Tathagata Bhattacharya

The Haldi river bordering Nandigram is quiet and in mourning. On November 5, six battalions of armed CPI (M) cadres surrounded Nandigram in East Midnapore. Their mission: to ‘recapture’ villages from the Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee (BUPC) – a Trinamool Congress-led front against land acquisition for the proposed special economic zone (SEZ). 

The cadres were armed with AK series rifles, INSAS rifles, SLRs, .303 guns and bombs. Three of the battalions were sourced from West Midnapore’s Garbeta block, three to four hours from Nandigram, and were led by its local committee secretary Sukur Ali. The other three battalions were from the West Midnapore’s Chandrakona region, three hours from Nandigram, and were led by its district committee member Tapan Ghosh. Both Sukur and Tapan are wanted by the CBI in a case relating to the burning alive of seven anti CPI(M) activists in Chota Angaria. 

Each battalion had around 100 men, including dacoits and criminals from Bankura and South 24 Parganas. They were paid in advance for ‘Operation Nandigram’, and given a free hand to loot the villages, CPI(M) sources said. The ‘operation’ was reportedly finalized at a meeting between a member of Parliament, a state cabinet minister and zonal and local leaders in Khejuri, a CPI(M) stronghold, at the guest house of the Kolaghat thermal power plant.

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 BUPC activists wielding antiquated weapons, mostly muskets, fought back. The cadres ran out of ammunition, and were forced to withdraw momentarily. But fresh supplies arrived through the waterways, and the battle resumed. Soon BUPC activists ran out of ammunition. The cadres took twelve to thirteen villages in two days, bringing most of West Nandigram under their control. 

Opposition leader and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee alleged that the cadres used the official launch of the district magistrate of South 24 Parganas to ferry arms and ammunition to their stronghold in Khejuri. Earlier, West Bengal home secretary Prasad Ranjan Roy had commented, “Nandigram is a war zone and the attacks are happening from Khejuri.” West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi dubbed the ‘capture’ of villages “unlawful and undemocratic”.

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On November 10, around 30,000 unarmed BUPC activists took out two processions to regain control of their land and homes; while one procession, of people who had taken shelter in camps in the block headquarters, marched from Nandigram to Maheshpur, another moved from the Sonachura village bordering Khejuri in the same direction. The two groups were to meet at a point and move to Tekhali bridge. On the way, cadres surrounded them and sprayed them with bullets. The official death toll was put at three, with 20 injured; but witnesses said the toll was higher. 

“The CPI(M) men carried away the bodies on vans towards Khejuri. Even the injured were not spared. Over 500 people were marched off to Khejuri,” said a processionist. The Khejuri police rescued about 350 men – some of them were by then badly beaten up – from various schools in Khejuri. Many others, including some young women, were missing. In Satengabari village, a 40-year-old woman and her two daughters, aged 14 and 17, were raped. The woman was admitted to Tamluk hospital. 

In Egra, which is around an hour’s drive from Nandigram, a crowd intercepted two vehicles carrying injured people from Nandigram in the evening. The Egra police arrested at least eight CPI (M) cadres. While Sukur and Tapan were among those held, the police changed their names. However, when they were produced in court, they gave their real names when photographs were produced. 

The rampaging cadres took Sonachura, Garchakraberia and Osman Chak, Kendemari and Hosenpur – the centers of BUPC’s resistance in Nandigram Block I. Thousands of villagers fled to the camps in the block headquarters. By evening of November 11, the ‘occupation’ was complete. 

Further, armed CPI (M) mobs stopped Mamata Banerjee from reaching Nandigram. The village was ‘out of bounds’ for the media, as all entry points – through river and land – were blocked. Even the CRPF men were turned back on the night of November 12. 

Reports came in from Nandigram that after Sukur and Tapan were captured while trying to ferry the injured, CPI(M) cadres had changed tactics – many of the dead and the half-dead were being burnt in the brick kilns of Khejuri. Reports of gangrapes, too, have been coming in. 

Sparks, claims and dissenting voices marked the aftermath. CPI (M) state secretary Biman Bose called the Governor’s remarks unconstitutional and questioned his intellectual credentials. “Peace has been restored” in Nandigram, he said, adding that it was a “new sunrise”. Prominent CPI (M) and CITU leader Shyamal Chakraborty said, “Nandigram is now a liberated zone, free of terror. What is needed now is development. 

RSP minister Kshiti Goswami was ashamed. He told THE WEEK: “only the communists are capable of something like this, especially those dictated by Stalinist ideology. I have sent a letter to the RSP secretary, asking the party to let me resign. I don’t feel like being a member of this government.” 

The violence drew flak from civil society. On November 12, a spontaneous bandh paralysed normal life in the state. Nothing moved. Even software engineers were not complaining. Many boycotted the Kolkata International Film Festival – which, interestingly, featured quite a few films on state repression. 

Courtesy: THE WEEK, November 25, 2007