Nandigram

Tehelka has a strong indictment of the Indian state and it's unemployed goons that repress, harass and kill. Taslima Nasreen is being shuttled from Calcutta to Jaipur and now stationed in Rajasthan House in Delhi. The CPM, the party in power in West Bengal seems to have suddenly tried to distract public criticism and attention from the pogrom going on in Nandigram, to making Taslima Nasreen a shuttle cock for political purposes.

The Cowardice of Mediocrity

Nandigram shows that the CPM is just another face of the forces that threaten the polity, says ASEEM SHRIVASTAVA.

“Not being able to fortify justice, they justified force.” - Blaise Pascal

Delhi 1984. Mumbai 1993. Gujarat 2002. Nandigram 2007. Signposts of pathology on the putrefying landscape of Indian politics. What sort of a future does this sequence of events portend for this beleaguered country? A red thread of publicly endorsed savagery runs through the heart of these chilling episodes of recent Indian history.

The matter is so central to our shared destiny that if we lose ourselves in the deception of numbers – of merely comparing the number of rapes, murders and so on – we will tragically miss the key point and bind ourselves to a frightful fate we might otherwise still be able to forestall. Outright barbarism knocks on our doors and we do not hear it. The public relations experts, image consultants and media managers (not to forget intellectual apologists) are hard at work making us deaf and blind towards obvious injustices.

Evil comes in many shades. It is saffron here, red there, and saffron, white and green elsewhere. In each case of state terror listed above a different party was in office. In one and every case, elected leaders forgot their public duty, donned their party attire and defended the crimes committed by their cadres. In Delhi in 1984, the Prime Minister of the day had declared that the earth had shaken after a great tree had fallen. In Mumbai in 1993, the Chief Minister was of the view that the city would have burned had the leaders responsible for unleashing the mobs been arrested. In Gujarat in 2002, “every action had an equal and opposite reaction”, in the words of the Chief Minister. And now, we have the Stalinist Chief Minister of West Bengal boasting that “they have been paid back in their own coin” (the invisible Maoists that is).

In every case innocents were maimed, murdered, raped and rendered homeless. The state failed in its primary function – of ensuring the physical security of its citizens. In no case did the honorable men in office take any responsibility and think it fit to resign their posts – the only act which could ever entitle them to name the crimes of their political rivals in similar circumstances. Quite evidently, our leaders have no faith that they will be returned to office, were they to signal their dissent and protest by resigning. Even more to the point, they believe that even barbarism is fine if it adds to the power of their party, “religion” or nation. And even more cynically, they calculate that the public, after making a few angry sounds, will lapse into forgetfulness.

We are still childish when it comes to learning certain things. We take our moral cues from others and, for all our education, follow the leader blindly. As usual, the trouble in human societies starts from the top. For some decades now, Indian ruling elites have looked towards Washington to show the light. President Bush Jr. set a shining example before the whole world when he announced the doctrine of preventive war in 2002, empowering himself with the right to attack any country in the event of even a suspicion of their plans to harm the national security of the US. He did just that to Afghanistan and Iraq (with consequences all too obvious to belabor).

Here in India we are very skilful at emulating the white man’s vices (never his virtues). Little wonder then that our leaders feel entitled to exempt themselves from elementary moral sense. And evidently credit the public with even less of it.

In a mediocre age, men and women in public life find themselves capable of justice only if it is in fashion. Their primary loyalty is to moral fashion after all, not to justice. As in every other age they look after their moral appearances – but only to the extent that they don’t appear too tardy in a mirror already darkened by the misdeeds of their rivals.

In the Spring of 2002, the same Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was “ashamed of the role played by the Prime Minister in tackling the Gujarat killings”, just like to L.K.Advani’s affronted sensibilities, the CPM has “nuked the farmers in Nandigram” today. If only Advani had visited the Muslims of Behrampura and Naroda Patiya with the same compassion he is showing to the peasants of Sonachura and Gokulnagar today! He would have seen just how well the Muslims had been nuked by his Bajrangi chums.

Buddhadeb’s sense of shame has dutifully taken leave of him in a timely way today. “It wasn’t possible for police to go” to Nandigram, he explains. Did the invisible Maoists prevent them? How did the cadres (mobilized apparently from as far afield as Purulia and Burdwan) do it? With what right can the government go on if it has such a seemingly incompetent police force to maintain law and order in the times that matter? How does it transpire that it trusts the militarism of its cadres more than the capacities of the police force? Who supplied the cadres with automatic machine guns? How come the same police is so efficient at raining repression on artists and intellectuals in the streets of Kolkata?

The state Home Secretary (who should know) has “not heard of any Maoist arrest.” Either he is plain wrong or the CPM leaders are lying and indulging in public fantasies about Maoists. All the partners of the CPM in the ruling alliance are pointing fingers at it not merely for not controlling the bloodletting but for in fact instigating it. Witnesses – those of them who have been allowed into Nandigram by the cadres – are reporting tales of plain horror. There is evidently plenty for the CPM to hide. Human rights teams have their task cut out.

If genocide visited the land of Gandhi five years ago, tyranny today stalks the earth where Tagore once sang.

There is no greater tragedy for the famed democracy than when the state goes into hiding from time to time to enable narrow political victories for its supine functionaries. It is a typically Indian pattern of state terror and violence which repeats itself with almost predictable frequency. To enable quick, opportunistic political gain, a party in office uses its lumpen cadres to unleash violence on defenceless innocents, with the active or passive cooperation of the police or paramilitary forces. The crimes are not even acknowledged to be so, suitable justification supplied to defend the misdeeds. All parties need male, unemployed youth to keep the blood-stained pillars of power in place (one reason why unemployment suits the political parties and is thus not going to go away).

It also makes public hypocrisies perfectly transparent and leadership ever so unworthy of credible respect by the public. How can the Prime Minister be holding out the threat to internal security posed by extremists in the politically forlorn states of Chhatisgarh or Jharkhand if he indulges the state terror of his political partners in Bengal or if he ignores the evidence of state terror in another state, recently made public by brave endeavors of investigative journalism? And how does the CPM expect any credibility in the eyes of the public if it offers the nuclear deal to its UPA allies in exchange for being granted the privilege of not having its ugly sins in Nandigram investigated and exposed? Has Washington become less of an imperial monster in the past few weeks? Is this the way a responsible political party would participate in policy-making of the greatest importance to the future of the nation?

What is pathetic to behold is the abject opportunism with which each of the major political parties make appropriate indignant noises about the crimes of their rivals for a while, only to recede into eventual inaudibility. And of course a studied, calculated silence about their own crimes.

When force is in fashion, values in public life recede quietly into oblivion and the polity faces a historic crisis of moral imagination. The most prominent political actors are only left with the freedom to act in ways which make their otherwise apprehensive rivals breathe a sigh of relief – since they are not the only ones with skeletons colliding noisily in their closets. Not one has the courage to stare into the mirror of terror. And not one has the faith that were s/he to resign s/he would live to fight another day.

In the world, cowardice arms itself. And having done so, it is too busy defending its own aggression to exercise the liberty of feeling, thought and reason which alone can enable human beings to become fully human – by recognizing, honoring and celebrating the existence of others.

Nandigram is yet another signpost on the rapid descent into growing barbarism in India. It betokens an across-the-board bankruptcy of imagination which makes the use of illegitimate force to tackle conflicts the default measure. The leaders have made themselves helpless because of their customary cowardice. It is time for the public to wake up to the urgent responsibilities of civilized citizenship.

Aseem Shrivastava is an independent writer. He can be reached at aseem62@yahoo.com..

Here is an interview with Medha Patkar, after her visit to Nandigram.

'The Left violating democratic rights is unimaginable'

Medha Patkar, leader of the Narmada Bachao Andolan, who recently led a fact-finding mission to Nandigram was in Delhi presenting the report with the findings of the mission to the media. From her unique position of being at the receiving end of a hostile Narendra Modi government in Gujarat and now the Left Front Government in West Bengal, she speaks to ANIL VARGHESE on Nandigram and the situation in Gujarat.

What is the truth behind CPI (M) cadres being thrown out of their villages in Nandigram and therefore their justification for them to storm these villages?

We spoke to both the sides involved in the conflict but mainly with the Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee (BUPC) as they represent the majority of the people. Recently we had an opportunity to go into the villages after many days and blockades and speak to the CPI (M) cadres. We had appealed for a dialogue with the CPI (M) leadership earlier but unfortunately this did not materialize. A dialogue with the leadership followed up with a meeting with the CPI (M) cadres before March would have helped.

What our investigation concluded was that, the forcible occupation of the villages was not in response to the CPI (M) cadres being thrown out of their villages. The conflict was instead entirely political in nature. The villagers, who were against the setting up of the SEZ in the area, met together and formed the BUPC with representatives from various communities and parties. This committee had CPI (M) and CPI sympathizers too, but it so happened that some of the CPI (M) supporters were for SEZ. The CPI (M) supporters would have felt threatened and a reaction followed, as is usually the case when there is such a divide. I have seen this kind of a situation develop over the years on the Narmada issue. Initially there was no violence but the locals resorted to violence to resist the party-led interference and encroachment on their daily lives. Both prior to the SEZ being sanctioned and after, the SEZ supporters seem to have enjoyed the active support of the CPI (M). The party leadership should not have let this happen. We humbly request a review of the situation, which seems grave enough to call for a CBI investigation.

In Satangabari village, for example, in March/April, that is after the plans for a SEZ in the area were withdrawn, when the mob wielding firearms entered the village, they went a step ahead looting and burning houses. This is when the villagers put up resistance with people from the neighbouring villages joining in as well. They seem to have used whatever arms they were in possession of. The claims of arms being made available to them by political parties may not be totally unfounded but their retaliation was miniscule compared to the repeated attacks from the CPI (M)’s Harmud Vahini and their own cadres, sometimes donning police uniform, on the unarmed people of the movement against the SEZ. When the Governor and others raised questions over the situation in Nandigram, we tried our level best to run a thorough investigation. We condemn institutions such as the armed unit of the CPI (M). The party has never denied affiliation to this armed unit wreaking havoc in the region. The criminalisation of politics, whether it is the CPI (M), Shiv Sena, Laloo Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal or the Congress involved, is just not acceptable.

How about BUPC’s affiliation to the Maoists and the Trinamool Congress? Is the battle in Nandigram really being fought between the Trinamool and the CPI (M)?
The BUPC is the name of the organization the movement has given rise to. Parallels can be drawn with the Raigarh struggle in Maharashtra, Kolavaram and Narmada. In all these cases there are no parties directly involved but we have to keep in mind that the members come with their respective political inclinations. The BUPC enjoys representation from the community, with members belonging to the Trinamool, SUCI, Jamaite Ulema Hind and others with no party affiliations. The committee has up till now functioned as a unit representing the whole community with the members bringing with them support of their respective parties. Their target was never the CPI (M) but it saw a threat from what it considered its political opponents and competitors. They were opposed to the formation of committees in areas that did not fall inside the proposed SEZ but were adjacent to it. The SEZ was bound to have an impact on these villages , hence the need of committees was felt. We have this in the Narmada valley also. Apart from those directly affected, other villages are also covered. But the CPI (M) again became very intolerant and put this up as an inter-party conflict to justify what the party was doing. 'Bajrang Dal' and 'Shiv sena' have now become synonymous with intolerance. The communal forces are known to be intolerant. In West Bengal CPI (M) has also the tradition of being intolerant and oppressive. Many political parties and people’s movements have always raised this issue but in Singur and Nandigram we actually saw it. This is very unfortunate as the left has also stood for democratic rights. They have been partners with the people’s movements like us. We have valued this partnership but now they violating democratic rights and civil liberties is unimaginable and also unexpected.

You visited the relief camps. What are the numbers you have of the missing people and those who have been killed? What is the situation in the camps?
At the moment, there is only one major relief camp. Thousands of people including women and children are staying in a Nandigram High School. Relief has been provided to them on daily basis by the people’s movements in cash and kind with the help of their well wishers from Kolkata and other cities . The numbers range from 3000 to more than 5000 but everyday they are spending about 10-12 thousand on food. It was obvious to me when I saw the camp and met with the people that the resources at disposal were limited. The government has hardly pitched in with any assistance when the directives from the Supreme Court are very clear on the ruling government being responsible to attend to the needs of those affected by a natural calamity or political crisis. But who are they accountable to when they are fighting their own people?

Who is involved in providing relief?
Mainly the BUPC and other people’s movement groups with some help from the Trinamool Congress.The locals also chipped in with materials from the neighbouring areas. The need for more relief is being felt everyday. But beyond the families in the camp, the estimates of the families displaced have reached 20000. Our estimate has been 10000 families but it could be much more. And 100-200 people are missing. BUPC had been quoted with figures of 500-700. The number has now fallen as people who had been abducted and taken to the Khejuri camp have been released and they have returned. There are women who have been molested or raped. Our estimate of the families displaced corresponds to the number of houses burned, demolished or looted but there are those who have simply fled from their homes fearing atrocities. Though the confirmed numbers of the dead from our trips to the villages are 40-50 the reporters based in the area claimed to have seen about 100 bodies being carried away.

Did you get to interact with any of the CPI (M) cadres?
In Kamalpur and Takapura, about 10-25 people gathered. We could see that a few among them were articulating their views. On enquiry we found they were either government teachers or those who were employed in Kolkata. They gave their side of the story. In Kamalpur, their position was that of denial. No houses were either burnt or demolished in their village and there was no terror. They attributed the terror in the beginning to the people in the movement against SEZ who used it as a means to coerce them to join their ranks. They referred to the movement as Maoists.

We spotted a quite a few demolished or burnt houses. We spoke to the women. They said the intervention of the CPI (M) cadres from outside the villages only served to deepen the divide in the community. In Satangabari village we visited, the CPI (M) supporters seemed to be curious about what we were talking to the locals about. They even made an attempt to herd the locals we were talking to in their jeeps and take them away.

How were they justifying what they were doing?
They were saying that they were tortured and their houses were attacked. So when I got off the jeep they became a little aggressive. I told them they need not do this. They should tell us their side of the story. They asked me ‘why have you come now? Why didn’t you come then?’ I said ‘whenever I came, you should have met me. I addressed gatherings of thousands. I never said I don’t want to meet anyone. Even in the same village when 60 houses were looted and burned, I had come and there were no other houses looted or demolished at that time. The other incidents took place after my first visit. Now in the last few days we have been trying to reach here. Your own party cadres are stopping us. So what do you say about this?’ So there was a dialogue. They showed us the houses of Anwar Ali, Abdul Kayyam Mannanbabu and Samiran Bibi and others. We said that this was unfortunate. This should not have happened. We are with them. The relief should reach them as well. They said there are some 400 affected in the few villages. They gave us the names and we noted down their numbers. They never gave us a figure in thousands. We also found that there were a few hundred families who remained outside the villages.

But the BUPC had made public its position that their members and the communities in villages are not against the displaced returning to their villages with the exception of 10-30 of them accused in rape and molesting. But my position is that even these accusations need to be verified. And the ultimate task now is to rebuild the integrity of the community. This is not possible even today because the CPI (M) has not taken a political decision to withdraw its armed units. Bringing in the CRPF might effect a few changes but it was observed that it took a long time for even the CRPF to be deployed. The CRPF has made public statements indicating non-cooperation from the State Government to reach out to the hot spots. They were reportedly barred from entering the villages for a few days and then allowed to move in. They were mostly allowed in the Nandigram Taluka and not inside Satangabari where we were also being threatened. In fact, till yesterday, the West Bengal Government was preparing to withdraw the CRPF. We questioned the move and finally CRPF stayed. But it is very clear that a thousand CRPF personnel are not going to change the situation.

On that note how do you compare the Gujarat 2002 carnage with this situation?
The common feature here is the use of violence to bring an end to what are legitimate rights of the people. Gujarat carnage happened in the name of religion. It remains a fact that the intervention was in favour of crime, torture and killing than in protecting the unarmed and common people. This ( Nandigram) is also a new kind of communalism. Political communalism. The approach has been that ‘those who belong to my party I will protect at any cost and those who belong to the other party I will not’. Mamata Banerjee or whosoever may be in opposition but every opposition party has a right. Just as CPI (M) gets a space in AP or Maharashtra, the opposition in West Bengal too deserve their space.There are proving to be more and more undemocratic and also apolitical. Being undemocratic and politically intolerant is also apolitical. If only the other Left Front partners had played a role, stronger and prompt in the situation whether before or after the first massacre, things would have been different. We had also kept them informed. They were more for a dialogue than the CPI-M but they have not sent a single team from January until now to either Nandigram or Singur. So how can we think of the Left front as a protector of its own people? Even the MLA from the Nandigram constituency belongs to the CPI (M). The CPI, RSP... all of them have a base of their own in the East Midnapore district. They should have at least run an investigation and taken immediate action. But they have taken a position to some extent .. which is useful. They have issued statements but they have not gone beyond this. This is very unfortunate. Otherwise this would have saved the whole of Left Front from this kind of determined opposition they are facing at the moment. We never had this as our objective.

What do you think of 'development' to meet political ends?
Development, everywhere, is just a political tool to the powerful than to benefit the needy. Whether the communal riots in Gujarat or the violence in West Bengal, the powerful are fiddling with development, the goal and the process. The sadak, bijli, paani agenda is being also pushed towards profit making and the profit is made at whatever the cost may be. This is done by alienating minority communities, not only the Muslims but also the landless and dalits as in Gujarat. There are other states also where vikas and religion are playing the role in development creating more disparity. In the adivasi areas, the non-adivasi elites eye their rich natural resources. This is another kind of communal agenda. Here in West Bengal certain kinds of projects are referred to as the only path of progress in the neo liberal economy acceptable to the Left.

Invariably, it is the violence that the state is resorting to push its own agenda ultimately towards more money power, market power and political power. This is bringing parties together and people see them as together in the pursuit. And hardly any political party in the mainstream stands up and says this is not acceptable. This is not being possible because now rules of the game are set. And you cannot come to power and retain it unless you have compromising alliances with the moneyed, market and mafia forces. This is the message we get. That is why those who are in people’s movements also feel that something must be done. Those who try their best, if they lose the battle, it is worse. So there is a hell of a lot of dilemma. The best solution is the strengthening of people’s movements, empowerment and a real democratic upsurge to challenge goals and practices, approaches and the paradigm. If this creates a left then a pro-people, more equitable politics is likely to emerge. Otherwise you may only succeed in bringing a few changes here and there.

What has been the impact of the recent Tehelka investigation into Gujarat 2002 among the people you deal with in Gujarat as compared to the mainstream?
Nakaab kholna bolte he…. pardha faas of the criminals in power. This is what Tehelka expose has done. It has really challenged us more than them. My question here is just as Bush ruled even after the Iraq war and his flawed democratic claims, how can these people be in these positions in the larger democracy of the world? I think this kind of a sting operation is a must, it is our right and it must continue but beyond these exposes what else could be done? This is not just for the press but for all of us. I was wondering whether we should go into legal action or people’s movements or some political action. We will have to wait and see how much pride and courage both sides in the parliament will have to take up both Nandigram and Gujarat and ultimately if there is a compromise it is up to us in the civil society. We all are very proud of you… Ashish Khetan and Tarun Tejpal!


From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 4, Issue 46, Dated Dec 1, 2007





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CURRENT AFFAIRS web exclusive


'The Left violating democratic rights is unimaginable'

Medha Patkar, leader of the Narmada Bachao Andolan, who recently led a fact-finding mission to Nandigram was in Delhi presenting the report with the findings of the mission to the media. From her unique position of being at the receiving end of a hostile Narendra Modi government in Gujarat and now the Left Front Government in West Bengal, she speaks to ANIL VARGHESE on Nandigram and the situation in Gujarat.

What is the truth behind CPI (M) cadres being thrown out of their villages in Nandigram and therefore their justification for them to storm these villages?

We spoke to both the sides involved in the conflict but mainly with the Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee (BUPC) as they represent the majority of the people. Recently we had an opportunity to go into the villages after many days and blockades and speak to the CPI (M) cadres. We had appealed for a dialogue with the CPI (M) leadership earlier but unfortunately this did not materialize. A dialogue with the leadership followed up with a meeting with the CPI (M) cadres before March would have helped. What our investigation concluded was that, the forcible occupation of the villages was not in response to the CPI (M) cadres being thrown out of their villages. The conflict was instead entirely political in nature. The villagers, who were against the setting up of the SEZ in the area, met together and formed the BUPC with representatives from various communities and parties. This committee had CPI (M) and CPI sympathizers too, but it so happened that some of the CPI (M) supporters were for SEZ. The CPI (M) supporters would have felt threatened and a reaction followed, as is usually the case when there is such a divide. I have seen this kind of a situation develop over the years on the Narmada issue. Initially there was no violence but the locals resorted to violence to resist the party-led interference and encroachment on their daily lives. Both prior to the SEZ being sanctioned and after, the SEZ supporters seem to have enjoyed the active support of the CPI (M). The party leadership should not have let this happen. We humbly request a review of the situation, which seems grave enough to call for a CBI investigation.

In Satangabari village, for example, in March/April, that is after the plans for a SEZ in the area were withdrawn, when the mob wielding firearms entered the village, they went a step ahead looting and burning houses. This is when the villagers put up resistance with people from the neighbouring villages joining in as well. They seem to have used whatever arms they were in possession of. The claims of arms being made available to them by political parties may not be totally unfounded but their retaliation was miniscule compared to the repeated attacks from the CPI (M)’s Harmud Vahini and their own cadres, sometimes donning police uniform, on the unarmed people of the movement against the SEZ. When the Governor and others raised questions over the situation in Nandigram, we tried our level best to run a thorough investigation. We condemn institutions such as the armed unit of the CPI (M). The party has never denied affiliation to this armed unit wreaking havoc in the region. The criminalisation of politics, whether it is the CPI (M), Shiv Sena, Laloo Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal or the Congress involved, is just not acceptable.

How about BUPC’s affiliation to the Maoists and the Trinamool Congress? Is the battle in Nandigram really being fought between the Trinamool and the CPI (M)?
The BUPC is the name of the organization the movement has given rise to. Parallels can be drawn with the Raigarh struggle in Maharashtra, Kolavaram and Narmada. In all these cases there are no parties directly involved but we have to keep in mind that the members come with their respective political inclinations. The BUPC enjoys representation from the community, with members belonging to the Trinamool, SUCI, Jamaite Ulema Hind and others with no party affiliations. The committee has up till now functioned as a unit representing the whole community with the members bringing with them support of their respective parties. Their target was never the CPI (M) but it saw a threat from what it considered its political opponents and competitors. They were opposed to the formation of committees in areas that did not fall inside the proposed SEZ but were adjacent to it. The SEZ was bound to have an impact on these villages , hence the need of committees was felt. We have this in the Narmada valley also. Apart from those directly affected, other villages are also covered. But the CPI (M) again became very intolerant and put this up as an inter-party conflict to justify what the party was doing. 'Bajrang Dal' and 'Shiv sena' have now become synonymous with intolerance. The communal forces are known to be intolerant. In West Bengal CPI (M) has also the tradition of being intolerant and oppressive. Many political parties and people’s movements have always raised this issue but in Singur and Nandigram we actually saw it. This is very unfortunate as the left has also stood for democratic rights. They have been partners with the people’s movements like us. We have valued this partnership but now they violating democratic rights and civil liberties is unimaginable and also unexpected.

You visited the relief camps. What are the numbers you have of the missing people and those who have been killed? What is the situation in the camps?
At the moment, there is only one major relief camp. Thousands of people including women and children are staying in a Nandigram High School. Relief has been provided to them on daily basis by the people’s movements in cash and kind with the help of their well wishers from Kolkata and other cities . The numbers range from 3000 to more than 5000 but everyday they are spending about 10-12 thousand on food. It was obvious to me when I saw the camp and met with the people that the resources at disposal were limited. The government has hardly pitched in with any assistance when the directives from the Supreme Court are very clear on the ruling government being responsible to attend to the needs of those affected by a natural calamity or political crisis. But who are they accountable to when they are fighting their own people?

Who is involved in providing relief?
Mainly the BUPC and other people’s movement groups with some help from the Trinamool Congress.The locals also chipped in with materials from the neighbouring areas. The need for more relief is being felt everyday. But beyond the families in the camp, the estimates of the families displaced have reached 20000. Our estimate has been 10000 families but it could be much more. And 100-200 people are missing. BUPC had been quoted with figures of 500-700. The number has now fallen as people who had been abducted and taken to the Khejuri camp have been released and they have returned. There are women who have been molested or raped. Our estimate of the families displaced corresponds to the number of houses burned, demolished or looted but there are those who have simply fled from their homes fearing atrocities. Though the confirmed numbers of the dead from our trips to the villages are 40-50 the reporters based in the area claimed to have seen about 100 bodies being carried away.

Did you get to interact with any of the CPI (M) cadres?
In Kamalpur and Takapura, about 10-25 people gathered. We could see that a few among them were articulating their views. On enquiry we found they were either government teachers or those who were employed in Kolkata. They gave their side of the story. In Kamalpur, their position was that of denial. No houses were either burnt or demolished in their village and there was no terror. They attributed the terror in the beginning to the people in the movement against SEZ who used it as a means to coerce them to join their ranks. They referred to the movement as Maoists.

We spotted a quite a few demolished or burnt houses. We spoke to the women. They said the intervention of the CPI (M) cadres from outside the villages only served to deepen the divide in the community. In Satangabari village we visited, the CPI (M) supporters seemed to be curious about what we were talking to the locals about. They even made an attempt to herd the locals we were talking to in their jeeps and take them away.

How were they justifying what they were doing?
They were saying that they were tortured and their houses were attacked. So when I got off the jeep they became a little aggressive. I told them they need not do this. They should tell us their side of the story. They asked me ‘why have you come now? Why didn’t you come then?’ I said ‘whenever I came, you should have met me. I addressed gatherings of thousands. I never said I don’t want to meet anyone. Even in the same village when 60 houses were looted and burned, I had come and there were no other houses looted or demolished at that time. The other incidents took place after my first visit. Now in the last few days we have been trying to reach here. Your own party cadres are stopping us. So what do you say about this?’ So there was a dialogue. They showed us the houses of Anwar Ali, Abdul Kayyam Mannanbabu and Samiran Bibi and others. We said that this was unfortunate. This should not have happened. We are with them. The relief should reach them as well. They said there are some 400 affected in the few villages. They gave us the names and we noted down their numbers. They never gave us a figure in thousands. We also found that there were a few hundred families who remained outside the villages.

But the BUPC had made public its position that their members and the communities in villages are not against the displaced returning to their villages with the exception of 10-30 of them accused in rape and molesting. But my position is that even these accusations need to be verified. And the ultimate task now is to rebuild the integrity of the community. This is not possible even today because the CPI (M) has not taken a political decision to withdraw its armed units. Bringing in the CRPF might effect a few changes but it was observed that it took a long time for even the CRPF to be deployed. The CRPF has made public statements indicating non-cooperation from the State Government to reach out to the hot spots. They were reportedly barred from entering the villages for a few days and then allowed to move in. They were mostly allowed in the Nandigram Taluka and not inside Satangabari where we were also being threatened. In fact, till yesterday, the West Bengal Government was preparing to withdraw the CRPF. We questioned the move and finally CRPF stayed. But it is very clear that a thousand CRPF personnel are not going to change the situation.

On that note how do you compare the Gujarat 2002 carnage with this situation?
The common feature here is the use of violence to bring an end to what are legitimate rights of the people. Gujarat carnage happened in the name of religion. It remains a fact that the intervention was in favour of crime, torture and killing than in protecting the unarmed and common people. This ( Nandigram) is also a new kind of communalism. Political communalism. The approach has been that ‘those who belong to my party I will protect at any cost and those who belong to the other party I will not’. Mamata Banerjee or whosoever may be in opposition but every opposition party has a right. Just as CPI (M) gets a space in AP or Maharashtra, the opposition in West Bengal too deserve their space.There are proving to be more and more undemocratic and also apolitical. Being undemocratic and politically intolerant is also apolitical. If only the other Left Front partners had played a role, stronger and prompt in the situation whether before or after the first massacre, things would have been different. We had also kept them informed. They were more for a dialogue than the CPI-M but they have not sent a single team from January until now to either Nandigram or Singur. So how can we think of the Left front as a protector of its own people? Even the MLA from the Nandigram constituency belongs to the CPI (M). The CPI, RSP... all of them have a base of their own in the East Midnapore district. They should have at least run an investigation and taken immediate action. But they have taken a position to some extent .. which is useful. They have issued statements but they have not gone beyond this. This is very unfortunate. Otherwise this would have saved the whole of Left Front from this kind of determined opposition they are facing at the moment. We never had this as our objective.

What do you think of 'development' to meet political ends?
Development, everywhere, is just a political tool to the powerful than to benefit the needy. Whether the communal riots in Gujarat or the violence in West Bengal, the powerful are fiddling with development, the goal and the process. The sadak, bijli, paani agenda is being also pushed towards profit making and the profit is made at whatever the cost may be. This is done by alienating minority communities, not only the Muslims but also the landless and dalits as in Gujarat. There are other states also where vikas and religion are playing the role in development creating more disparity. In the adivasi areas, the non-adivasi elites eye their rich natural resources. This is another kind of communal agenda. Here in West Bengal certain kinds of projects are referred to as the only path of progress in the neo liberal economy acceptable to the Left.

Invariably, it is the violence that the state is resorting to push its own agenda ultimately towards more money power, market power and political power. This is bringing parties together and people see them as together in the pursuit. And hardly any political party in the mainstream stands up and says this is not acceptable. This is not being possible because now rules of the game are set. And you cannot come to power and retain it unless you have compromising alliances with the moneyed, market and mafia forces. This is the message we get. That is why those who are in people’s movements also feel that something must be done. Those who try their best, if they lose the battle, it is worse. So there is a hell of a lot of dilemma. The best solution is the strengthening of people’s movements, empowerment and a real democratic upsurge to challenge goals and practices, approaches and the paradigm. If this creates a left then a pro-people, more equitable politics is likely to emerge. Otherwise you may only succeed in bringing a few changes here and there.

What has been the impact of the recent Tehelka investigation into Gujarat 2002 among the people you deal with in Gujarat as compared to the mainstream?
Nakaab kholna bolte he…. pardha faas of the criminals in power. This is what Tehelka expose has done. It has really challenged us more than them. My question here is just as Bush ruled even after the Iraq war and his flawed democratic claims, how can these people be in these positions in the larger democracy of the world? I think this kind of a sting operation is a must, it is our right and it must continue but beyond these exposes what else could be done? This is not just for the press but for all of us. I was wondering whether we should go into legal action or people’s movements or some political action. We will have to wait and see how much pride and courage both sides in the parliament will have to take up both Nandigram and Gujarat and ultimately if there is a compromise it is up to us in the civil society. We all are very proud of you… Ashish Khetan and Tarun Tejpal!