Problem of policing

Problem of policing

http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2406/stories/20070406001908500.htm

BHASKAR GHOSE

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Volume 24 - Issue 06 :: Mar. 24-Apr. 06, 2007

The tragedy at Nandigram should be looked at in the context of the `unionisation' of the police in West Bengal.

DESHAKALYAN CHOWDHURY/AFP

At Nandigram, on March 17.

The killing of 14 people in Nandigram has come as a shock to everyone who has got to know about it. To many, the tragedy, apart from the actual killing itself, is that it should have occurred in a State that is ruled by a Left Front government that has, through the decades, fought against such action by the police. Has being in power for 30 years in West Bengal altered their attitudes to this extent, making them move away from their identity as leaders of the poor and the oppressed?

That question must be answered by the Left Front, by all its constituents, but most urgently by the one party that really matters, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which heads the Front. Perhaps, over the next few months, the parties concerned will look inwards, and look, particularly, for the answer to this altered perception, if indeed there has been such an alteration. There is, however, a different issue that they also need to look at, because one has a great apprehension that it is a major factor in what happened in Nandigram.

This is the unionisation of the police in West Bengal, something that happened soon after the Left Front came to power in 1977. It may be, strictly speaking, incorrect to say that the police force has been unionised, because, if one remembers correctly, the Police Act makes it unlawful for policemen to form trade unions. That is why, obviously, the `union' is called the "Non-Gazetted Police Karmachari Samiti" (NGPKS). But the distinction, if there is any, is a very fine one; it is really only semantic, because the samiti has the trappings of, and behaves no differently from, a trade union.

Apart from what one has learnt about the behaviour of the "non-gazetted" policemen - in the main, the constables - from senior police officers in the State ever since the NGPKS was formed, one has seen examples of the unionised activities of the police at first hand. And it was not pleasant. As Commissioner of Jalpaiguri Division, which basically means the northern districts of the State, I had, on one occasion, to inquire into an incident of police firing that resulted in the death of four people. As my inquiry proceeded, I noted that the policemen accused of opening fire without authorisation were cocky and insolent. The discipline they showed was perfunctory and their behaviour was just short of being openly defiant. But that apart, what became clear was that they had indeed opened fire without authorisation from their superior officer, mainly to teach the people a lesson. One of them said later, if I remember correctly, something to this effect.

This was disturbing enough but what really startled me was that the representatives of the NGPKS sought an appointment, which I gave them. They were polite enough but made it clear that the men had been "provoked" and that while I would, of course, look into the incident as a whole, I should keep in mind the welfare and the interests of the policemen who had killed the four victims. They made it clear, pleasantly, that my report would naturally be looked at by the proper authorities. I told them that I would conduct the inquiry as required of me and asked them to leave.

But the visit disturbed me, and I shared my uneasiness with the then Home Secretary. His response was despondent and he advised me to complete the inquiry and send in my findings. I did. I found the men guilty of use of unwarranted force and recommended that action be taken against them under the law and in terms of the police regulations then in force. I never found out what happened to them.

This in itself may seem to be a minor incident of which I am making too much, but then there was another - following some violence during a local municipal election or a by-election - where men of an Armed Police battalion surrounded their Assistant Commandant, angrily demanding that he make immediate arrangements for their food and accommodation before they went out on duty. It took the beleaguered Assistant Commandant and the Superintendent of Police over two hours to pacify the policemen. I happened to be there and saw this ugly drama unfolding.

What the formation of the NGPKS has done is to undermine the authority of officers, and subvert the discipline that must always be the basis of the functioning of a police force, as it is of the Army. It has brought to constables an insolence and defiance with which officers are barely able to cope, making it a very difficult business to enforce order in a calm, rational manner.

One can only hope that what happened in Nandigram was not a manifestation of the weakening of the inner authority of the police system because, if it was, then the implications are very dark and frightening for the State. As Ulysses says of the consequence of losing order, in Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida:

Force should be right or rather, right and wrong,
Between whose endless jar justice resides,
Should lose their names, and so should justice too.
Then everything includes itself in power,
Power into will, will into appetite;
And appetite, an universal wolf,
So doubly seconded with will and power,
Must make perforce an universal prey,
And last eat up himself.

In its introspection, therefore, the ruling party would do well to look at the effects of the formation of an association in the police force that needs, above everything else, to be strictly disciplined and totally responsive to the commands and orders of their controlling officers.

Having said this, though, it is equally necessary to take a closer look at the very basis of the police system. What we have today is very much the sepoy-sahib kind of system of colonial India, with police forces being based on the pattern of military forces - sepoys becoming constables and commanding officers, inspectors and superintendents. It was all right then, but is it what needs to be continued today? Should constables not be educated officers, as they are in most developed countries, who rise in the course of time to higher levels in the hierarchy?

If discipline is a major problem for one reason in West Bengal, it is no less so for other reasons in other States. Venality, sheer laziness and the virtual absence of any kind of inspection have led to the police forces of all States being sloppy and physically unfit. This may not be true of the more specialised forces like the Central Reserve Police Force and the Border Security Force, but one look at many of the policemen strolling about on traffic duty in most cities or on patrol will suffice to bear out what has been said.

Every so often a committee of some kind makes earnest recommendation about training, facilities, and so on. The plain fact is that the very basis of policing is what needs looking at, not cosmetic changes to a system that is clearly antediluvian. In a very sad, but real sense, that is what the incident at Nandigram and the massacre of policemen in Chhattisgarh have in common.

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Shape of things to come?

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Volume 24 - Issue 06 :: Mar. 24-Apr. 06, 2007

Shape of things to come?

http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2406/stories/20070406001609100.htm

R.K. RAGHAVAN

The tragic incidents at Nandigram and Rani Bodli may send out the message that show of force is capable of disrupting economic progress in the country.

AP

Naxalites at a training camp in the jungles of Chhattisgarh. A file picture.

THE events of the past few weeks in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal and the public utterances of important functionaries such as the Governor of West Bengal and two Judges of the Supreme Court should disturb every one of us in the country. It is hardly possible to reconcile ourselves to the loss of more than 60 precious lives in the two States, however insensitive we may have become over the years. The question is - how long are we going to be as mute as we are now?

I appreciate the fact that Rani Bodli (in the Bastar region in Chhattisgarh) and Nandigram (West Bengal) may not represent what is happening in the rest of India. Many of us in Chennai or Kolkata, and to an extent in Mumbai,may be still untouched by the kind of violence that one saw in the two places. Still, the tragic incidents there could be more than symbols of violence and may actually disseminate the message that show of force is capable of effectively disrupting economic progress in the country. I am also concerned that Rani Bodli and Nandigram will send the wrong signal across the world to investors who are itching to set up shop in India. Imagine the impact on our economy if a few more incidents like these take place in quick succession and foreign entrepreneurs fight shy of coming to us.

Those queering the pitch in Nandigram, not all of whom are exactly pro-poor, seem to turn a blind eye to this distinct possibility only because they want to embarrass Buddhababu.

The continued dominance of naxalites/Maoists right from the border with Nepal down to the villages in Andhra Pradesh baffles every expert in law and order and the intelligence agencies. The outlaws seem to be able to strike at ease, as they did on March 15 when they killed more than 50 policemen, who included some Special Police Officers who were tribal youths enlisted for anti-naxalite operations, at the Rani Bodli police outpost in Bastar . What is most disconcerting is that every time they strike, the intruders are able to strengthen their stock of arms and ammunition by plundering the police armoury. More distressing is that Rani Bodli demonstrated the poor preparedness of the police to protect themselves from such surprise attacks.

There are so many theories advanced by scholars and administrators to explain naxalite violence. Of course, chief of these is the appalling poverty that stalks the belt in Jharkhand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, which is under repeated attack.

While economic deprivation alone cannot account for the desperation of the aggressors, it is no doubt a factor that has to be fused into any strategy that aims at countering naxalites. What is most galling is the fact that victims of violence are not the rich. They are the poorest of inhabitants, who do not have any earthly possessions. It is this characteristic of the situation that has to be exploited in order to build resistance to the senseless groups who indulge in mindless violence. Organising civil defence with the help of volunteers who are directly affected by insurgency is a traditional mechanics. Its success depends on a variety of factors, most important of which is the credibility of the administration at the grassroots. But then, credibility is a commodity that is scarce in most States because of the acute corruption, casteism and low motivation of government staff. Government partnership with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is the ideal solution to this problem of putting our best foot forward to tackle naxalite atrocities. The unfortunate government scepticism towards NGOs negatives all that can possibly be done in unison to outwit the naxalite.

Supercop K.P.S. Gill, who is advising the Chhattisgarh government, screams for more manpower. While his demand cannot be ignored, experience tells us that mere numbers will not help to handle terrorism. An honest government, a motivated civil service and a corps of volunteers from the affected population is the best bet to quell any group that is determined to destroy civil society. The success of this combine is not guaranteed. It, however, paves the way for a system that will in course of time help to strike at the roots of those who believe only in the gun.

Nandigram is an entirely different kettle of fish. While naxalites claim to hit at poverty using the gun and through other highly objectionable methods, for the same objective, a democratically-elected government in West Bengal treads a path that has found favour with many developing nations. Providing extra incentives to produce specified goods in a well-defined geographic region is an accepted norm these days, and the experiment has been more than successful. Here is a State government that has been agreeably pragmatic in embracing the Special Economic Zone path to improve the lot of an impoverished population, and there are many who want to reverse the process. The only thing debatable here is whether the local administration did all that was within its means to prepare the local population for the process of alienating the land required for the project - of course with a package of receiving lawful compensation. The police were sent in when protests threatened to engulf the project itself. Facts from this stage onwards become garbled. The official tally puts the death toll from police firing at 14, although many are reported missing. There is a lot of fault-finding and acrimony between the Marxists and a motley group pitted against them.

There are two issues here that bother me. What should have been a clinical business decision has got mired in politics. This is distressing beyond limits at a time when, excluding China, we are leading the rest of the developing world. More important, what do the police do when they are caught in the crossfire? No right-thinking policeman wants to alienate the local people. At the same time, he cannot defy a lawfully elected government which orders it to intervene in a difficult situation.

Talking of Nandigram, I am most impressed by the moralistic stand taken by Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi. His words soon after the tragedy were touching. He asked: "Was this spilling of human blood not avoidable?" This statement summed up his anguish. Mind you, it was not indignation. He went on to say: "I expect the government to do what it thinks necessary to mitigate the effects of this bitter March 14, and to do it visibly and fast." I am not on the facts of what happened in Nandigram. I am more on the courage displayed by him to speak out his mind, that too in a language which honours the memory of his revered grandfather. I would expect more Governors to follow this example of intervening in a matter of public importance even at the risk of being slightly out of step with the Executive.

I have never missed an opportunity to vent my indignation at the way corruption has become a way of life in our country. I have chosen to be extremely restrained in language while giving expression to my desperation. But I am slowly losing patience with such dignity. I am happy that a Supreme Court Judge refuses to be so bound by the dictates of office in handling an issue like corruption. While delivering the judgment in an appeal filed by a government functionary convicted for corruption, Justice Markendaya Singh, always known for his candour, recently said that the accused who stood before him and the likes of him deserved to be hung by the nearest lamp-post if the law permitted it. What colourful language and what impact it has on the common man harassed by the petty official and an even pettier Minister who evaluates each file coming to him by the money he can make out of it rather than by the amount of public good he can do. Here again I am not on what the Judge said, but the impact of what he said on perceptions abroad about India and its civil service.

Finally, a more dramatic moment in the Supreme Court. Justice A.R. Lakshmanan openly told the Court on March 16 that he had received a facsimile message at his home imputing motives to him on the way he dealt with a matter before him. Extremely pained by this, he refused to handle it any further. There could be differences of opinion as to whether he should have reacted so. He probably did what he thought was in his best interest and in order to uphold his personal dignity and that of his office. What is debatable, however, is whether the matter should have rested there. Should not an inquiry have been held through the Central Bureau of Investigation to trace the contemnor and punish him, irrespective of whether it is possible to trace him at all? Will not such a step at least partially ensure that, in future, no one in his right mind dare defame an honourable Judge of the highest court in the land? I would have been happy if the issue took such a turn instead of being closed abruptly. I am wondering whether the mischief monger has succeeded in what he wanted to achieve by preventing the particular Judge from proceeding with the case. Can this become a routine tactic to frustrate Judges who have a reputation to zealously guard? I hope it will not.

On the whole, a significant fortnight has gone by, one full of events that raised fundamental questions on the state of the nation. There are interesting issues pertaining to the role of the Governor, the police and the Supreme Court, which deserve an honest and progressive debate. Such a debate will enhance the credibility of India as a nation that believes in transparency.

(and earlier)

A deep conspiracy

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Volume 24 - Issue 06 :: Mar. 24-Apr. 06, 2007

CONTROVERSY

"A deep conspiracy"

http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2406/stories/20070406004413200.htm

SUHRID SANKAR CHATTOPADHYAY

Interview with Biman Bose, Left Front chairman and CPI(M) West Bengal State Secretary.

Biman Bose is also a member of the CPI(M) Polit Bureau.

IN this exclusive interview with Frontline, Biman Bose, Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member and West Bengal State secretary and Left Front chairman, gives his party's perception on the Nandigram incident. He makes it clear that the attempt to create a "liberated area" in Nandigram may conceal a deeper conspiracy. He affirms that Nandigram does not mark the end of West Bengal's industrialisation drive.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had said repeatedly that no land would be acquired in Nandigram and that the police were sent in to enforce the rule of law in the region, not to facilitate land acquisition. So what led to the tragic situation?

To understand the present situation in Nandigram, one has to go back to how it all started. It was so obviously a concerted conspiracy. On January 3, there was a meeting in the Kalicharanpur gram panchayat by an expert team on the sanitation programme that was being carried out there. The pradhan of the village, a lady called Samerun Bibi, called a meeting of the panchayat to discuss the progress of the sanitation programme.

All of a sudden, a group of Trinamool activists barged into the meeting and demanded that the acquisition "notice" that had been served by the Haldia Development Authority be scrapped and the panchayat declare that there would be no such acquisition. Samerun Bibi, correctly, pointed out that the meeting had nothing to do with that notice.

At that point, they began to vandalise the panchayat office. A mob gathered outside and started throwing stones. On receiving information, the Nandigram Police Station sent a team of four police personnel. They were also attacked and their jeep was torched. Reinforcements were called, and they too were assaulted - two were very seriously injured.

On the 4th and 5th of January they started destroying the links to Nandigram and cut off the area from neighbouring Khejuri. The miscreants burnt two CPI(M) party offices and a tractor belonging to a [CPI(M)] whole-timer. They disconnected the road in 29 places, and broke 11 bridges and culverts. Their attack was such that more than 5,000 people were affected.

Many CPI(M) supporters, at that point, left their houses in fear and took shelter in a relief camp with a tarpaulin roof at Bhangaberia near Khejuri. In their absence, 34 houses were burnt, 47 houses were looted and 31 houses were vandalised. They [the trouble-makers] stole fish from the pond, besides cattle, poultry and even coconuts on the trees. On the 6th of January they attacked even the homeless in the relief camp at Bhangaberia in the dead of night under the garb of the Jami Raksha Committee - a conglomerate of workers of the Trinamool [Congress], the SUCI [Socialist Unity Centre of India], the Jamait-e-Ulema and various naxalite groups.

Were they all local people?

Many of them were not. To give you an example: one man, a certain Sheikh Salim, who played one of the leading roles in the attacks, hailed from South Kendameri, situated more than 12 kilometres away from Bhangaberia. You see, this was a calculated attack and they gathered people from different areas for the purpose.

These are the same people who had killed Sankar Samanta, a CPI(M) panchayat member, on January 7. After looting his house and burning it down, they dragged him to a place called Sheetpara and burnt him alive in a haystack. This is a heinous thing.

Moreover, the houses of Laxman Mandal, the Sonachura panchayat pradhan, Samerun Biwi, the Kalicharanpur panchayat pradhan, and Arjun Maity, Dr. Pratap Paul and Annapurna Das, all CPI(M) workers, were burnt down. The miscreants even tried to burn these people alive.

Among the evicted people living at Bhangaberia at that time were two district committee members, two local committee secretaries, six zonal committee members, 16 local committee members and 56 party members. More than 200 families were forced to stay in the relief camp or in the houses of their relatives. The numbers kept increasing, until it reached over 2,000. Hundreds of people were forced to pay ransom.

You know the case of Sumita Mandal, a student of Class X, who was brutally raped and murdered. And, on March 3 a housewife was gangraped by Trinamool activists belonging to the Bhoomi Raksha Committee. She is now under treatment.

And all this happened after Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee declared categorically, time and again, that no land would be taken away from the people of Nandigram. Seriously, it appears to me that Nandigram is no longer a part of India. In fact, it seems to be suspended in space, where the law of the land is not applicable.

What do you think is the motive behind creating such a situation?

It is difficult to explain. It is the handiwork of those who do not want industrialisation in West Bengal. It might be proved in the future that behind these activities is a well-planned conspiracy at work. Reactionary forces, both within and abroad, might well be behind all these nefarious activities. Why am I saying so? In 1959, when the E.M.S. Namboodiripad government was ousted from power in Kerala, a conspiracy was afoot. Then, again in 1971 in West Bengal similar forces were at work.

At that time it was not known how deep the conspiracy was, but it later came out in the open with the publication of [Daniel] Patrick Moynihan's book A Dangerous Place (1978), where he admitted that twice they [the Americans] had intervened, once after the establishment of the Namboodiripad government, and the second time in 1971, when the Communists in West Bengal were establishing their position rapidly. So, it might very well be revealed after some years how deep the conspiracy against West Bengal's industrialisation effort now is.

You see, in rural West Bengal, industrial products worth Rs.20,000 crore are sold in the market. Most of these are not produced in the State; some are coming from abroad and some from other parts of the country. If proper industrialisation, particularly manufacturing industries, is established here, the State's economy will develop.

If West Bengal's industrial products start flooding the local market, which so far remains a captive market for outsiders, then the internal resource mobilisation will develop, and, as a result, the economy of the State will also develop. Those who are behind the present turmoil don't want to see West Bengal develop in such a manner.

We have already progressed significantly in agriculture, and never once did we say we will kill agriculture for the sake of industry. At present our land under cultivation is 135 lakh acres [54,63,256 hectares]. Out of this, only one lakh acres [40,468.56 ha] may be required over a long period of time for the kind of industrialisation we have visualised. This doesn't amount to even 1 per cent of the land, so it will not at all hamper our agriculture.

It has already been proved that by the proper application of inputs and techniques, agricultural productivity from the existing land can be increased manifold, and there is no question of the food security of the State being compromised. You see, because of fragmentation of land there is enormous pressure on the land. So we never say "agriculture vs industry". We say industrialisation on a foundation of agriculture.

A dug-up road in Nandigram during the protest.*

Arguments are being put forward that non-agricultural land or barren land alone should be used for industry. But these are not in one block, nor of sufficient area, thus often leaving little scope for use for industrial purposes. We have to be realistic. I suspect that some industrial houses might be behind the present fiasco because they don't want to lose their market in West Bengal. These industries, and national and international agencies, with their technology, capital and organisation, are in a strong position to hit at West Bengal to prevent its industrialisation.

Do you think Nandigram will dampen the industrial drive of the State - scare away potential investors?

I don't think so. A wise investor will not shy away from West Bengal, given the industrial climate here. This is undoubtedly an investor-friendly State. Industry has not developed the way it should in eastern India, and in the northeast there is little modern industry. When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh declared his "Look East" policy, he didn't mean just West Bengal, but Southeast Asia; for that, the Kolkata port and the Haldia port are of immense importance. So, West Bengal is in a favourable geo-political situation for industry to thrive.

The CPI(M)'s organisational strength is well known. How could it allow a situation such as the one in Nandigram to take shape?

I must admit candidly that Nandigram is not a traditional stronghold of the CPI(M). It was a CPI stronghold before the split in the party (1964), and after the split our position in the region has not been strong. Even now the MLA from Nandigram, Ilyas Mohammad, is from the CPI. In fact, inside the Assembly Ilyas Mohammad said that the rule of law should be established in Nandigram.

The police have been withdrawn from Nandigram; anyone known to be a CPI(M) supporter is attacked; and, as you have said, there is no rule of law in Nandigram. Yet you maintain that through socio-political means and persuasion you will bring normality in the region. How will your party manage to do that, if its members are not even being allowed in?

It is not enough for the CPI(M) alone to understand the problems in Nandigram. It is important that the other Left Front partners also understand the gravity of the problems. We will wait for that realisation to dawn on all the parties. Only after that will we start a socio-political process of bringing about peace in the region.

The CPI(M) came in for criticism from its Left Front partners, particularly the CPI, the RSP and the Forward Bloc, following the firing in Nandigram. Two meetings, on alternate days, took place. Was a major crisis averted? Some of your partners have said so.

I am not in the habit of making comments on others. But what I do feel is that some of the Left Front partners have been, for some time, behaving in a manner not befitting their role. Some of their Ministers were making comments on the CPI(M) in public; I must say that the CPI(M) Ministers always maintained restraint and never gave vent to their feelings in public.

As for why the Left Front meeting took two days, it was because a lot of issues had to be discussed and thrashed out, and that is how it should be. Personally, I never thought it was a crisis that could not be overcome. I was confident that we would come out stronger than before.

As chairman of the Left Front, how do you plan to strengthen further its unity? Does it require strengthening?

Yes. I have already issued a letter to all the components of the Front to convene Left Front meetings at the district level and, through discussions, resolve the problems among the partners. With better understanding, we will naturally come out stronger.

(much earlier*)

Political battle

Political battle

http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl2406/stories/20070406003812800.htm

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Volume 24 - Issue 06 :: Mar. 24-Apr. 06, 2007

SUHRID SANKAR CHATTOPADHYAY

The police firing and violence in Nandigram, which claimed 14 lives, are the culmination of disturbing activities since January.

ARUNANGSU ROY CHOWDHURY

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee caught in a traffic jam on his way to address a public meeting in East Midnapore district, of which Nandigram is a part, on February 11. The blockade was caused by the huge crowd that had gathered to hear him.

The police firing and subsequent violence at Nandigram in East Midnapore district of West Bengal on March 14, in which 14 people, including two women, were killed and 75 were injured, have come as a major embarrassment to the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front government in the State.

Speculation in January that the government would acquire land in the area to establish a chemical hub, to be set up as a special economic zone (SEZ), apparently led a motley group of people, including naxalites and members of the Trinamool Congress, the Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI) and the Jamait-i-Ulema-e-Hind, to come together under the banner of the Bhoomi Ucched Pratirodh (Land Eviction Resistance) Committee (BUPC) against the move. They began by targeting supporters of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), whom they chased out of the area and virtually established their own rule there.

For more than two and a half months, Nandigram, which is around 150 km from Kolkata, was a ticking time bomb, isolated from the rest of the State as the BUPC dug up roads and damaged bridges leading to the place. It finally exploded on March 14 when the police, sent in to restore the road links and law and order, fired bullets. Nandigram turned into a political battlefield.

The visuals on television news channels strengthened charges of police excesses. Most of the injured were women and children, who had been placed as a human shield to prevent a police advance. Many of them later said they were given to believe by their leaders that the police would not hurt them. The police have been accused of using more force than was necessary to disperse the crowd, and of allowing outsiders to don police uniforms and use firearms.

While the inquiries that are on will bring out the truth about these accusations, the CPI(M) Polit Bureau put the matter in perspective: "It is regrettable that lives have been lost in police firing. But the organised elements who utilised bombs and pipe-guns on the police have to take the blame."

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee accepted responsibility for the incident and expressed distress at the loss of so many innocent lives. The Opposition, led by Mamata Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress, some Congress leaders and sections of the literati, demanded his resignation and the imposition of President's Rule in the State.

Incidentally, there was no direction from the Chief Minister to open fire. Then, it should have been a decision taken by senior police officers and the executive magistrate present on the spot. The police said they opened fire in exercise of their right of private defence when the mob turned violent and started firing pipe-guns and throwing stones and bombs. However, the Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court reportedly held that the firing was prima facie "unconstitutional".

The State government directed an executive inquiry by the Divisional Commissioner and a police investigation by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), West Bengal. The High Court, in an order on March 15 while hearing a petition filed by the National Alliance of People's Movement, directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to conduct a preliminary investigation and report to it. The CBI submitted its report on March 22, the contents of which the court has not made public yet.

Addressing the press on March 15, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said: "We had not gone there looking for a confrontation, nor to acquire land... When I had already said there would be no land acquisition in Nandigram, then it is final." He apprised the media of the prevailing lawlessness in Nandigram and asked: "Can any government allow this to continue indefinitely?"

Condemnation

Reactions condemning the incident flowed unendingly as it were. In a press statement Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi said: "The news of the deaths by police firing in Nandigram this morning has filled me with a sense of cold horror... . [T]he point uppermost in my mind is not `who started it', `who provoked it' or whether there were agent-provocateurs behind it. Investigations will reveal that. The thought in my mind - and of all sensitive people now is - `Was this spilling of human blood not avoidable? What is the public purpose served by the use of force that we have witnessed today?'"

Nandigram soon became the mainspring for a political agitation by Opposition parties of all hues. A team of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leaders, led by Bharatiya Janata Party leader L.K. Advani, and including George Fernandes, Sushma Swaraj, S.S. Ahluwalia, Dinesh Trivedi and Mukul Roy, visited Nandigram on March 17. Advani compared the police firing to the Jalianwalla Bagh massacre and Fernandes, while participating in a Trinamool Congress procession in Kolkata told reporters: "This government [in West Bengal] is a criminal government and I demand its immediate dismissal."

Mamata Banerjee accused the State government of "creating unrest" in the guise of industrialisation and called for a 12-hour bandh on March 16 in protest against the Nandigram deaths. She said her "agitation against acquiring farmland would continue unabated". Her stand on industrialisation, however, still remains unclear. She says she is "not" against industrialisation, but has opposed almost every endeavour of the State government to bring in investments.

At the East Midnapore District Hospital, a woman who was injured in the clashes and police firing.

The Congress team to Nandigram was led by All India Congress Committee general secretary Digvijay Singh. The Congress State unit general secretary Manas Bhuniya said the Pradesh Congress Committee, in its report to party president Sonia Gandhi, stated that "the prevailing situation in the State warrants the imposition of Article 356".

The constituents of the Left Front - the All India Forward Bloc (AIFB), the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), and the Communist Party of India (CPI) - did not spare the government either. They accused the CPI(M) and the State government of keeping them in the dark on vital issues and even threatened to reconsider their participation in the government if the situation was allowed to persist. Matters were thrashed out and the "crisis" was averted through two important meetings in which former Chief Minister Jyoti Basu was present.

Addressing a press conference after the final meeting, Left Front chairman and Polit Bureau member Biman Bose said: "The unity of the Left Front was there, is there, and will be there." It was decided that Left Front meetings would be held more regularly and all major political decisions would be taken in consultation with the Front members. The meeting also stated that "the Nandigram incident was tragic and the government will have to be careful that something like that is never repeated".

Left leaning intellectuals and well-known personalities in the fields of art, literature, theatre and cinema deplored the incident and decried the government. They organised rallies, some resigned from their posts in different akademis, and quite a few returned the honours awarded to them by the government.

Film-maker Goutam Ghosh is reported to have commented: "Although the Chief Minister has been citing the example of China as his model, he isn't aware that the Chinese government does not allow private firms to own land." Sources in the CPI(M) say that the Left Front government does not follow any model. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, in an interview to Frontline ("From agriculture to industry", February 9), made it clear that "India should not follow any country or any model" in its special economic zone (SEZ) policy.

However, not everyone among Kolkata's intelligentsia feels that the CPI(M) has abandoned its ideals. Noted author Sunil Gangopadhyay and actor Soumitro Chatterjee, while expressing grief at the deaths, said they did not feel that the government was treading the wrong path in pursuing industrialisation. Others point out that the Chief Minister had stated that there was no question of land acquisition in Nandigram, and ask: What then was the basis for such a violent resistance to the entry of the police?

Planned violence

It all started on January 3, when the Haldia Development Authority, on its own initiative, sent a letter to the block development officer (BDO) in Nandigram for a preliminary study of the region to earmark areas that may be required for an SEZ project. Following the violent reaction to this by the local people, the State government ruled out land acquisition in Nandigram without the consent of the people. However, this sparked off a series of incidents, which the Trinamool Congress and others used to carve out for themselves an area beyond the control of the State administration. This they achieved by driving out all CPI(M) supporters from the area, using force or threatening them, and digging up roads and making Nandigram inaccessible. Repeated efforts by the government for meetings were rebuffed and clashes between the CPI(M) and BUPC members bloodied the once peaceful, sleepy nook in the State.

By many accounts, the chaos at Nandigram soon ceased to be a land issue and took the shape of a political campaign by the disparate elements that had tied up with the Trinamool Congress. Since January, there have been reports of "outsiders" skilled in the use of firearms and explosives being brought in as powerful enforcers of the BUPC.

On the morning of February 10, Sumita Mandal, a 15-year-old schoolgirl at Sonachura village was helping her mother in the field. Around 11 a.m., she went home to refresh herself. When her mother returned home an hour later, she saw her daughter's body strung up on a tree behind their house. Neither the police nor members of the State Women's Commission could enter the village to collect information on the incident.

The post-mortem report revealed that Sumita, the daughter of a CPI(M) sympathiser, had been physically abused by at least five persons before she was hanged alive and left to die. Her father Sukdeb Mandal had fled the village on January 7 following threats from the BUPC. The same day supporters of the Trinamool Congress almost beat to death Sukdeb's elder brother Bhudeb, a government employee, and killed a CPI(M) panchayat member Sankar Samanta. The child's killers remain at large.

Three days before this incident, seven policemen assigned to enter the region on a peace mission were attacked by Trinamool activists. All of them, except one, escaped, but with grievous injuries. Sadhucharan Chatterjee, an elderly policeman, died of his injures and his body was retrieved from the Haldi river. Among the 23 identified and arrested over the incident was Gouranga Doloi, a Trinamool Congress worker and a leader of the BUPC.

On Holi, March 3, a housewife of Kalicharanpur in Nandigram was gang-raped in her house, ostensibly because she did not pay the `fine', a heavy one, for not participating in a rally of the BUPC. Unlike Sumita Mandal, the victim lived to tell the tale. She managed to flee in the dead of night and take shelter in the CPI(M) camp at Tekhali, from where she was taken to the zilla hospital in Tamluk. Her husband and elder son, like more than a thousand others, had left the village and were staying with relatives in a neighbouring village. Enraged by her escape, her assailants waited for her husband and son to return and when they did, beat them up badly. Two months ago, the family was threatened and asked to pay Rs.5,000 as `fine'. When they paid the amount, a further Rs.50,000 was demanded.

Such incidents became the order of the day in Nandigram, though only a few found their way into the public domain. Nandigram had become an anarchic realm beyond the law of the land and the Constitution. The writ of the government did not run there. Addressing a press conference on March 19, State Home Secretary Prasad Ranjan Roy said: "We entered only five of the 18 villages in the five gram panchayats in Nandigram." After this, the State government had to withdraw police forces following the violence of March 14. At that point the situation in the 13 villages deep within Nandigram still remained outside the knowledge and jurisdiction of the State administration.

This was despite Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's assurance on February 11 while addressing a massive rally in Khejuri in Nandigram: "There is no reason to blame the people of Nandigram. They will understand one day, and until that day we will not be taking a single step towards industrialisation in the region. No land will be taken by force from the people of Nandigram... It is true we want industrialisation, but not at the expense of the tears of the people."

He had said so earlier as well and had even made it clear that the proposed chemical hub would be shifted if the people of the region did not want it. Still, barely a week after his public pronouncement in Khejuri, 22 houses (18 on February 17 and four on February 18) were plundered and burnt by the BUPC. It was not necessary that the victims be CPI(M) workers or supporters; anyone who refused to carry the black flag and join them faced their wrath, including landless labourers.

Hijacked

SUSHANTA PATRONOBISH

Some of the CPI(M) supporters of Nandigram who took refuge in a relief camp at Tekhali stage a dharna in Kolkata.

The struggle for land seemed to have been hijacked by the Trinamool Congress' partners into one for the creation of a "liberated" area for themselves. The Chief Minister's verbal assurances were not enough for Mamata Banerjee. Addressing a convention of the Krishi Jami Rakshya Committee in Kolkata on March 18, she said: "Only verbal assurances will not do, all notices will have to be withdrawn legally. The Chief Minister had earlier said that the notice should be scrapped in Nandigram, but even after that genocide has taken place there."

To go back to January, when the trouble first began with the inopportune notice from the Haldia Development Authority, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee made a public statement, saying: "I have asked the District Magistrate to tear up that notice." He also made it clear that the deployment of the police force in Nandigram had nothing to do with land acquisition and was meant to bring about a semblance of the rule of law in the area.

To defuse the tension, the very next day the East Midnapore District Magistrate issued a notification stating categorically that no land in Nandigram block would be acquired for industrial purposes. This was also a reiteration of the decision announced two days earlier at a meeting of the CPI(M) and its partners. It was also decided at the meeting that there would be phased withdrawal of the police from the region. On the night following the District Magistrate's notification, violence erupted again in Nandigram. Trinamool Congress activists attacked people in Sonachura, grievously injuring three, and dug up the roads and culverts that had been repaired. The next day, around 500 Trinamool Congress supporters, armed with crude bombs and guns, stormed the relief camp where those rendered homeless in Nandigram had sought shelter and ransacked the CPI(M) office set up there.

What went wrong in Nandigram on March 14 will be known only when the Calcutta High Court gives its full judgment on the basis of the CBI's report. One of the factors may be the deep-seated conspiracy that Biman Bose spoke about to Frontline to disrupt the industrial drive and even oust the government.

Whatever be the outcome of the High Court's findings and the various inquiries and investigations, the ultimate loser might be the unemployed young men and women who saw a ray of hope in the steadily improving rating of West Bengal among industrial investors from outside the State.