Despite West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's attempt totrivialise the Nandigram debacle as a mere "administrative and politicallapse", this issue is not simply going to disappear. The recovery of theburnt remains of several bodies from shallow graves by the roadside nearNandigram are a reminder to the nation of the gravity of the excesses andincompetence that have marked the state's response to what should have been afairly manageable challenge for the district administration. Nandigram is, infact, symptomatic of a much wider collapse of administrative abilities andcompetence, and it is useful to note that the capacities for governance of theCPI(M), which has ruled West Bengal for three decades now, appear to haveabruptly disintegrated in the face of the very first challenge of significanceto confront the Left Front regime.