[GJM] A Brief Roundup of the Savage Tale of Nandigram in CPIM-led Left Front Ruled West Bengal

[Sukla Sen]

["Shishughati narighati kutsit beevatsaa pare dhikkaar
haanite paari jyano"
Let me have the courage to publicly decry the ugly
terror that does not fight shy of killing even
children and women indiscriminately - Tagore]

For those who are new to this story: 
 
The people of Nandigram, a coastal corner of Midnapore
in West Bengal, have refused to vacate their land in
order to make way for a massive industrial project to
which the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which
has ruled the state for decades, was committed. Since
January the people have been waging a mostly quiet
battle with the state. I was in Kolkata in January and
sent out a series of letters about what was going on.
Days ago they were massacred. 
 
I am no longer in Kolkata, but this is what I learned
from a friend:
 
Since early January, Nandigram had cut itself off from
the outside world by the breaking the bridges in and
out of the region. That their subjects should so thumb
their noses at the rulers had become anathema to the
state government. The people seemed to be doing okay,
which also shows how little they get from the outside
world. The CPI(M) tried to suborn local leaders but
couldn't find any: this was a truly spontaneous
movement, without obvious leaders. So they decided to
invade. 
 
The villagers had long been expecting an assault of
some sort, but thought that at most it would be a
lathi-charge, and that the police would not attack
women and children. They had some improvised weapons
but had decided not to use them, for fear of
escalation. 
 
On the fateful day, 14th March, the inhabitants must
have known that the time had come. The Muslims were
doing namaz near one bridge and the Hindus were
praying by the second bridge. About 5,000 police and
paramilitary forces, along with 2,000 CPI(M) thugs
armed with single-shot guns, ordered them to move.
When the crowd kept on chanting, they opened fire. 
 
After the police had felled them, the CPI(M) cadre
went to work. Children were murdered, women were
raped, and knifed in their genitals afterward. The
dead likely number in the hundreds. Bodies were
removed in trekkers and trucks and dumped into rivers.
People in the entire region are distraught, missing
their loved ones, not knowing if they are dead or
alive. Many bodies are believed to be lying around in
interior villages. The police locked the door to a
morgue to prevent the bodies inside from being
identified.  
 
Local TV showed scenes such as this one: an old woman
lay on the ground, bleeding, and two other women came
up to her, helped her to get up and were walking her
away. The police fell on them, beating ferociously
with lathis, and apparently breaking bones, for the
two helpers had to crawl away. Some attackers' guns
could also be seen on TV. Two TV crewmembers were
threatened and others beaten up, but so far no loss of
life is reported among journalists. 
 
Right now the police are camped there in force, not
allowing in journalists. Bengal is boiling in fury,
all sections of society having come together in its
outrage in a way perhaps never seen before. In Singur,
thousands of farmers are said to have broken through
the Tata company's barriers and reoccupied their land.
 
 
The Governor has expressed horror at the Nandigram
massacre. A CBI inquiry is under way, it seems
Calcutta's lawyers held the chief justice hostage
until he ordered it. The CBI has been fishing bodies
out of rivers, and corpses of children are being
displayed on Kolkata's TV. Given that the government
in power at the center depends needs the CPI(M) on its
side, let's hope [against hope]the CBI report can be
trusted. 
 
Madhusree


	
	
		
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