Nandigram is increasingly becoming a victim of circumstance as it finds itself caught in a political crossfire as parties take positions for the panchayat elections.
KOLKATA: Nandigram is increasingly becoming a victim of circumstance as it finds itself caught in a political crossfire as parties take positions for the panchayat elections in West Bengal in March 2008.
While the ruling Left Front and CPI-M are desperate to buy peace in the village to regain lost ground, the main opposition, Trinamool Congress, wants to keep the tension alive till the elections.
The police firing on March 14, 2007, was presumably the last retaliatory action by the Left Front or the state government. However, the mass reaction to it forced the Front to settle for less. Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was the first to signal a compromise when he said Nandigram was no more a site for special economic zones (SEZs) or any other industry. He made the announcement knowing well it could be counterproductive to his industrial rejuvenation drive.
The government backtracked further when it announced a compensation package for the 14 persons killed in the police firing. Though CPI-M politburo veteran and former chief minister Jyoti Basu said the compensation was on humanitarian grounds, there was no denying the fact that it was a tacit acceptance of a wrongdoing.
This about-turn of the Left Front is being viewed by Trinamool as counter-productive to its own stronghold in Nandigram.
As such, destruction of roads connecting to Nandigram, bridges and culverts continues, apparently to prevent the police, administrative personnel and CPI-M members from entering the village.
A senior political analyst told DNA that Trinamool is quite aware that if it allows the CPI-M men evicted from Nandigram to re-enter the village, the party will in no time regain its lost political ground through its organised network.
“At the same time, the entry of police and administrative personnel will put an end to the monopoly of Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee (Committee to resist eviction from land).
Whatever tension Nandigram has experienced after March 14 has been spearheaded by the committee and only when evicted CPI-M members tried to enter the village from the relief camp at adjacent Khejuri,” the analyst said. He feared the committee may continue with this “no-entry” policy till the panchayat elections, leaving absolutely no scope for a return of peace to Nandigram till then.
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