous with ordinary folk registering their protest and asking how safe they are in a situation in which the government allows party cadres to use violence to enforce its writ. Comparisons have been rawn with Salwa Judum in Chhattisgarh where tribals are being armed by the state government and let loose on other tribals who have one with Maoists. Parallels are also being drawn with the communal riots under the Narendra Modi government in Gujarat. These situations are not entirely similar, but there is a growing concern that governance across the country is slipping into the lawless zone of state-sponsored violence.
People are aghast at the way events have unfolded.
● Nandigram was sealed from all sides, the police kept out and heavily armed
cadres sent in to maim and kill villagers including women and children.
Several days of preparation preceded the attack on November 10.
● Prakash Karat, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and other CPI(M) leaders were seen
on national TV glibly defending the attack and saying Maoists had to be taught
a lesson.
● Medha Patkar and other activists were beaten up by CPI(M) cadres despite court orders that they should be allowed to enter Nandigram.
● Medical relief teams were not allowed to go to the rescue of injured people.
● The West Bengal governor, Gopal Krishna Gandhi’srequests to the state government for preventive action were ignored.
● No one senior in the Congress condemned the ghastly violence.
Instead,
silence on the developments was apparently used to get the Left’s support on
the nuclear deal.
Much of the public anger is on the internet. A petition signed by 93 concerned
Indians, among them activists and senior academics and lawyers, says:“What is happening in West Bengal today is indeed unprecedented in contemporary India and has doubtless besmirched the State's rich history of democratic
struggles so that even the Governor of West Bengal who has shown
tremendous restraint has been pained to issue a statement against the
unfolding events in the State.”
The petition continues:“The manner in which the anti-socials of the dominant
party in the ruling front attacked the residents to reestablish theirdomination
over the area exposes the party's lack of commitment to democratic values,
principles and norms. The actions of these people under the benign
indulgence of the State administration can only strengthen the criminalised
and anti-democratic forces in our polity. For four days since the operation
began the media and journalists 
have not been allowed to enter Nandigram,
indicating that there is much to hide.”
What has been particularly galling is the way in which the CPI(M) has
refused to bother with public opinion. The Governor’s approaches to the government
to reduce tensions in the area
and restore peace were ignored. Finally,
when he issued apublic statement of his
concerns, he was accused of unconstitutional
behaviour. The day after the
Governor issued the statement, the final
assault on the villages took place.
Several voluntary organisations have tried to restore normalcy since the first incidents in Nandigram in March this year. A People’s Tribunal showed how in the March attacks women and children suffered. It also established that party cadres and police and government officials had colluded in the violence. Party cadres had in fact worn police uniforms. Fire-arms and iron rods were used. A significant number of bullet injuries, the Tribunal reported, were in the back, which meant that people were shot at even as they were being chased. Cases of rape and sexual assault were reported to the Tribunal.Women came out in the open and spoke of these atrocities. An independent survey was conducted after March by Sameekshak Samannaya, a human rights group. In a published interim report the organisation says: “The most grim atrocities were those regarding violence on women. Physical torture in the form of brutal assault with batons, rifle butts and fibre rods and also other kinds of physical force were inflicted on 274 women. Worse still, in 17 cases, women were sexually tortured. This includes brutal strikes in the vaginal zones by batons/rifle butts causing not only serious physical injury, but also severe trauma.” The survey says there were 11 definite cases of rape and in 46 cases the modesty of women was outraged in different ways.“This includes violent molestation, grabbing by force different organs of the female body, pulling the clothing of women or even derobing women partly or fully,” the survey says. The tally of deaths and injuries in March provided by the survey is as follows: 14 people died out of which 12 were men and two women. Bullet injuries were received by 41 men and 18 women.
The atrocities on women were like this: 274 cases of physical torture, 46 of modesty violation, 17 of sexual torture and 11 of rape. Many find it amazing that even after all this, the West Bengal government did not think it necessary to reach out, reassure people and provide a healing touch. Instead, it thought it fit to deliver a crushing blow on Nandigram by sending in its cadres on November 10.
Nandigram has lived with violence since early this year when villagers refused to give up their land for the chemical hub and SEZ. Stopping the SEZ saved their lands, but it also put the villagers,organised under the banner of the Bhoomi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee (BUPC), in the eye of a much bigger storm. For theCPI(M), Nandigram’s defiance couldn’t be taken lightly. In the three decades that it has been in power in West Bengal, the CPI(M) prides itself on having built a party machinery that doesn’t brook rejection. Particularly galling to the CPI(M) is the embarrassing reality that BUPC consists of its former supporters who have distanced themselves from the party. The especially crushing attack on November 10 seems to have been designed to finally settle scores in Nandigram. More significantly, it is meant to send out a message to the rest of the state to either accept CPI(M) dominance or face the same fate as Nandigram.
But has the CPI(M) gone too far for its own good? Has it crushed Nandigram and put the fear of death into the rest of Bengal only to lose the respect of liberal minded Indians across the country? For the CPI(M) the future after 30 years in power in West Bengal comes with challenges at many levels. Perhaps the biggest challenge before the CPI(M) if it wants to position Bengal as a modern state is to reform itself from within. The party has always seen its cadres as its strength. Now its cadres hang like a weight on the party, long accustomed to the many bonuses of being in power and unwilling to surrender local influence. It is unlikely that a modern economy can be builtthrough exercising such heavy-handed controls. It is unrealistic in this day and age to think of bringing in investments that break the backs of local communities and flout environmental and ecological considerations. State of the art business practices require reachingout to all stakeholders.
Ageing, uninformed leadership
On the economic front the CPI(M) has little to show for itself in West Bengal. It is commonplace for talented young people to leave the state in search of employment, education opportunities and so on. An ageing and severely uninformed leadership has found it increasingly difficult to give Bengalis a modern and vibrant economy. Ask any young Bengali and he/she will tell you that there is nothing left in West Bengal.
When the CPI(M) does connect with industry, the party’s leaders invariably become playthings in the hands of businessmen and entrepreneurs. Serious investments are long over due. But instead of bringing in investments with vision and an overall plan for the state, the CPI(M) leadership easily falls prey to proposals for SEZs and real estate projects with little understanding of the displacement they will cause or the environmental impact that they will have or what economic benefits they might finally deliver. The CPI(M) has counted among its successes control of the countryside and land reforms. But now as land has to be given to industry it becomes increasingly clear that titles haven’t been changed and new ownership hasn’t been established. So, the serious investor who wants to come in for the long term and build an industry with local support does not know who to compensate.
Moreover, since people haven’t been prepared for industrialisation, it is uncertain how they will avail of the jobs that new industries will generate. In many cases like Nandigram, people prefer to continue with the way of life they know. This of course does not necessarily mean that they don’t want industrialisation, but they don’t know how to cope with it. And they don’t trust the West Bengal government. Since CPI(M) leaders seem to be led by the nose by investors on the one hand and entrenched and often corrupt local cadres on the other, they don’t tend to have an understanding of the impact that projects will have on farming and fishing communities, on people who may live off the land but don’t have the right of ownership and therefore will get no compensation. These are people who also do not have any alternative means of livelihood. They will probably never qualify for jobs in the industries that come up and will finally turn up on the streets of cities. If the events in Nandigram were intended to send out the message to the rest of the state that the party’s plans are not be toyed with, the result will almost certainly be total submission. But for people who seek a vibrant and progressive West Bengal, a‘massacre raj’ and cadres the party cannot control will really be reason to worry.
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