|
|
News of Jan
4, 2007
Brand Buddha Up Against Farmers,
Allies in Bengal
By Sujoy Dhar
Kolkata,
Jan 4
If the violence sparked by a mere rumor of land acquisition at
Nandigram is any sign, this could well be the start of a farmers'
movement in West Bengal against a reformist chief minister whose
communist coalition won successive elections on the plank of
agrarian reforms.
If at Singur the Left Front was fighting the Trinamool Congress, at
Nandigram in East Midnapore, about 150 km southwest of Kolkata, the
protestors were supposedly hardcore Left supporters.
And the first condemnation came from none other than the Communist
Party of India (CPI), a coalition partner of the Communist Party of
India-Marxist (CPI-M) in the Left Front.
Nandigram, where Trinamool or any other opposition is nowhere in
sight, is a Left citadel and the assembly seat there is represented
by CPI's Ilyas Mohammed.
Needless to say that it was the CPI that was vocal as the events
unfolded. And while Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya hastened
to say that no notification for land acquisition for a proposed
joint venture chemical hub with Indonesia's Salim group had been
issued, CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan asked the CPI-M to learn
lessons from Singur.
On Wednesday, the police fired several rounds to quell frenzied
villagers at Nandigram.
Villagers set a police jeep on fire, heavily injured cops, blocked
roads with boulders and demolished a bridge to prevent police access
to their areas even as four of their people sustained bullet
injuries.
"People should be informed before any acquisition. The violence is
unfortunate but people have a right to know," said CPI's outspoken
leader and state minister Nandagopal Bhattacharya.
"The resistance will be less if the people are kept informed. You
cannot just do it suddenly," said another state minister and
Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) leader Khiti Goswami.
Nandigram has again proved that the going would get tougher for
Buddhadeb Bhattacharya.
Leading the protests Wednesday was a group called Gana Unnayan O
Jana Adhikar Raksha Samity (Committee for Mass Development and
Protection of People's Rights), a constituent of the Singur
Krishijami Raksha Committee (Save Singur Farmland Committee).
At Singur, although Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee has ended her
hunger strike, the issue that triggered the anger - the acquisition
of farmland for a Tata car project - has not ebbed.
The farmers in West Bengal, otherwise traditional supporters of the
Left, are forging a network and steeling their resolve.
"We will give blood and our life but not our land. We don't want
industry. They are trying to grab our home and hearth," said Samsur,
a villager from Nandigram, summing up the explosive situation.
Says social activist Anuradha Talwar: "This will continue so long
the government continues to keep people in the dark and not maintain
transparency. The Nandigram incident is a continuation of the Singur
movement."
Talwar, an associate of Medha Patkar, said so long the government
continued to bulldoze the people, such things would happen.
In East Midnapore, the government reportedly eyed over 22,000 acres
of land for industrial projects.
On July 31, the West Bengal government signed an agreement with the
Salim Group of Indonesia to implement various developmental
projects, including a mega chemical industrial estate, including a
chemical special economic zone (SEZ) at Nandigram, spread across
10,000 acres in a 50:50 joint venture.
Construction of a four-lane road bridge over the Haldi River, from
Haldia to Nandigram, has also been planned. The proposed bridge
would provide a link between Haldia and the proposed chemicals SEZ
in Nandigram.
When the going gets tough, the tough gets going. Reality show
beckons Brand Buddha.
IANS
News of Jan
4, 2007
Top |
News |
|
