Police denied the Trinamool’s charge even as Mamata claimed, on her way to Nandigram, her vehicle was hit by a .303 bullet, the type used by the police.
Six killed as clashes erupt in Nandigram over the weekend
KOLKATA: On her way to Nandigram, where fresh violence over the last two days has claimed six lives. Police denied the Trinamool’s charge even as Mamata claimed her vehicle was hit by a .303 bullet, the type used by the police. She has complained to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the situation in West Bengal.
According to Trinamool MLA, Subhendu Adhikari, the firing took place at around 4.30pm at a village called Gokulknagar. The state government and the district authorities, however, claimed the Trinamool had concocted the entire story.
Five CPI(M) workers and one activist of the Trinamool-led Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee (Land Eviction Resistance Committee) were killed in the latest violence that started from late on Friday night, when evicted CPI(M) supporters tried to re-enter Nandigram from Khejuri crossing the Tekhali Bridge. They were attacked by committee activists with firearms and country-made bombs. In the clash an activist of the committee, Kyom Kazi, was killed.
All of Saturday saw clashes in various parts of Nandigram — Sonachura, Takapara, Jahanabad and Chandipur. The committee also called a 12-hour Nandigram bandh on Sunday.
Early on Sunday morning, the committee activists again attacked a CPI(M) office at Sherkhan Chawk with firearms and crude bombs. Three CPI(M) members were killed on the spot. Two others died in hospital
Political analysts here are of the opinion that the continuing violence in Nandigram is because the committee activists are determined to keep the area totally CPI(M)-free at least till the state-wide local body elections scheduled for March 2008.
The original agitation was against land acquisition for the Indonesia-based Salim Group’s special economic zone. After the police firing in March 2007 killing 14 persons, the state government announced shifting of the SEZ site from Nandigram to Nayachar. It also announced compensation for those killed in police firing. “The violence breaks out only when CPI(M) members evicted from Nandigram try to return to their villages from the refugee camp at adjacent Khejuri,” a senior political analyst said.
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