Nandigram Notes

Peace Dawns
So peace, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee would have us believe, has finally dawned on Nandigram after eleven long months. Peace that has been enforced by gun-wielding and bomb-hurling CPI(M) cadres and members of the party's notorious 'deathsquads'. Peace, yes, but on the victor's terms: the CPI(M) flag should fly from every house, every tree and every lamppost, attendance in CPI(M) rallies a must for everyone, fines to be paid by Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee (BUPC)--the anti-land acquisition brigade--activists, supporters and sympathisers who return home and no talking to the media and CRPF men. Worst of all, many families have been asked to keep their doors open throughout the night, ostensibly to facilitate surprise inspections by CPI(M) cadres but, I'm told darkly by terrified villagers, to allow CPI(M) men easy, quiet and free access to women of such households. Some peace, that!

Police Role
When the going gets tough, the West Bengal police retire to their barracks. Nandigram is not the first instance of the state police displaying its cowardice so shamelessly. In parts of Purulia and Bankura districts that are plagued by Maoists, policemen never venture out of the police stations, not even to register petty crimes. For eleven months, the police couldn't muster the courage to venture into Nandigram. It finally stepped into the 100-odd villages (that were under the BUPC's control in Nandigram) on the heels of CRPF jawans. 

Illegal and unconstitutional though it may have been, but in fact, armed CPI(M) cadres displayed far greater courage than the state police. The district police chief told all of us (media persons) that his men were "too scared" to enter the trouble spots there. His plea (and the CM's as well) was that the police didn't have the training and equipment like the CRPF. Wrong: some of the state armed police battalions and special units are trained to tackle insurgents and equipped with sophisticated arms. Last week, when hundreds fled in the face of the marauding and blood-thirsty CPI(M) cadres, and wanted to take shelter in the Nandigram police station in Nandigram town, the police shut the gates on them! This led to a boycott by angry traders in Nandigram town--the cops are turned away from many shops, restaurants, tea stalls and markets. 

The cops, however, get proactive when it comes to roughing up processionists, rallyists and other soft targets. As was the case on November 11 when the men in uniform shamelessly thrashed and arrested 42 intellectuals, painters, poets, writers and actors who were protesting the violence in Nandigram. Or when it comes to intimidating defenseless people like Rizwanur Rahman and driving them to their death. So why have a police force at all? Especially one that acts as an adjunct of the ruling dispensation and as retainers of the rich like the Ashok Todis? 

Well-Planned Operation
The CPI(M)'s assault on Nandigram was a meticulously planned operation that had the blessings of top party leaders, including the Chief Minister. Newspaper reports--and none have beencontested--have provided details of how CPI(M) MPs and MLAs presided over strategy sessions that began a month ago. Arms and members of the party's 'death squads' were sent from neighbouring districts of West Midnapore, Purulia, Bankura, Hooghly and Howrah; many landed disguised as 'delegates' to a DYFI convention at a small town near Nandigram. The attacks on Nandigram were very well-coordinated and guerilla tactics like using decoys and distracting the opponents (the BUPC men) were deployed. 

The CM, on his part, lulled the BUPC into complacency by stating repeatedly at public meetings that no force would be used to enter Nandigram. The last time he said that was on November 5 at a CPI(M) gathering in Howrah; within a few hours, the full-scale assault on Nandigram by his partymen had started. There's no way Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee couldn't have known that the final touches were being given to the operation even as he spoke. Reports of the CPI(M) hiring dacoits, criminals and sharpshooters from the coal mafia have also surfaced. That the CPI(M) employed tactics like using captured BUPC men as 'human shields' to advance into BUPC-held areas shows how very cold-hearted, merciless and ruthless the party is. Such a party has no place in a democracy.

Shameless CM
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has been called a "liar" by a person very close to him--poet Sankha Ghosh. The CM had assured Ghosh and some others some months ago that March 14 wouldn't be repeated and he wouldn't allow either the police or his own party men to enter Nandigram by force. That promise lay shattered and blood-splattered. But the severe censure of the CM by artists, novelists, writers, poets, singers, actors, film directors, stage artistes and intellectuals--people he has always counted as his close friends and who are known for their Left leanings--did little to dissuade Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee to brazenly admit what no other politician in power in any other part of India has done: that he is, foremost, a CPI(M) leader and isn't above his party. 

Bhattacharjee told mediapersons that the Opposition and BUPC "have been paid back in their own coin" by "our men who retaliated out of desperation". Far from realizing that he violated the oath he took before assuming office--that he would rise above party and all other interests to govern fairly and impartially--Bhattacharjee remained adamant that whatever he said was right. The very next day, he said: "The Opposition was meted out the right treatment by our cadres and supporters. I stick to my stand". Such shameless statements don't need any comment--people, I'm sure, are intelligent enough to realise what sort a person the Bengal Chief Minister is.

Bengal's Modi?
Comparisons have been drawn between Narendra Modi and Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. Not, mind you, by Buddhadeb's political rivals like Mamata Banerjee, but Left-leaning intellectuals like historian Sumit Sarkar, filmmakers Goutam Ghose and Aparna Sen and theatre personality Bibhas Chakraborty. Is the comparison justified? Let us examine the facts of the case.

Like Modi, Buddhadeb also knew about and blessed the armed attack on Nandigram. Like in Gujarat, here too the attackers were ruling party cadres and members of the ruling party's affiliate organisations as well as hired criminals. Like in Gujarat, here too the police were asked to step aside and allow the marauders do their job. Modi gave his killers three days while Buddhadeb allowed six days to complete the recapture and wipe out the BUPC. Like Modi, Buddhadeb too claims innocence. Like Modi, he too threatens and attacks the media and people who're protesting the Nandigram operation. Modi had invoked Newton's third law (everyaction has an equal and opposite reaction) but later got more circumspect in justifying the post-Godhra killings; Buddhadeb brazenly says it's paying back in the same coin. Modi termed criticism of the genocide there as attack on Gujarat and Gujaratis; Bhattacharjee is also attempting the same. Modi's killers cordoned off areas they struck and didn't allow 'outsiders', especially the media, to enter while they killed and raped. Buddhadeb's men did the same and didn't allow the media, Medha Patkar, Mamata Banerjee and other opposition politicians to enter Nandigram while their operation was on. 

Gujarat genocide was a well-planned, cold-blooded operation, as was the one in Nandigram. Modi's backers in New Delhi tried to prevent any discussion on the Gujarat genocide in Parliament on the ground that law and order is a state subject. Buddhadeb's comrades in Delhi have also vowed to do the same. Draw your own conclusions now, dear readers.

Double Standards
Talking about obstructing the proposed discussion on Nandigram in Parliament, CPI(M) politburo member Sitaram Yechury said the Gujarat genocide was a "different issue" since it involved an attack on secularism that is a fundamental feature of the Constitution. But Nandigram, he said, is a simple law and order situation. Yechury's argument is severely flawed. If Nandigram was a mere law and order issue, how come the state policecouldn't handle it on its own all these months? In which other state has the administration failed to enforce its writ for eleven long months in one small pocket? And if secularism, a fundamental feature of the Constitution, was violated in Gujarat, basic fundamental rights like the right to life, to livelihood, to be able to propagate one's political beliefs without any fear, to lead a life free of fear and intimidation, to free movement and much, much more, is being violated in Nandigram every single day (by BUPC earlier and by the CPIM now). Hence, it qualifies to come up for discussion in Parliament. 

That the CPI(M) is unwilling to have such a discussion in Parliament shows it fears exposure and shows it has a lot to hide. Or else, what can be the harm in an open debate on Nandigram? And let not the CPI(M) MPs be cowardly enough (like the Bengal police) to take refuge in rules and procedures of Parliament. But, perhaps, such a debate will not happen. Speaker Somnath Chatterjee will definitely not allow it to happen. And with the Congress all eager to secure Left support to the Indo-US nuclear deal, the Congress Parliamentary Partywouldn't demand a debate either. But can the CPI(M) stop the debate that's raging within the civil society?

Whither Maoists?
One justification held out by the CM, Prakash Karat and others for the CPI(M) assault on Nandigram is that a large number of Maoists had entered the area. But till now, not a single Maoist has been captured. The CPI(M), before it commenced its operation on Nandigram, put a tight cordon around the place and it had been impossible for anyone to sneak out. But even a week after Nandigram's fall, no Maoist has been found. The arms haul by the BSF from two villages raises eyebrows: the BSF claims to have been tipped off anonymously about the precise location of the arms caches. The two neighbouring villages where the arms had been recovered from had been 'recaptured' by the CPI(M) on November 8 and 9. Are we to believe that the victors did not comb the village, nor were they told about the hidden arms, ammunition, explosives and detonators by the villagers who must have known about their existence? 

Knowing the ways of the CPI(M), it is suspected that these caches were planted there by the CPI(M) to prove the existence of Maoists at Nandigram. Also, Maoists no longer use crude weapons that had been recovered, but sophisticated ones like INSAS rifles (seized from para-military and police forces) and AK-series rifles. None of these were found. Reports of the arrest of three so-called Maoists who were reportedly trying to enter Kolkata are also riddled with holes. The truth is that a handful of Maoists were in Nandigram to help organise the farmers' resistance and to impart basic weapons training to the BUPC men. But their numbers were nowhere as large as the CM would like us to believe. And they hadn't made Nandigram their stronghold as is being bandied about. Had that been the case, the CPI(M)'s 'deathsquads' wouldn't have been able to recapture Nandigram so easily. And if we are to believe the CM, then how about deploying the CPI(M)'s squads to battle Maoists in the Maoist-affected areas of Bengal and even states like Jharkhand, Orissa, Chattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh?

Gandhi's Sterling Role
Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi has truly endeared himself to the people of Bengal. His statement terming the CPI(M)'s recapture bid "totally unlawful and unacceptable" and the attacks on Medha Patkar and the media "against all norms of civilised political behaviour" issued after three days of mayhem at Nandigram was lauded by everyone. Except, of course, the CPI(M) that had some very unbecoming and ugly observations to make. The Governor had been fair--he referred to the sufferings that CPI(M) workers and their families who had been driven out of their villages and had spent months in relief camps had to endure. 

But, rightly, he made a vital distinction that the CPI(M), including Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, just don't have the intelligence and the inclination to understand and appreciate. Gandhi's underlying message was that just because BUPC men had been driven out their homes and had to endure torture and injustice at the hands of the BUPC men doesn't mean that the CPI(M) attacks Nandigram with the help of its armed cadres. More so since the CPI(M) is part of the ruling dispensation in Bengal and, one, it has to behave far more responsibly than the BUPC and, two, that it is illegal for any party to arm its cadres and deploy them in operations against political rivals. An eye for an eye, as Gandhi's grandfather, the Mahatma, had rightly said, would leave the whole world blind. 

But then, Buddhadeb comes up with the counter-statement justifying the armed operation and using terms like the BUPC being "paid back in the same coin". Bhattacharjee ugly statements go against India's ethos and the political philosophy of a country that has been founded on the principles of non-violence. It is very important that India's rulers practice and promote non-violence, justice and fair play. The CPI(M) leaders, while opposing theGovernor's statement and justifying the Nandigram operation, have spoken like commissars in a communist dictatorship. Which they'd actually like to be, anyway.

Caught Red-Handed

Hundreds of workers of the CPI(M) and its frontal organisations like the SFI, the DYFI and the CITU went away on long holidays to Digha (a seaside resort in East Midnapore district where Nandigram also falls) a few days before Diwali. That's what they told their families. Needless to say, they had never enjoyed such extended Diwali vacations any year. And they all returned immediately after Nandigram fell to the red brigade. Not with a tan, but with blood on their hands and with smoking guns. Their pockets filled with cash (rewards by the party) and bags spilling over with valuables looted from the villages at Nandigram. 

Among those returning from Nandigram (oops, sorry, Digha) were Tapan Ghosh and Sukur Ali, two men on the CBI's 'most wanted' list for their role in the murder of five Trinamool activists in Choto Angaria in West Midnapore six years ago. The duo had been declared absconders after local police failed to trace them (a different matter that they appeared in all CPIM programmes all these years) and the Supreme Court had, last year, ordered attachment of their properties, an order that the police has willfully violated. Anyway, these two men were in an unmarked SUV and accompanied by nine comrades--oneCPI(M) district committee member, zonal and local committee secretaries and members, the secretary of a district unit of the CITU and also a reporter of CPI(M) mouthpiece Ganashakti--in two ambassadors, one of which was registered in the name of a CPI(M)-controlled panchayat committee in the district. They were detained by Trinamool Congress activists while trying to sneak out of Nandigram on November 10 evening. 

Trailing these vehicles was an ambulance carrying three persons injured in firing on a BUPC procession by CPI(M) cadres earlier that day; the allegation was that they were smuggling out the injured to remove all traces of the illegal actions by the CPI(M). The police tried to shield Ghosh and Ali when they were produced in court the next day by giving them false identities. But the police plan was foiled by alert lawyers who produced photographs of the duo and revealed their true identities before the court. Now, they're cooling their heels and the CBI has sought custody of these two killers. But is the CPI(M) embarrassed? Not at all. When they were being taken to jail, CPI(M)'s West Midnapore district committee secretary Dipak Sarkar and other party leaders and workers garlanded them. Sarkar said the two were his party's "assets". "Look how bravely they're going to jail. Trinamool workers would have soiled their pants in similar circumstances," he brazenly added. Sarkar is not to blame--when the state's CM justifies a totally illegal operation by his party, what message does he send to people like Sarkar, and lakhs of other CPI(M) workers and supporters?

Rally And Counter-Rally

November 14, 2007, will be recorded as an important milestone in Kolkata's history. On that day, nearly one lakh people from all walks of life marched through Kolkata silently to register their protest against the carnage at Nandigram. The Nov 14 rally saw participation by many prominent personas. The march was dignified and apolitical and was the first such massprotest--if we discount the lakh-odd who turned out at the candlelight vigil for Rizwanur Rahman in front of St Xavier's College--by people from and around Kolkata. There were no politicians and all participants expressed outrage not only over the CPI(M)'s armed operation at Nandigram, but also the CM's shameless and shocking justification of the illegal action. 

The CPI(M), not used to being opposed so strongly, organised a counter-rally the next day. The Nov 15 rally was cheap kitsch compared to the Nov 14 rally. Save for very few like actors Soumitra Chatterjee and Mithun Chakraborty (brought in to provide Bollywood-style entertainment, I'd guess), others who led it were second and third-rate actors, writers, poets, painters etc. The rallyists shouted slogans on Nov 15, media persons and TV news channels were abused and threatened, a tribal dance troupe provided entertainment, people were brought in from outside Kolkata in buses and trucks (like other CPI-M rallies) and with Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharjee and Transport Minister Subhas Chakraborty going up on the stage and at the end of the rally, it was exposed for the CPI(M) event that it was. But despite the CPI(M)'s best efforts, just about 5,000 people turned up for the party's rally, as compared to the nearly one lakh the day before.