Nandigram: Knocking Within

Nandigram: Knocking Within

Indian Holocaust My Father`s Life and Time - SEVENTY EIGHT

Palash Biswas

LADY MACBETH
Infirm of purpose!
Give me the daggers: the sleeping and the dead
Are but as pictures: 'tis the eye of childhood
That fears a painted devil. If he do bleed,
I'll gild the faces of the grooms withal;
For it must seem their guilt.

Exit. Knocking within

MACBETH
Whence is that knocking?
How is't with me, when every noise appals me?
What hands are here? ha! they pluck out mine eyes.
Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas in incarnadine,
Making the green one red.

(From Macbeth by william shakespear)

Medha Patekar questioned the very definition of manufacturing in SEZ act. As defined in the act, manufacturing includes agriculture, horticulture, poultry, fishiculture,etc. She asks rightly why manufacturing in agro sector should be replaced by industrial production meant for consumers only. She warned that governments in India are planning to trap every Indian into hungerstrike.With Medha arrested on way to Singur, once again singur has come prominently on focus. Anuradha talwar led a massive procession to Beraberia in Singur via Kamarkunu Rly station and the protesters were stopped by Police forces.

We insist, Singur and Nandigram are not limited in the geography of Bengal. the Resistance amy esclate countrywide, why, worldwide as because against imperialist corporate globalisation. In Haryana, the protest by a Congress MP over the Reliance SEZ could well result in a similar situation. The situation is no different in most other states, the government's inability to get land for Posco in Orissa being one of the more prominent examples. It should be obvious that the solution lies in asking the private sector to get its own land; indeed, some of the firms planning large retail footprints across the country are tying up with specialised realty firms for precisely this reason.

Bengal is boiling. After Singur, Nandigram near Haldia has turned into a war zone.About total 25,000 acre was needed for the chemical hub at Nandigram, but land acquisition has not begun for this. Bhattacharjee said that he would visit Nandigram and talk to people.The question remains unanswered, why the left strongly supporting the industrialisation projects that had worse ramifications on farmers or agricultural production. Do the true Marxists want to bring revolution in Inida by traforming the agricultural production or economy into industrial means of production? this could result in class conflict where Left can benifit. Left should think that can anybody or government make Agriculture zone at any cost. can we create or produce a farmer?

Meanwhile, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Tuesday said he was withdrawing a notification to acquire land in a village in East Midnapur district and his government had made a some mistakes."I have asked the East Midnapore district administration to tear up the notification about land acquisition issued by the Haldia Development Authority (HDA) as it was the root cause of trouble that led to total confusion and cost several lives at Nandigram (village)," he said at Writers' Buildings.The Chief Minister said from now only collectors or district magistrates would issue notifications on land acquisition.

The approach now would be through mapping and land alignment together with rehabilitation in consultation with political parties, farmers and landless people, he said.

The Chief Minister, who earlier met a WBPCC delegation demanding immediate withdrawal of the HDA notification and steps to restore normalcy in Nandigram, attributed the violence to “rumour that agricultural land, domicile land and even religious places will be acquired”.

“We will have to convince the people our plans and programmes and we will move ahead with the opinions of all.”

“It is our mistake. The HDA notification was absolutely wrong and it led to confusion,” he said.

To a question, he said that he would visit Nandigram for an on-the-spot study of the situation but did not give a date.

The priority was to ensure return of peace and he would take steps towards it by speaking to political parties at the panchayat level and villagers, he said.

Nandigram, about 150 km from Kolkata, flared up Wednesday as a word spread that a notification had come out to acquire land for a special economic zone (SEZ) nearby, to be developed by Indonesia's Salim Group.Clashes between angry villagers and ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) activists had claimed at least eight lives by Sunday.A notification issued by HDA identifying areas for setting up a chemical hub by the Salim group had sparked violence by farmers. The violence followed the agitation against acquisition of agricultural land for Tata Motors small car project at Singur. In future, the Chief Minister said, all notifications would be given by the collector or the district magistrate and none else.

The hands of Buddhadev are the hands of Macbeth, full of blood. He may not be able to wash this blood with the water of all the oceans.

Friends, as I wrote erlier in my article ` Nandigram Puzzles Caste Hindu Left’, ity is clear Buddhadev is speaking the language of Votebank. Hindu- muslim peasants` united resistance has disturbed well the winning poll equations for ruling left front. Sixty one percent population of Muslims in Nandigram has trapped the ruling combination leg before wicket. If Buddhdev means by what he says , a democratic process for land acquisition, why Medha is stopped once again? Why singur is treated otherwise? Why prohibitary orders cutt off singur from rest of the country?
deliberate inactivity of police helped the genocide in Nandigram. It was an attempt to communalise the issue and break the secular united front of peasants who denounced all political affliations to defend their homes, worshipping places and the land and the nature.
Trinamool Congress Chief Mamata Banerjee had gone on an indefinite hunger strike last month to register her protest against the land acquisition. She called off her fast after 25 days on December 28, following interventions by President APJ Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Eminent persons like Medha Patkar and Gyanpith Award winner Mahasweta Devi have also condemned the CPI (M)-led Government in West Bengal for its "inhuman and indifferent attitude" towards rural folk, who face a bleak future due to the acquisition of multi-crop land at Singur.


Turning to Singur, where the land acquisition for the Tata Motors’ small car project has led to protests, Mr Bhattacharjee said, “We did not have to take domicile land there, so there is no necessity of rehabilitation. The main question is of compensation. At Salboni, where the Jindals will set up a steel plant at an investment of Rs 10,000 crore, there is no question of rehabilitation. Moreover, the Jindals are offering a better rehabilitation package,” he said.

In West Bengal, he said, there was 62 per cent agricultural land of which one per cent was fallow and 13 per cent was forest land.

Of the state’s domestic product, 26 per cent came from agriculture, 24 per cent from industry and 50 per cent from the service sector.

“We will have to augment production in the industry sector,” he said, adding that survey would have to be made from the micro level. Since urban land was limited, agricultural land was required for industrialisation.

Thus, the stand of CPI_M on capitalist development advocted by Buddhadev is not changed as at all awhile inThiruvantapuram,amidst the growing protest over the land-acquisition by the ruling Left Front government in West Bengal for setting up of industrial units, the CPI (M) General Secretary Prakash Karat today said that no adverse action will be taken against farmers and poor.
"Land reform has been implemented by the Left Front Government. Land has been given to farmers by the Left Front Government. So the Left Front Government is not going to do anything against the interest of farmers," he said. However, Karat added that there was a need for industrialization and certain industrial projects were coming up.When asked about the Nandigram row, Karat said that no decision was taken to acquire land at there.

Buddhdev was saying days before that no notification has been issued. now he says:

"I have asked the (East Midnapore) district magistrate to tear apart the notification. I have asked him to keep quiet and that I will start a political process in the area."

"We have to convince each and every person. We have to hold panchayat meetings. We will proceed after convincing all," he said, adding he would visit Nandigram soon.

On a day when the government and the party went on back foot, CPI-M state secretary and Left Front chairman Biman Bose also apologised in a live TV programme to Medha Patkar for his wrong statement that the social activist had visited a house in Nandigram Dec 3 in which the blueprint of the flare-up was chalked.

"I am sorry. I am sorry if she is hurt. I said perhaps she visited," Bose said apologetically on a Kolkata TV live programme.

After a daylong meeting in Nandigram arrived at a consensus on restoring peace after overnight bombings and firings, police could Tuesday enter villages in the area for the first time since last Wednesday even though the peace brokered remained a fragile exercise with tension still gripping the area.

"The situation is peaceful since morning. We are trying to create an environment of peace and security in cooperation with the locals," Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Raj Kanojia said in Kolkata."Four bodies have been recovered," Kanojia told IANS.However, Home Secretary Prasad Ranjan Roy had Monday put the toll at five while Transport Minister Subhas Chakraborty had claimed that 11 people had died, including nine CPI-M members.

Police gradually entered restive villages like Sonamura, Khejuri and Garchakraberia. "Several police camps have been set up there," Kanojia said.Villagers had earlier dug up the roads to prevent their entry to express their protest against the notification.The villagers alleged more firing and bombings during Monday night.

Central minister and Congress leader Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi visited Nandigram along with party colleague Subrata Mukherjee and demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry. He flayed the district administration for its "complete failure" in preventing the deaths.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh also slammed the government for its policies while a BJP team led by Sushma Swaraj arrived here Tuesday night to visit Nandigram Wednesday.

en: politically motivated

B.S. Satish Kumar writes from Bangalore:
Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen on Saturday obliquely defended
the West Bengal Government decision to give agricultural land to Tata
Motors for setting up a car plant in Singur. He told The Hindu on the sidelines of a lecture that he delivered here on `Environment and Poverty - Two Worlds or One' that "the
benefits will be more," with the implementation of such projects. He
termed the opposition to handing over agricultural land for the
project "politically motivated."

Resorting to hunger strike was not the way of dealing with economic
development, he said. "I am not surprised by this. They are in the
Opposition and they have to do this." He said agricultural land
adjoining Kolkata were bound to shrink due to expansion of the city.
http://www.hindu. com/2006/ 12/17/stories/ 2006121705060800 .htm


Repair works begin, as uneasy calm prevails in Nandigram

Four days after a land acquisition row over the setting up of a Special Economic Zone turned violent in the remote village of Nandigram, uneasy calm prevailed here on Wednesday. The Superintendent of Police of the East Midnapore District, A K Dutta, said that there was no untoward incident in the area and the situation was totally under control. Repair work also began in the village, as the villagers had destroyed all the bridges and the roads leading to the twenty-odd villages in the area. The police have also set up their camps at Hazra Kata, Tekhali Bazar, Basulichak, and Bhangabera Bridge to restore peace.

The calm returned in the area after Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya on Tuesday admitted that the State government acted in a 'hasty manner' over the SEZ establishment.

The villagers under the Save Land Committee banner had demanded dismantling of all the camps of the political parties within a 5-km radius and no acquisition of land without their consultation.
people being killed in the flare up between the villagers and the CPI (M) party workers.

A central committee of the CPI (M) issued a statement blaming opposition Trinamool for carrying out a 'misinformation campaign' about the land acquisition and said that the attack was not a spontaneous outburst but a "planned political attack led by the Trinamul Congress and ultra-Left elements committed to violence". (ANI)


Medha Patkar arrested on her way to Singur

Social activist Medha Patkar was Wednesday arrested on her way to Singur, the site for the Tata Motors small car project in Hooghly district, police said.Patkar was arrested along with five other leaders of the National Alliance of People's Movement, an NGO, near the township. They were later taken to an office of the youth affairs department in Salt Lake, they said.

The police, however, cited no reason for their arrest. The arrest was made as soon as Patkar along with other NAPM leaders left Kolkata for Singur to meet the farmers there.

Earlier, Patkar demanded scrapping of the Special Economic Zone Act and the Land Aquisition Act in the interest of farmers, while calling for meaningful utilisation of vacant land for industry and setting up of agro-industries in the country.

Naxalites attempt to storm CPI(M) HQ

OnTuesday,suspected Naxalites held a dharna and tried to storm the CPI(M) headquarters on Alimuddin street and later the office of party daily Ganashakti in central Kolkata on Tuesday.

Police Commissioner Prasun Mukherjee said "either members of a Maoist organisation or Naxalites tried to enter the CPI(M) headquarters with an ulterior motive of vandalism."

They then tried to enter the office of the Ganashakti.

They were immediately resisted and chased away by the police posted near the party headquarters and local people.Eleven people were arrested.

Double speak (inputs from NDTV.com)

The battle over SEZs and farmland, political parties are clearly into plenty of politics and doublespeak.Just days ago. Prime Minister Manmohna Singh said that Ratan Tata and LN Mittal should not need to look outside India for their biggest industrial ventures.While the PM may advocate economic reforms, the government’s own Information and Broadcast minister has become the chief crusader against the projects at both Singur and Nandigram.

“Well it is sad to see the Left which spearheaded the land distribution movement in Bengal now going the opposite way. We want no farmer displaced unfairly,” said Tom Vadakkan, Spokesperson, Congress.

The BJP doublespeak is as loud. The BJP's top leadership from Rajnath Singh to Sushma Swaraj head for Singur and now Nandigram.

The protests against the POSCO steel plant in Orrisa took place in an NDA ruled state and in this case led by the Left.

But the party sees no contradiction in their stand.

“Orissa is different we have a coalition government there but we have told them of our policy,” said Vijay Kumar Malhotra, BJP leader.

The Left opposes the SEZ policy at the centre but wants to give farmland to industry in Nnadigram.

The BJP supports the farmers’ agitation in Bengal but is quiet about the woes of the farmers of Kalinganagar in Orissa where the NDA is in power.

The Congress FM in Delhi talks about the bond between the land and the tiller in Delhi but a hundred km away in Punjab a Congress government is busy parceling away farmland for industry.

Most of us would call it sheer hypocrisy but in Delhi they have another name for this - politics.



NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF PEOPLE'S MOVEMENTS
c/o Chemical Mazdoor Sabha, Haji Habib Bldg, Naigaon Cross Road ,
Dadar (E), Mumbai - 400014. Ph. 022-24150529 napm@riseup. net
Press Note. 7.1.2007

AFTER SINGUR, IT IS NANDIGRAM: W. BENGL KILLS 11 FARMERS
Thousands Continue To Block the Roads; Anger in Villages.

The People s' movements from all over India denounce the ghastly killings of at least at least six farmers from Nandigram area in Hooghly district, and five more are in a serious condition, at the hands of the W. Bengal Police of the or CPM cadres in the early hours of January 7, 2007. It is learnt that the cadres of ruling CPM have been involved in this carnage. The number of dead farmers increased upto 11 on January 8, as three more succumbed to the attack. There are reports of more attacks on January 7. However, after the negotiations the people allowed he police into the villages to contain the attackers.

After the carnage of Kalinganagar at the start of the new year in 2006, it is now Narmada and Nandigram at the start of the new year in 2007. IN all thee events the governments have been killing and destroying their own countrymen to appease the national and multinational corporates. More distressing is the fact that the W. Bengal carnage of Nandigram and before that the Singur repression for the sake of corporate powers is carried out by the Left Front government in W.Bengal. In fact they should have been the protectors of the people and their life and rights instead of corporates.

However, we are appalled at the rude and insensitive attitude of the W. Bengal government regarding he deaths of farmers and the entire issue of the acquisition of fertile land in the name of industrialization. The CPM ideologue even went to issue threat that now onwards the 'CPM cadres would move into the villages', to deal with the opposition to government plan. Again we here the CPM state chief blaming the 'Naxalites, Trinmul, Medha Patkar ' wxcpt the CPI, whose state level leaders are also involved in the Nandimarg resistance. We condemn such anti-people attitude and question very act of the sate acquiring the land through Land Acquisition Act for the sake of the private profiteer. We are also dismayed at the casual attitude of the Communist Party or India (CPI), a part of the Left Front Government in the state and whose office-bearers have been forefront in the resistance in Nandigram.In fact the protesting people have agreed to remove the blockades on January 7, provided the police does not enter into the villages. However, before that the situation was disturbed by these uncalled for killings. But the CPI thinks it fit to blame it on the Naxalites to justify the firing and killings, instead of condemning it in no uncertain terms.

Corporates in Red Land

These victims are among the thousands of innocent farmers and villagers from the one of the most tranquil and prosperous agricultural area in W. Bengal, consisting of 80% minority population. These villagers are from 19,000 acres land is given to the controversial Salim group as the special economic zone (SEZ) by the state government. The W. Bengal government has acceded about 38,000 acres of the prime agricultural land to Salim group, of which notices of 19,000 acres were issued early this month and the acquisition process has started.

Though the people have been opposing the land acquisition for last many months and have made it known through various meetings, mass actions and other peaceful means, the government did not relent. With the acquisition started with large posse of thousands of villagers have been on the streets outside the villagers, threatening anyone touching their land.

Among the leaders were the state office-bearers of the CPI, a party in the state government, along with the Jamate-ulema- e Hind in that area and the organizations with National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM). The national secretary-general of CPI, Atul Anjan also held a meeting in December 2006 in the Nandigram area. However, it is strange that the party now maintains that the Naxalites and Trinmul Congress are inciting violence. This is not an honest stand. The CPI must make the state government to abrogate the SEZ and the ill advised contract with the Salim group.

Another 18,000 acres is also learnt to have been given for the Salim group, with total Salim SEZ amounting to 38,000 acres. Besides that a nuclear power project is coming in Haripur area of the Hooghly district itself. This nuclear power project would affect thousands of fishworkers and their livelihood. Thus nearly 78,000 acres land is ceded industry only in one district.

It is a time that all other organizations and progressive political parties must stop the mad rush for agricultural land in W. Bengal. There is an urgent need to rein in the W. Bengal government, as it swears in the name of progressive ideology, but follows all the corporatist and capitalist designs. Thus it inadvertently legitimizes the corporate stranglehold on the people, their resources, land and livelihood.

It is a matter of ignominy that the first atrocities and violence on the struggling people should happen not in the regimes of Congress or BJP, but in the Left Front ruled W. Bengal, and instead of having a dialogue with the people the Left front is resorting to threats and evoking the usual Naxalite bogey, which all established parties, capitalists resort to.

We call unto the CPM, CPI and all the Left Front government partners to stop the atrocities on the farmers struggling to protect their land and livelihood and in the name of Marx, put the common peasants, artisans and self-employed people before the corporates.


Sanjay Sangvai Medha Patkar


An Interview

In fact, trouble has been brewing since December when villagers instigated by rumours that the land acquisition process was to begin, attacked the local panchayat office. Last night, clashes between the armed villagers resulted in the death of six people in the region. So, the big question is - is this a huge setback for the Bengal government's policy for attracting investment and industrial expansion and has Buddhadeb’s reformist image and credibilty taken a beating? National Secretary, CPI, D Raja and CNBC-TV18's correspondent in Kolkata, Aniek Paul analyse the situation.

Excerpts from an interview given to CNBC-TV18

Q: How is the situation right now in Nandigram?

Aniek Paul: The administration or police have yet not managed to reach ground zero. They have so far refrained going there so as to refrain from any confrontation with the angry villagers. But even after the killings took place, they have not managed to penetrate that area. This is becoming an embarrassment for the West Bengal government. The Chief Minister himself was saying that these are very concerning issues and these are inescapable realities, which he and his administration would have to deal with.

Now the administration is trying to build a political consensus on giving peace a chance and an all party meeting took place in a nearby town. Here the parties that attended agreed to let the administration in to re-build, dug up roads, re-build bridges that have been destroyed. Apart from that - the second round of talks which are taking place at Nandigram police station are falling apart. I spoke to the convener of that forum that has been created for saving farmland here. He said its falling apart because of lack of faith and confidence and honesty in the approach of the administration. So, the situation still remains very tense in Nandigram.

Q: The Left has been a vocal critic of Special Economic Zones elsewhere in the country. But in a state, which is ruled by your own ally - the land acquisition battle has led to violence and death. Has the state government bungled in Nandigram?

D. Raja: Actually what has happened yesterday in Nandigram and what is happening today is pretty bad. It should have been refrained. That is why our party, Communist Party of India, has been telling there should be absolute transparency in whatever the government does and the issues will have to be discussed with the Left front. People must be taken into confidence and political parties must be consulted properly. This is what we have been telling.

So, as far as Special Economic Zones are concerned, it is not only the case of Bengal and the four Left parties. The four Left parties means CPI, CPM, RSP, Forward Block. We have taken a common stand. We have given a note to the UPA government on why we want drastic amendments in the Special Economic Zones and why there should be drastic amendments in the land acquisition law.

Q: Is there consensus among the Left front on the land acquisition policy and have you gone back on your stated position on Singur as well?

D. Raja: No, you must understand it is not only Bengal. Don’t try to make it a Bengal issue alone. It is a national issue, establishing Special Economic Zones is a national issue. That is a rat-race among state governments who can grab more Special Economic Zones and who can beat other states. Also I must add - Singur and Nandigram are not the same - Singur is a question of one project by Tata but in Nandigram, it is a question of a special economic zone.

Q: Are these issues completely different?

Aniek Paul: Nandigram and Singur are relatively different but on some basic issues I think they are very similar. Like for instance, compensation and rehabilitation. There is this issue of tenancy as well. In Singur, we saw the government paying tenants about 25% of the price of land. Later on some bureaucrats told me, perhaps we should have paid more, perhaps a little bit more because the share that produced was at best 50:50 between the tenant and landowner, whereas in this case the tenant gets only 25%.

Q: Issues of compensation are different?

Aniek Paul: Yes, compensations are different between the tenant and landowner. I would imagine the same question arises in the case of Nandigram as well, which makes it a far more difficult case because in Nandigram, the acquisition of land could seriously result in the displacement of dwellings as well. So, the question of compensation and rehabilitation are same for both Singur and Nandigram but of course Nandigram is happening on a much bigger scale - close to 14,000 acres being acquired, whereas in Singur it was just 1,000 acres.

Q: Would you ask the West Bengal government to stall the process of land acquisition until a national policy on rehabilitation has evolved?

D. Raja: It is not only the case of national policy because if the Left front government thinks it is doing something in the interest of the state - then people must be convinced, political parties must be consulted properly and there must be absolute transparency.

Q: What kind of message do incidents like Singur and Nandigram send out to investors?

D. Raja: Investors also should understand industrial development cannot take place at the cost of agriculture. Even Congress Party has stated this position, where industrial development takes place, it should not take place at the cost of agriculture.


__._,_.___
Shukla sen writes:
It's a cruel irony that when the CPIM, the leading Left force in the country, is crying hoarse against the Central policy on SEZ, never mind that their chief ministers representing as many as three state governments are singing a very different tune, including in their central organ, People's Democracy, vigilante groups operating under the red banner of the Party has unleashed terror to crush the "enemies of the people" in Nandigram protesting against a proposed SEZ there apprehending loss of their lands and livelihoods. Guns have been fired and blood has flown.
This comes as a grim reminder of the spinechilling Stalinist nightmare, which has though faded in memory with the passage of time but has not been erased off altogether.

Nandigram is, however, only a logical corollary of Singur.

The fight of the real flesh and blood people for their land and livelihood remains entirely legitimate by virtue of its very essence notwithstanding the colour(s) of the banner(s) under which it is being fought.

We do strongly protest and condemn the brutal terror tactics adopted by the West Bengal government and its minions.
We do also demand immediate institution of a judicial enquiry.
We also appeal to the NHRC to commence at once and carry out its own independent investigation without waiting for the next move by the concerned state government.

We append five letters from Kolkata below, which are self-explanatory.

Sukla Sen
EKTA (Committee for Communal Amity)


Letter from Kolkata 5
------------ --------- ---------
January 8, 2007

A brave reporter from Kolkata TV (a Bengali channel) managed to get into Nandigram and provide a report of the clash.
This is what happened.

Nandigram is separated from the rest of Midnapore and Bengal by a canal. There is a single bridge across the canal. After
the communist cadre had fled their homes, they gathered in camps on the other side of the canal. That side received many
reinforcements courtesy Lakshman Seth, the local CPI(M) leader and an infamous goon. A senior party leader had
earlier warned that no opposition would be brooked to the party's plans of land acquisition. "We will make life hell for them,"
he said, meaning the farmers.

On the night of January 6th, the two villages on the east side of the canal, Sonachura and Tekhali, were attacked by CPI(M) supporters from the west side with bombs and guns. The villagers had anticipated such an attack. Whether they had any bombs and guns their own is not clear. The Kolkata TV reporter said unequivocally that they only had farming implements and kitchen knives (yes, women were also among the defenders). Almost all the dead are believed to be farmers from Sonachura, including a 14-year-old boy.

According to a piece by Mahasweta Devi in this morning's Dainik Statesman, the attackers cut off two heads and carried
them away as trophies.

This morning the contortions of the pro-state newspaper, The Telegraph, are amusing to read. On the front
page is an allegation that both sides had bombs and guns, which seems to be fiction. On the day after, the homes of one or more CPI(M) supporters were torched, and the paper has a picture of a hapless couple outside the burned home. No pictures of those killed, who belong inconveniently to the other side. The paper is complaining that the state had not
sent in policemen to protect the CPI(M) camp and avert a clash! No one else believes that the police are impartial.

I just heard from Kumudini Dakua, who served time in British jails because of her role during the Quit India movement. She
lives near Mohisadal, but knows the entire area intimately. She says 11 have been killed in Nandigram. The police are now in the area, are firing, and are not allowing in reporters.

The Chief Minister of West Bengal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, has alleged that an Islamic group is behind the attacks. It
is true that one of the farmers' groups opposing the land acquisition has an Islamic name. But Hindus and Muslims
in Nandigram are united against land acquisition. The CM is trying to turn a completely noncommunal fight over land into a communal one.

Unfortunately the CPI(M) is so used to ruling the state as if it were a party fiefdom that it is not willing to brook any
opposition at all. There will be more bloodshed for sure.


Letter from Kolkata 4
------------ --------- ---------
January 7, 2007


Seven people have died in the clashes in Nandigram.

Today I realized that these issues are getting really close to home. For my Bengal famine book, I had searched
for years to find famine victims who had clear memories of what happened. I finally found them, in a picturesque village
called Kalikakundu in the Mohisadal subdivision of Midnapore. I became close to a remarkable old man, Chitto Samanta,
who lives in a mud hut surrounded by rice fields, with his wife, sons, daughters in law and grandchildren. I felt they had a life of peace, far from the strife that daily rents my urbanized family.