An abysmal lack of concern for the people and a burning desire by West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to fling aside Marxist dogma and embrace capitalism in the millennium lies at the bottom of the bloody carnage in Nandigram.
The Nandigram imbroglio was the handiwork of CPI (M) MP from Haldia and Haldia Development Authority Chairman Lakshman Seth. The overzealous party strongman slapped a land acquisition notice for a chemical hub in Nandigram as part of the state's drive for a special economic zone in January this year.
Aware of the turmoil in Singur over land acquisition for the Tata small car project and the resistance offered by farmers who were unhappy with the compensation dispensed, a large section of villagers in Nandigram formed the Bhumi Uchcced Pratirodh Committee (BUPC) backed by the Trinamul Congress, to prevent a repeat.
The resistance to forcible acquisition, albeit with a promise of compensation, by farmers holding onto cultivable lush green land handed down generations, snowballed. Nandigram turned into a battlefield. Unable to handle the situation politically, the Left Front government, which prides itself in being a people's government for over three decades, sent in its police.
What followed was a massacre. Trigger-happy policemen opened fire killing 14 people. The resistance movement turned into a turf war where CPI (M) supporters in Nandigram left their homes and took refuge in Khejuri a village across the bridge on the highway. The Maoists used to fishing in troubled waters slunk into the strife torn area. Sporadic clashes and gun battles continued till October before armed CPI (M) cadres went in for the kill.
The Prime Minister who has been silent on the Nandigram imbroglio all this while, issued a stern statement today asking the Left Front Government to restore the confidence of the people by taking necessary steps.
