The Nandigram Killings

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What Really Happened in Nandigram? Here is An Outline :

The trouble in Nandigram began with attacks on Panchayat members, administrative officials and police on 3rd. January, 2007.The following is a brief outline of what happened thereafter.

1. East Midnapur was poised to be declared as “Nirmal??? district, for excellent achievements in sanitation. A central team was scheduled to visit Nandigram on 13th and 14th January for this purpose. In fact, the central team has already visited other areas of the district and watched the noteworthy success in this regard.On 3rd. January, the preparatory meeting for the visit was taking place in Kalicharanpur Gram Panchayat office. Some activists of Trinamool Congress gathered there at around 11-30 in the morning. They demanded that the land acquisition notice, served by Haldia Development Authority had to be scrapped and the Panchayat had to declare that there would be no such acquisition. Samerun Bibi,the Panchayat pradhan ,refused to heed their demand. They were violent and abusive. They ransacked the Panchayat office .The Panchayat secretary was injured in their attack. The mob also pelted stones in the health sub-centre. Then only the Panchayat pradhan informed the Nandigram police station. As the police vehicle was proceeding towards the village, they were attacked by an armed mob.11policemen including 2 ASI were seriously injured. The police vehicle was torched. A rifle was also looted which was returned to police station later by TMC MLA Subhendu Adhikary. After some time another mob attacked a police car of Khejuri police station about five kilometers away and attempted to burn it. The police have not entered in the area since then.

2. The miscreants started moving with arms and began to destroy bridges and culverts linking roads. They created an atmosphere of terror. On 4th.and 5th January, they virtually destroyed every link roads and bridges with Nandigram and Khejuri. They burnt a 25KV electric sub-station too. An armed gang with firearms attacked the CPI(M) local committee office in Rajaramchawk and burnt it. Cadres of TMC and other forces roamed around and threatened CPI(M) leaders and sympathizers with dire consequences. On those two days many houses of CPI(M) workers and sympathizers were looted. .A large number of CPI(M) workers were forced to leave the villages and took shelter in a nearby camp. That the mob was armed were seen in the photographs published in newspapers too. The entire incident was meticulously plotted.

3. The ousted CPI(M) workers and their families took shelter in the camp in the southern side of the Bhangabera bridge in Khejuri area. On 6th January the miscreants of so-called Jami Rakkha Committee (a conglomeration of TMC, Congress, SUCI, Naxalite groups, Jamiat ulema-e-Hind) attacked the camp at about 3 A.M. They even prepared bunker for the attack. There was resistance from the camp and in the ensuing conflict three of the attackers died. One of them, Seikh salim was a resident of South Kendemari, about 12 Km-s away from the spot. It was evident that they gathered there to attack the camp in a planned manner.

4. On 7th January morning, the miscreants attacked the house of Sankar Samanta, CPI(M) Panchayat member, looted the house, burnt it. They dragged Samanta to Shitpara and burnt him alive in a haystack.

5. Bhudeb Mandal, another CPI(M) supporter was seriously injured in their attack. The miscreants left him ,assuming that he was dead. He however, regained consciousness and somehow reached to a relative’s house. Later he was hospitalized.153 houses were looted. The houses and shops of Lakhman Mandal, Sonachura Panchayat pradhan, Samerun Bibi, Kalicharanpur Panchayat pradhan, Arjun Maity, Dr, Pratap Paul, Rabiul, Annapurna Das-all CPI(M) workers were burnt.

6. Among those evicted from the villages are 2 district Committee members of CPI(M),2 local committee secretaries,6 zonal committee members,16 local committee members and 56 Party members. More than 200 families were forced to stay in relief camp or relatives’ houses Later, the number surged and more than 2000 people were ousted from the village. Their houses are looted, lands were being forcefully occupied. Hundreads of people were forced to pay ransom.

7. The attack spread to adjoining Khejuri and some parts of rural Haldia.On 7th February, 2007 a police party went in village to discuss the issues. They were attacked brutally and without any provocation. The local OC was seriously injured. .Even then the police did not retaliate and just returned back. The miscreants dragged Sadhucharan Chatterjee, an elderly police person and killed him. His body was fetched from the river after three days of search.

8. On 10th. February,Sunita Mondal,a student of class ten,was brutally murdered after torture. Her body was found in a tree,with rope tied to the neck. Her father was ousted earlier by the miscreants. The police could not enter into the village to collect information even after such an incident. The members of State Women Commission were also resisted when they tried to investigate the matter.

9. On 17th. and 18th. February, altogether 22 houses were burnt by the TMC miscreants. Many more families were forced to flee from the villages.

10.On 3rd March, one housewife (name withheld) were mass raped by a gang of TMC miscreants led by Srihari Samanta, a local TMC leader. The victim is from a CPI(M) sympathizer family and refused to join the programme of Bhumi Rakkha Cmmitte .The victim was hospitalized and her entire statement has been recorded.

11. The Chief Minister has stated categorically that there will be no forced land acquisition in Nandigram. On 9th February CM pointedly told in a public meeting in Khejuri that without the consent of the people of Nandigram nothing will be done. Later, in number of occasions in last one month, CM has stated in very clear terms that the proposed Chemical Hub would be shifted if the people of Nandigram did not accept the proposal. Even after that, there was no respite from the atrocities by Bhumi Rakkha Committee, making it amply clear that the question is not at all the “land acquisition??? but a political strategy to maintain a forced acquisition of Nandigram by a combination of political forces.

12. The district administration , meanwhile called a series of All Party Meetings and peace meetings, mostly boycotted by TMC,Congress and Bhumi Rakkha Committee.The last such meeting was organized on 10th. March where representatives from Left Front partmers and BJP were present.TMC, Congress and Bhumi Rakkha Committee declined the invitation. It was decided in the meeting that the administration would move to restore reconstruction work and normalcy in the area and anyone resisting the constitutional duties would be legally dealt.

13. On 14th. March, the police entered the area after prior announcements with loud speaker. When they reached Sonachura, they were attacked with bombs and guns. In the ensuing confrontation 13 people were killed. One more person was killed in bomb injury.

Read this:

Nandigram: Let The Truth Be Known

Prakash Karat

The events in Nandigram, starting from the January 3 incident have been the subject of a heated controversy. A feature of this political tussle has been the concerted attempt to attack the CPI(M) on the grounds that it is taking an anti-peasant stance in favour of big companies. It is accused of using the police for this purpose.

The March 14 incidents when the police entered Nandigram and police firing took place have led to protests in West Bengal and in other parts of the country. At the national level, the BJP and its allies have focussed on this incident. Parliament was disrupted for five successive days. The BJP and the Trinamul Congress have demanded the imposition of Article 356 in West Bengal. Some other opposition groups have demanded the removal of the Chief Minister.

It is essential to understand what happened in Nandigram and what are the issues involved. First of all, it must be clear that the police action in Nandigram was not for any land acquisition. It is true that the West Bengal government had considered certain areas within Nandigram for the proposed chemical hub to be set-up as a Special Economic Zone. This was under the consideration of the state government. There was no notification for land acquisition by the authorities at any stage. There was a notice by the Haldia Development Authority for public information regarding the likely location of the project. It is this notice which set off protests by people in the Nandigram Block I.

From 3rd of January to the 14th of March, what happened within Nandigram Block I should be properly understood. From the time a gram panchayat office was attacked and the police party called in was also attacked by an armed mob, a chain of events took place which culminated in the police entry into the area two and a half months later. All bridges and culverts linking the roads to the area were destroyed and cut off. CPI(M) offices and the houses of Party workers and supporters were burnt down or looted. Altogether, 2,500 leaders, supporters and members of the Party were driven out of the area. A detailed account of the nature of the attacks has been published separately in this issue.

Most of the media and the political opponents of the CPI(M) have remained conspicuously silent about the operation to cleanse Nandigram of the CPI(M).

It is shocking that many of the intellectuals who claim to be on the Left, have not said a word of condemnation about these cleansing operations which led to the brutal murder of Sankar Samanta, a CPI(M) panchayat member and Sunita Mondal, a school student. The lynching of a police sub inspector Sadhucharan Chatterjee was also received with no qualms. As recently as March 3, a woman was gang raped by men led by a local TMC leader. She was targeted because she belonged to a CPI(M) supporter’s family that refused to join the programme of the Bhumi Rakkha Committee.

The TMC-Jamiat-Naxalite combination which spearheaded the Bhumi Rakkha Committee was able to keep the people mobilised with a fear that their land would be taken away. The Chief Minister had, as early as February 9, categorically stated that no land for the chemical hub would be taken from Nandigram, if the people do not want it. But, as the entire CPI(M) leadership including activists and supporters were absent from the area, the vicious anti-CPI(M) campaign playing on people’s fear about their land could continue without being challenged.

The Nandigram events came in the background of the opposition launched by the same forces against the Singur automobile project. The Central Committee of the CPI(M) had met in Kolkata between January 2 and 4. It discussed the Singur project and endorsed the stand of the West Bengal CPI(M) and the Left Front government in going ahead with the Tata car project. The West Bengal CPI(M) leadership had also informed that no land acquisition would be taken up in Nandigram if the people are opposed to it. The Polit Bureau of the CPI(M) had confirmed this after its meeting on February 17 and 18, when it stated that “There is no question of any land being acquired for the SEZ projects, as in Nandigram, against the wishes of the people”.

It speaks for the character of the political combine that is spearheading the Nandigram agitation who, after knowing that the government is not going to acquire land in Nandigram, went ahead with instigating or condoning violence against the CPI(M)’s elected representatives in the panchayats, its local leaders, members and families. Certain NGOs with international links and the anti-Communist media have lent full support to this enterprise.

It is these same elements who refused to attend all-party meetings repeatedly called by the district administration. The last all-party meeting held on March 10 decided that the administration should move to restore communications and normalcy in the area. It is in this connection that the police entered the area on March 14. In the ensuing confrontation, 14 people have died and many injured including policemen. The police were met with protests not only by the local people but from elements armed with bombs and pipe guns.

The deaths of ordinary people in police firing is deeply regrettable. Such an event is painful and unfortunate. The CPI(M) would have liked a full-fledged judicial enquiry, so that all the circumstances which led to the police action and the firing could be looked into and the facts established. The Kolkata High Court, however, in an unprecedented step, without even asking the state government for a report, ordered a CBI enquiry on the March 14 incident.

The police firing resulting in deaths has incurred the disapproval of different sections of people in West Bengal , a state which has a high level of democratic consciousness. The reactions against the police action in the rest of the country also reflect the same disapproval. Such reactions are understandable. But to link the police action to a purported drive to take over land from the peasants in Nandigram is a deliberate attempt to malign the Left Front government and the CPI(M).

The issue of land acquisition and industrialisation in West Bengal is being viewed by interested quarters according to their own political and ideological predilections. While some of the neo-liberal supporters of the SEZs are worried that the Nandigram incidents will lead to a setback for the setting up of SEZs in the country, naxalites of various hues and persons like Medha Patkar are hoping that industrialisation in West Bengal can be halted after the violence in Nandigram. Both are on the wrong track.

As far as Special Economic Zones are concerned, the CPI(M) and the Left Front government of West Bengal want major changes in the scope and character of the SEZs. In February itself, the Left Front government decided that new SEZs will not be set-up in West Bengal till the changes in the all-India SEZ Act and Rules are made. West Bengal will not adopt the type of SEZs being set-up in Maharashtra, Haryana and other states where huge tracts of land are being given to big business houses with ample scope for real estate speculation. The Left parties have already spelt out the changes required.

As for those who want the Left Front government to give up its industrialisation policy, they will be disappointed. West Bengal will protect and further develop agriculture; the gains of land reforms will not be undermined but the emphasis on industrialisation will not be given up. The long years of deindustrialisation has to be reversed. Balanced economic development requires industrialisation within the capitalist framework too. If some argue that small and medium industries are sufficient, the CPI(M) does not agree. Large-scale units, particularly in manufacturing, are necessary.

The CPI(M) will not be daunted by the gang up extending from the BJP to the Maoists. The people of West Bengal know who are the true champions of their interests and who are in the reactionary combine which is the TMC, BJP and its new-found allies. Those conversant with political history will also know how the CPI(M) has emerged as the leading contingent of the Left in West Bengal by steadfastly fighting back the repeated attempts by the ruling classes to rally all forces to isolate the Party. They have failed in the past and will fail again now.
eom
New Delhi , March 23, 2007

Ajoy, Partha, thanks for sharing your thoughts. You know what, every side has its own version, and interestingly, every version seems believable . But I’m slightly biased against the communists so I’ll take your feedback with a pinch of salt. Whatever literature I have read so far says that it was murder in cold blood by the “communist thugs” (Chandan Mitra’s expression ).

A spate of accusations have been made against the CPI(M) and the Left Front government headed by it in West Bengal. It has been accused of being insensitive to people’s concerns, anti-democratic etc. Several well-meaning individuals have fallen prey to the misinformation campaign launched by vested interests and the opponents of the West Bengal Left Front and the CPI(M).

It needs to be made clear at the outset that as far as land for industrialisation is concerned, in contrast to other Governments the West Bengal Government and its Chief Minister have repeatedly stated that the Government will have widespread consultations with local communities and elected Panchayat officials and will not proceed with any acquisition of land without taking all sections into confidence. The Government is firmly committed to protect the interests of the peasantry, sharecroppers, agricultural workers and other sections of the rural poor while taking forward the process of industrialisation.

As far as the specific violent incidents related to Nandigram is concerned there has been no notice issued for land acquisition. Yet a deliberate campaign of misinformation is being run by opposition parties. This includes the most outrageous accusation that the Communists plan to destroy masjids and mandirs in the area. It needs to be pointed out that at least six CPI(M) workers have been brutally killed and two offices of the party burnt. In a planned drive, houses of CPI(M) workers were identified in areas where opposition parties dominate and families have been driven out and their homes attacked. This not a spontaneous outburst but a planned political attack led by the TMC and ultra-Left elements committed to violence. In spite of this huge provocation, the administration has displayed the utmost caution in not using the police so as to enable a normalization of the situation.

The facts about the incidents are detailed below:

What happened on 3rd January?

The recent trouble in Nandigram began with attacks on Panchayat members, administrative officials and police on 3rd January, 2007. East Midnapur is poised to be declared as the first “Nirmal” district of the country,for excellent achievements in sanitation. A central team is scheduled to visit Nandigram on 12th and 13th January for this purpose. On 3rd January , the preparatory meeting for the visit was taking place in Kalicharanpur Panchayat .The Block officials were also present. The opposition parties, including Trinamool Congress, SUCI, some Naxalite factions and fundamentalist forces gathered together and spread rumors that the said meeting was for land acquisition. Suddenly 25-30 people gathered here and tried to break in the meeting. They were violent and abusive. They started pelting stones and the Panchayat secretary was injured. The health sub-centre was also stoned. Then only the panchayat members informed the Nandigram police station. As the police vehicle was proceed

The so-called “Nandigram Bhumi Raksha Committee” destroyed bridges and culverts linking roads. On 4th January, they burnt a 25KV electric sub-station, In the afternoon, an armed gang with firearms attacked the CPI(M) local committee office and burnt it. Cadres of TMC and other forces roamed around and threatened CPI(M) leaders and sympathizers with dire consequences. In the night, they kidnapped local Panchayat pradhan. Many among the mob were naxalite activists from Kolkata, Gaya and certain places from Orissa. CPI(M) workers were forced to leave the villages where the opposition dominates and took shelter in a nearby camp. That the mob was armed were seen in the photographs published in newspapers too. The entire incident was meticulously planned.

For the next two days, the Bhumi Raksha Committee blocked the roads within the villages, prohibited every movement and raised money forcibly from the people. The TMC, Congress leaders went there and issued threats of more violence. Meanwhile a heinous communal campaign was also been unleashed. The police remained restrained and they have not entered the village at all. The police convened a meeting on 5th January in Nandigram police station and leaders of TMC,SUCI ,JAMAT ULEMA were present. They verbally agreed to maintain peace and then reacted very differently in the villages.

The incident on 6th night –7th morning

On 6th January midnight armed miscreants of Bhumi Raksha Committee attacked the camps of CPI(M) workers who took refuge there. The attackers hurled bombs .The CPI(M) workers were forced to resist and in the ensuing clash two of the attackers were killed. Almost at the same time, the armed gangs of Bhumi Raksha Committee unleashed mayhem within the village. They killed CPI(M) supporters,torched homes,Panchayat offices .Five bodies of CPI(M) activists and sympathizers who have been killed lynched and hacked to death were found. They were: Bhudev Mandal,Sankar Samanta,Rabin Bhuia,Sudeb Mandal,Biswajit Maiti. According to reports, two more CPI(M) workers were also killed though their bodies have not yet been found. Four more Party workers have been kidnapped. Some of those who were killed have been threatened earlier too and it was reported in the newspapesrs.

To cover up the ghastardly killing the TMC,CONGRESS and others called a Bandh .On 7th January night and 8th morning they burnt two CPI(M) offices in Talapati and Bhekutia-Dibanandapur.

There was no case of so-called retaliation provocation from CPI(M).The Party leaders, including Biman Basu have appealed for maintaining peace to all political parties.

RUMORS AND TRUTHS ABOUT NANDIGRAM

As if the death of 14 people is not enough unfortunate, deliberate rumors are being spread now about the Nandigram incident. Every possible media—television channels to internet, are being used to magnify the “HORROR???.

Number of death

To portray the incident of 14th. March as a “mass killing???, the number of actually killed are now being inflated to infinite. If one reads through various statements by the opposition leaders and a section of the media, the number of death can be anywhere between 50 to 200,even “thousand??? as claimed by an actress in her column in a Bengali daily. Some like Medha Patkar has alleged that the children were beaten to death, without providing a single instance, without naming a single child. The reality remains that by 20th March, the number of death remains at 14, one in bomb injury. One body remains unidentified, unclaimed, fuelling suspicion that they were outsiders brought in for “action??? by Trinamool Congress.

There is also a constant rumor of large number of people being “missing???. Here is a short take ???(A CNN-IBN report):
Nandigram: No missing report filed yet

Monday March 19, 03:30 PM
New Delhi: Even five days after the police firing left 14 people dead in Nandigram, no missing report has been filed with the police so far.

“Nobody has lodged any missing diary in connection with the incident. So, going by official records, there are no reports of any person missing,” East Midnapur police superintendent G A Srinivas said.

One of the top leaders of the farmer’s body that is heading the agitation against the state government and the CPI (M) over the now aborted SEZ project of Indonesia’s Salim group in the village, also said that no body had filed a missing report.

However, a convenor of the Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee (Commitee for Resistance against Land Acquisition), S K Sufiyan claimed that they were still collecting details.

How the lies are being manufactured has been provided by another interesting piece of report by the correspondent of EKDIN, a newly published Bengali daily, claiming to be the “only Opposition??? .This virulent anti-Left paper reported in 18th. March: “???… here true news means the news of their choice.The moment I reached at Nandigram,I heard thousands of bodies are floating in Chuniburi canal.Another story is police has entered in a school and killed children by piercing them. Some were telling police has carried the beautiful ladies in lorries .I asked, where they were taken? One replied ‘towards Kolkata’.I asked ‘have you seen anything?’ He said,’no,the other people had seen’….Wherever I was talking with people there were some toughs who were prompting people to tell that the police has cut down women’s chests’. I was forced to stop them.???

By the way, this correspondent has also reported that how the rumors had been spread by last two and half months and how the local journalists were threatened to work under duress.

For last few days there are reports of “rapes??? too in some newspapers .Incidentally in all cases the source of the news is same: one Ashok Samanta, who is a renowned leader of SUCI doctors’ cell.

Who carried fire arms? Who are the leaders?

Not only on 14th. March, the criminals were in rule in Nandigram from the first week of January. Even before the day of confrontation with police, the newspapers reported that the criminals were prepared with fire arms and they were on the attacking mood. Some examples from their reports:

“It is apprehended that at least six outsiders are killed by the firing from agitators??? (Bartaman, 10th. March)

“The armed residents are on the streets for stiff resistance. The women are with sticks and sharp weapons .Many of the men are carrying fire arms??? (Pratidin, 14th. March)

“The leader of the Bhumi Ucched Protirodh committee Sk Sufiyan said, we also fired to resist??? (Ekdin, 10th. March).

There are numerous such reports in the press who are spearheading the anti-CPI(M) campign.Anandabazar Patrika has printed the photo of armed rally of Bhumi Ucched Protirodh Committee with some persons openly brandishing revolvers.

While it is true that a section of the general people in Nandigram has joined the agitation ,the so called movement has its special leaders. It is these “leaders??? who had attacked the houses of CPI(M) sympathizers, burnt 22 houses, destroyed 48 houses, killed at least 4 CPI(M) activists, ousted hundreads from the villages, engaged in rape and torture of women, collected lakhs of rupees as ransom.

Anyone going in Nandigram now will hear the name of one Khokan sheet,a Trinamool activist who has been charged with rape and looting much before the Nandigram incident.Sheet has also led the barbaric killing of Sankar Samanta, CPI(M) member of the panchayet.He led the attack on 14th. March too.

The leader of the action squad is Imran,popularly known as ‘Dacoit Imran’ .This hardcore criminal’s profession is dacoity in East Midnapore and South 24 Parganas.He is leading the looting spree in villages. It is reported that he led a team of armed criminals on 14th. March in Talpati area. Another hardened criminal Bhaglu has become the leader of the agitation. Bhaglu is an absconding criminal charged with three murders in Diamon Harbour sub division of South 24 Parganas.He was also charged with rape cases.All these before he became a leader in Nandigram.He is now a Trinamool Congress activist.

Some of the “agitators??? were hired .A team of almost 35 criminals were brought from adjoining Kanthi and even from Pingla,Keshpur. Two known criminals of Jharkhand Party, Irfan and Suven Ghosh were brought from Belpahari and Binpur along with some people of those areas. Both these leaders are charged with more than one murder cases in their respective areas.The most interesting information about them are that they were close associates of Maoists and were trained by them They killed several CPI(M) leaders and activists in West Midnapore district. It was mainly through them that the Maoists joined in the armed action in Nandigram.

Yes, these are the “leaders??? whom we see in media accompanying Medha Patkar to L K Advani.
EOM.

This is so funny. I just checked the IP address. The same person is posting these long comments as different people. But I understand. This is how communists work. Keep up the good work comrade .

And the Nobel Prize for Piece and Creative writing goes to CPIM for conjuring up all the details of Nandigram, Moreover the scenes we saw on Tv and in all newspapers were actually acts of black magic performed by the protestors of Nandigram,Are not CPIM leaders and cadres saints of te highest order?

But then comrades why are you now keeping an eye on your own dissenting cadres in Khejuri, Kerala and everywhere else>>

hoples P.B.Goverment & kilar mind ministree, very bad cpm party is gundaraj party

Those conversant with political history will also know how the CPI(M) has emerged as the leading contingent of the Left in West Bengal by steadfastly fighting back the repeated attempts by the ruling classes to rally all forces to isolate the Party.