Many Clothes Of The Emperor

When this is being written,six days have passed since the unprecedented brutal attack on the people ofNandigram began. The present phase of massacre, fascistic by all means, has madethe brutal assault on 14 th March this year pale to oblivion. Thebrutal massacre of the people and the manner in which the CPM government,Central government and all other parliamentary parties are playing theirpolitics of deception and lies in connivance with the media is going to have farreaching implications on the way the discourse and practice of politics willunfold in the days to come in the state of West Bengal in particular and thecountry in general. One shudders to think that the happiest man today would beNarendra Modi of Gujarat who could see how things were being replayed, albeitunder a different script, of 'development'. Another proud brother who would alsobe ready to pat Budhha and Narendra Modi would be Mahendra Karma who hadforeseen the clinical execution of salwa judum on the tribals ofChhattisgarh again under the grand slogan of 'development'.

On Sunday the attack hasintensified to such levels that the Governor of West Bengal Gopalkrishna Gandhidescribed it as 'recapture' of Nandigram by the CPI (M) cadres. In the meantime,the National Security Advisor M K Narayanan has on board the flight to Moscowwith Manmohan has expressed his grave fear of violence in Nandigram due to thepresence of Maoists! As if had the Maoists been not there everything would havebeen peaceful!

As the journalists,intellectuals and social activists have not been allowed entry inside Nandigram,the actual picture is not coming out to the full public view. The telephonicconversations with the leaders and activists of Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee(BUPC) and the people of Nandigram are the sources for real information.

Trinamul Congress memberand an activist of Nishikant Mandal, informs from ground zero to Prof. AmitBhattacharya, head of the Department of Jadavpur University that most of theactivists of BUPC will be killed by the day and he himself will not be spared.Mahasweta Devi taking cue of this information talked to the Governor by noon inthe day. The Governor promised to save the lives of the activists as therelentless hunt goes unabated in the burning villages of Nandigram.

Planned Massacre

From reports of the peoplethrough telephonic conversations so far, in the last six days 150 people havebeen killed and 2000 people are missing. About 550 people are kidnapped by theCPI (M) goons and taken to Khejuri village where they are tortured and used ashuman shield to prevent any possible counter-attack from the people of Nandigram.It is in Khejuri that CPI (M) gathered more than 1500 goons (who are also theirparty members) from all over West Bengal and Bihar and trained for the brutalmassacre to be carried out on 14 th March and at present.

About 100 people who arebadly injured have been admitted in various hospitals whereas thousands ofinjured people have fled the area without any medical care. Those 550 people whowere kidnapped in the process of 'recapture' of Nandigram by the marauders ofCPM were tied with ropes.

Active involvement ofknown criminal elements of the CPI (M)

Eye-witness reports pouringin for several prominent people in Kolkata and Delhi corroborate the fact thatactivists and people of Nandigram in hundreds caught red-handed Tapan Ghosh andSukur Ali, two CPI (M) leaders from Gorbeta, who were forcefully taking awayfour injured women. Several reports also point to the fact that dead bodies werebeing made to disappear under the leadership and supervision of these two knowncriminals. One may recall that these two CPI (M) leaders of Gorbeta werechargesheeted in a case of lynching of Maoist cadres belonging to erstwhile CPI(ML) People's War and destruction of all evidence by ensuring that their deadbodies disappear in Chotoangaria of Gorbeta in 2001. Significantly, Sukur Aliand Tapan Ghosh who are wanted by CBI for the last 5 years in the Chotoangariacase were now being used by the CPI (M) to lead the Nandigram massacre. Theyhave been absconding for the past five years after they were chargesheeted andarrest warrants issued with the blessings of the top leaders of their Party.They were intercepted by the activists of BUPC while taking away four injuredwomen and handed over to the local police.

On Thursday, 8thNovember when members of APDR (Association of People's Democratic Rights), BandiMukti Committee and Medha Patkar, and others were going to Nandigram to expresstheir solidarity with the struggling people of Nandigram as news started pouringin about the renewed attack on the people of Nandigram by the CPM goons. Theteam was stopped on the way and attacked brutally with many of them being badlybeaten. Medha Patkar was slapped. As per the reports of the several Bengalidailies, this particular attack was organized by Ashok Patnaik, a leader of CPI(M) and able henchman of Lakhsaman Seth, the Haldia sitting MP of CPI (M).Lakhsaman Seth is also known as the land mafia leader of the region who firstannounced the procedure for acquisition of land from Nandigram for the proposedSEZ. Ashok Patnaik led the attack on the civil rights leaders and Medha Patkarand closed all the 6 entry points leading to Nandigram. A black out was createdby putting off the street lights in all villages and towns like Nandigram,Tamluk and other places in and around Nandigram so that thousands of hoodlumswho were already waiting at several points could enter Nandigram without anysuspicion.

Planning from the top

The intention of the CPI (M)'stop leadership could be understood when we see the planned attack by gatheringall their party cadres (basically goons notorious in various places) not onlyfrom West Bengal, but also from other states like Jharkhand and Bihar and otherparts of West Bengal. The preparations for this 'final attack', as it is beingdescribed by the CPI (M) land mafia, started several months ago after theNandigram people successfully established their movement within days after 14 th March massacre this year. Mercenaries from Ranigunj-Asansol coal-belt,Gorbeta and Keshpur were also hired. For months training and rehearsals werebeing conducted in Khejuri. In Khejuri village, permanent bunkers wereconstructed and huge quantities of arms and ammunition were stocked for monthsfor this 'final attack'. The kind of preparations that were made clearly showthat the entire CPI (M)'s top leadership is involved in the process. At theground level, as is pointed out by many of the eminent speakers repeatedly andquite openly in the past five days in all public protest meetings in Kolkata,atleast there are three more MPs of CPI (M) who are directly involved in thesepreparations apart from Lakhsaman Seth, the MP of Haldia. They are Torit Topdar,MP representing Barrackpur constituency, Amitabha Nandi, of Dum Dumconstituency, and Sushant Ghosh of Midnapur constituency. It is an open talk inevery nook and corner of West Bengal today that these four MPs are directlyinvolved in the armed operations to kill, maim, rape and mutilate and make thedead bodies disappear. These four MPs are assisted by Nirupam Sen, the Ministerfor Industry of Buddhadeb Basu's cabinet, who is from Bardwan district.

Sophisticated weapons weregiven to thousands of mercenary elements of the CPI (M). Rifles like AK 47 andSLRs in hundreds are given apart from elaborate logistical support such asvehicles, trucks, bombs and bottles of liquor. These mercenaries entered thevillages and captured some villages in the beginning while they kept on movingfurther. Reportedly, so far about 550 people including some of the leaders,cadres and supporters of Bhoomi Ucched Pratirodh Committee (BUPC) were takenhostage and used as human-shield both in the battle field and in the Khejuribase zone--the training centre of CPI (M).

It is expected that thecentral paramilitary forces (1 battalion of CRPF) will arrive in Nandigramlatest by Monday evening. Earlier Mamata Benerjee supported the deployment ofCRPF in Nandigram. But by Sunday morning she changed her opinion and startedopposing the deployment of the CRPF battalion. Now all democratic and civilrights organizations and individual democrats are opposing the deployment of theCRPF battalion.

Women the target of reprisal

Many women were draggedinto school buildings and raped. As per the reports from the villages, some ofthe notorious leaders of CPI(M) who are involved in the massacre are Ashok Guria,Ashok Beda and Himanshu Das all local leaders from East Midnapur. These butchersare at present leading the mobs going around the villages of Nandigram block.

Village after village isburnt down. Before burning the houses the hoodlums looted the property,humiliated the women including raping them. For example, by early morning onSunday, 300 houses were looted and burnt down in a village called Sathengaberi.By evening, Gokulnagar and Sonachura villages, the epicentre of Nandigramresistance were looted and completely burnt down.

Nandigram has become therepresentation of India, while CPI (M) the typical fascist brutal ruling eliteof Indian social order in the 'post-colonial' period.

None other than a fascist force

The fresh attack on thepeople of Nandigram in the last four days by the 'Harmed Vahini'--the CPI (M)version of VHP--has all the features of 1984 massacre of Sikhs engineered bythe Congress Party and RSS-BJP engineered post-Godhra massacre. This timearound, the CPI (M) prepared larger number of its goon-cadres compared to 14March massacre this year from all over the state to unleash organised violenceand 'recapture' its 'lost territory' for the last 8 months. The brutal massacreis continuing unabated by closing all ways for the outsiders including thepress. The fascist forces of CPI (M) armed to the teeth with at least 3 monthsof training started marching into the areas of Nandigram on Thursday, a daybefore Diwali. But the top leadership of the CPI (M) in the state were shockedto witness the stiff resistance from the people as this was beyond theirexpectation.

The farce of the coalition drama

The CPI (M) and the rulingUPA coalition are now jointly operating to step up violence on the resistingpeople of Nandigram with a battalion of CRPF soon expected in this area, whileas the Congress calls for a West Bengal bandh against the attack on Nandigram.When the CRPF battalion reaches Nandigram, it will be standing by the goonsaiding and protecting them while they continue their brutalities on the peoplewith much renewed strength. The Centre's gesture of sending a CRPF battalion islike bribing the CPI (M) not to push their demand of de-operationalising of theIndo-US Nuclear Agreement. The CPI (M) will now stage a 'mock opposition' in theimpending parliamentary debate on the Nuclear deal, while BJP tries to cash itby creating a much more vigorous mockery of the usual parliamentary stunt. Thus,today Nandigram and Nuclear deal are closely linked on the macabre theatre ofthe absurd called parliamentary democracy.

Once again Nandigramprovides us of another major example to understand the nature of the politicalprocess in our country. The fresh attacks on the people of Nandigram shows howCPI(M) is waging organized armed oppression on the people openly while the statearmed forces stand mute witnesses on the battlefield supporting the attackers.

CPI (M) is a history sheeter when it comes tomurdering people

The armed attacks on therural populace by the CPI (M) is nothing new. The CPI (M) has been controlling(ruling) the people of West Bengal in the past 30 years using arms and goonsthrough its party network election after election. What is new with theNandigram is, for the first time people started resisting the arms and musclepower of the CPI (M) and made its goons flee from their area during the 14 Marchincidents and after. Since then, in the past 7 months, CPI (M) has been tryingto 'recapture' the Nandigram area. The tensions continued all along day by dayand night as CPI (M) armed cadres continuously attacked the villages. They haveisolated Nandigram by not allowing food supplies, consumer goods, power, andwater supply to the Nandigram cluster of villages under struggle.

The 10thNovember public statement of West Bengal Governor, Gopalkrishna Gandhi makes itclear that CPI (M) cadres blocked all ways leading to Nandigram from all thefour sides. Mr Gandhi asks the administration 'to remove the new unauthorizedman-made blocks at entry points,' to Nandigram. He pleads his 'own government'to end the 'isolation of Nandigram from the rest of the state.' The statementenraged Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's government which launched a frontal attack onthe Governor while the Chief Minister continued to allow more and more intrudersinto Nandigram from outside the district.

The distinction between thestate and the ruling political party (the main player in the government) haddisappeared in West Bengal long ago.

Nandigram Resistance: A brief recap

The heroic Nandigramstruggle started on 3rd January when for the first time LakhsamanSeth, as the chairman of Haldia Development Authority announced the setting upof an SEZ in the area. 10 months the people of Nandigram fought continuously andvaliantly with and without arms resisting tooth and nail the acquisition oftheir fertile fields, hearths and homes. They forced the CPI (M) led West Bengalgovernment and Congress led UPA government to take back their permissions andorders by closing down the SEZ project. The heroic struggle of Nandigramcontinued with women at the forefront. Hundreds of thousands of people spentsleepless nights preventing CPI (M) goons enter their villages. They have stoodupto the challenge. They are continuing to fight. They don't certainly have thekind of sophisticated arms as the CPI (M) has and the state power is pressedinto action to suppress the resistance movement of Nandigram as it was beingdone by Modi in Gujarat in 2002 or the Congress in Delhi in 1984.

The writing on the wall inWest Bengal today indicates that by the time CRPF will enter tomorrow evening,that is, 12 th November, the 'operation brutality' will be completed. The Centre knows the brutalities and atrocities that have beenperpetrated on the struggling people of Nandigram particularly in the past fivedays. UPA government led by Manmohan Singh is giving complete support andabetting the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's governmentto massacre the struggling people asboth the governments share the same vision and they stand in support to eachother. One shouldn't be carried away by the mock opposition to Manmohan'sNuclear deal by CPI (M) and the so-called Congress protest bandh call of WestBengal on 12th November opposing the massacre at Nandigram.

It may be true that thepresent resistance may be smashed. But the heroic fight of the people ofNandigram cannot be suppressed for ever. In no time the resistance willre-appear to end the three decades long fascist rule in West Bengal.

12th Nov 2007