A Land of Lamentation
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The new development is worrying the Left.
For many devout Muslims owing political allegiance to CPM,
and other Left Front partners such as Forward Bloc, RSP, and the CPI
went to attend the Jamait Ulema-I-Hind's gathering in Baruipur and
Nandigram.
[Times Of India,4February 2007]
A LAND OF LAMENTATIONVIDYUT CHAKRABORTY
Nandigram fiasco in East Midnapore (purbo Medinipur) of
West Bengal (Poschim Bango) left a scrimmage in the history
of mass movement of Bengal. A plan was there toward the
industrialization on the other bank of Haldi River facing the
glamour of the Haldia Port Area. It is a only port at the
proximity of Bay of Bengal. The old Calcutta Port is a river
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port less navigable for heavy cargo shipment. Industrialization
and Urbanization takes a quick go-through at ease in the port
area and lessen the smuggling activity in the area. Traders of
British (Serampore), Dutch(Chinsura), French(Chandan
Nagar) and Portuguese(Bandel) and others crumbled at the-
then navigable Hoogly river(called Bhagirathi/ Ganga)and
made ports on the banks. Beyond Calcutta Port there was
ancient Diamond Harbour. More ahead there is the junction of
Bhagirathi and Haldi River near to the mouth of the sea
(Mohana). Being near to the Mohana, salinity of water did
permit neither the land of Haldia nor the land of Nandigram
arable through out the year. So the earlier government
planned to plant a chemical hub and the vested interest of the
coastal zone incited a propaganda against the industrialization
and the then Chief Minister bowed to honour the wish of the
general mass stating If the people do not want there shall be
no industrial venture in Nandigram. Thereafter politics
created the whirlwind of rattling and battling, the peasantry
fell amidst the gun fire between the Police and the Extremist
leftist rightist combination. Nandigram became a free zone
without any governance except the thumb rule of the anti-Left
Front organization. Down the ages, the Tiwaris (Brajomohan
clan) ,the Nandas, the Pandas and the Samantha, era,
Jana ,Maity were the Hindu Population ruling over the Muslim
Peasantry( mainly fishermen community).Due to lack of
cultivation the herds therein were migrating ones settling in
Calcutta, Bombay and other urban areas for living hood and
thus created a very strong cultural heritage of plurality and
simplicity. Nandigram's teenage house-wife of primary
education level even in 1940 had have the strong awareness
of this heritage of drama, literature, social reform and
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advancements. Then it is an unnecessary euphoria that the
decadent polity gashed. Some people had fear for loosing
something, some had greed for looting something, some had
tears toshed on pauperism, some had dear lands to part in
high price. These are common in story of middle class lifestyle.
Then there was booty to be shared by politician and NGO; the
leftist government was also shaky to loose mass base on the
background of recession stricken industrialization.
The main point is that the Left Front government rose into the helm of West Bengal’s
political power riding on the popularity of Labour movement and Peasant’s struggle
against feudal lords and also of Food movement. The Front took some relief to the
poor peasants through land reforms. The total arable lands of the province have been
distributed to the poor farmers which is unique in the history of Indian peasantry. In
other provinces of India the peasantry means and includes land barons and bourgeoisie
big land owners. Most of the lands in Bengal are crops yielder; barren lands are
countable in numbers. For initiating industrialization one man cannot afford hectares of
land to a buyer, so many people have to sell land at a time which is possible only when
government takes the warranty of fare price to safeguard the peasants from the greed
of land- sharks and to do that the British left out Land Acquisition Act of 1894 with
some modification done by post independent India’s Union Government championed by
INC.But the current Union Government under the governance of the INC warranted
nothing on acquisition of peasant’s land-an item under concurrent list, used to be
acquired by the provincial government , though they warranted industrialization by the
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national and international business houses under their neo-reform policy
enforced against mass-movement led by the leftist. In Bengal leftist was locked into a
cleft stick. They dolled out lands to the poor peasantry, the peasants yielded crops that
landed West Bengal in first position in India , as a result the consumer market boosted
up to more or less Rs.20000 crore, and the industrial output has sunk to zero-core. The
other provinces rich in industry, mainly four in numbers, supply the requirements. Thus
the State has been grounded to an importing state lacking manufacturing units. There
lies the importance of Power plants, Steel plants, Motor factories, Chemical hubs, Roads
and Airports and IT hubs to arrange more employment for future generation. The needs
are still there not only for the eastern part but for all over India. The recession bars, the
policy hinders, the polity debars, the principle differs, the vastnesses of nation with
diversity disunite, so how one can fast forward to move alone. So Posco failed, Davol
backtracked, Noida land grab spilled. But to monolithic media, it is only the wretched
Nandigram that caused the ruin of Bengal. This village of ancient Tamralipto was
unknown in history but elegant in style.
Alas! Nandigram is now famous in story but sick in vile.
It was not the people’s rage over the land grabbing attitude of the left Front
Government, it was that the media-hype, rumour-mongering of vested
interest, it was a conspiracy hatched by the native ambitious political rivals
and abetted by the reformist corporate conglomerates to uproot the socialist
governance of West Bengal. The combined forces were successful to reap the
civil war due to a persisting fight between the supporters of two political
dons and the strong enforcement of weak political strategy. Internal-
conflicts among the parties and partners of the Left Front owing to the
strategy of combat against land acquisition in all other states of India and
the strategy of land grabbing in West Bengal only. The Marxist parties were
suffering with dichotomy in the federal structure of the country and their
supporters and sympathizers were in two minds. A big confusion making
program was scheduled actually after land acquisition process in Singur
where in Tata Motors, a giant conglomerate in automobile industry, was
building a factory for small car.
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Foreign and Native media men were the invincible hands for support
The general mass always seek immediate solution of their problems, they do
not rely on theorization of the cause and remedy of the problems. There was
land reform in West Bengal some thirty years back and the Leftists did not
think of the land bank for industrialization. They did not make them
prepared to switch over to the subsequent phase of land reforms, the
obvious course of industrialization, what they tried to propagate at the
heated moment for recourse. The propaganda fell flat, instead the ant-
industrialization and anti-land grabbing hype took root to the minds pf
people who even been a city pent cried over the category of fertile non fertile
single-crop multi-crop arguments albeit accepting the need of
industrialization on the land that were non-existent, so there was satirical
comment of landing industry on air only. Nandigram was selected as Nirmal
Gram Panchayat (Clean Village Council) Award by the Central Government
Body and some officers from the concern department was on the way to the
village to bestow the award to the village council(Gram Panchayat).On the
same day the local Block Development officer, a junior Civil Servant under a
mysterious command of his hierarchy hung a notice of acquiring land for
Chemical Hub, the notice was unsigned by the Haldia Development Authority
under which in no way the BDO works for and by no means the HAD had the
authority and jurisdiction to act upon. The Flash News speeded like a
wildfire that some officers came to notify the land to be acquired as
published in the BDO office and the zeep of the officers was set into fire by
the angry mob and the officers were sent to nearby hospital. Mr.Sankar
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Samanta ,a Police officer was beheaded by the angry mob who tool over the
control and led anarchy. The Telegraph, on 4 January 2007 was headlined,
"False alarm sparks clash". According to the newspaper that village
council meeting at which the alleged land seizure was to be announced was
actually a meeting to declare Nandigram a "clean village," that is, a village in
which all the households had access to toilet
facilities.
The Nandigram SEZ controversy
started when the government of West Bengal
decided that the Salim Group of Indonesia
would set up a chemical hub under the SEZ
policy at Nandigram, a rural area in the district of Purba(East) Medinipur.
The villagers took over the administration of the area and all the roads to
the villages were cut off. The administration was directed to break the
Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee's (Land Acquisition Resistance
Committee’s) barricade at Nandigram and a massive operation with at least
3,000 policemen allegedly along with cadre of the CPI (M) the ruling party
was launched on March 14, 2007. BUPC amassed a crowd of roughly 2,000
villagers at the entry points into Nandigram with women and children
forming the front ranks. In the resulting mayhem, at least 14 people were
killed. There were rumours like the kids were torn into twos, the Mazhar-
Madrasa-Mosques were to demolished, massive rapes took places and the
dead bodies were made floated and buried in the nearby firth. The style of
eruption of agitation and alienation led Nandigram under virtual an island
from the main land and the old rivalry with the village Khejuri sharpened to
the edge. The then Chief Minister of Left Front requested the agitators to
calm down and to come down to normal way of life with the assurance that
in accordance with the people’s dissent there would not be any sort of
industrialization. But the opposition parties with the help of ultra extremists
groups and some NGO declaring themselves as good Samaritans poked their
interest into the turmoil, and the Nandigram was declared ‘Freedom’-
schools and offices and all such civic institutions were cut off to
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dysfunctional and the trenches turned the village into an isolated island.
Blood deaths and anarchy continued for a few months as if the two sides,
Leftist backed forces and the anti Leftist block, were in vow to go back to the
battle field of the medieval war zone. The Left Front government which was
formed through the continuous struggle by the peasants against the
feudalism struck with a blow from the peasants’ protest against them did not
function and sat idle till the Assembly Election was declared in April 2011.
Foreign press and foreign aids came up to heal the wounds and injury; they
were pioneered by the local press and NGOs not to the wretched victims of
Nandigram side but not to the homeless poor leftist peasants who migrated
to the Khejuri side. Nandigram’s struggle wrote a history and everywhere in
West Bengal people under the leadership of the opposition party raised
blockade on land acquisition for industry and the inflow of investment in the
State was stopped. The history marked the State a non-productive zone for
investment and the opposition party swiped the poll and came to power with
havoc majority in May2011.The Leftist rule for over 34 years span in a
federal democratic structure of India had a great fall. This debacle can be
compare with the basics of the fall of the Soviet.
The opposition party supreme who staged the movement is now chieftain of
the affairs of the State is crying for land to cosmetic makeup as pro-industry
campaigner is now crying for land and not getting a square area for the
dream land bank.
People of Nandigram reaped nothing out of it -no industry for scope of
employment, not an acre of good crops but the red flag is scared to flatter in
the air of in Nandigram only. The good rich men do not enter there with high
pride. The chapter of euphoria is now over and the dry politics reign over.
Follow Links : The vedio footage & Films directed by the Ms Anindita Sarbadhikari on Nandigram
1. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8074711989640985072
2. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3924953024386968311&hl=en
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3. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8022234047270357934
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against feudal lords and also of Food movement. The Front took
some relief to the poor peasants through land
reforms. The total arable lands of the
province have 18
beendistributed to the poor farmers which is unique in
the history of Indian peasantry. In other provinces
of India the peasantry means and includes land
barons and 19
bourgeoisie bigland owners.
Most of the lands in Bengal are crops yielder,
barren lands are countable
innumbers. For initiating
industrialization 20
one man cannot afford hectares of land to abuyer, so many people have
to sell land at a time which is possible only
whengovernment takes the warranty
of fare price to 21
safeguard the peasants from the
greed of land- sharks and to do that the British left
out Land Acquisition Act of
1894 with somemodification
done by post 22
independent India’s Union Government
championed by INC.But the current Union Government
under the governance of the
INC warranted nothingon
23
acquisition of peasant’s land-an
item under concurrent list,
used to be acquired by theprovincial government , though they warranted
24
industrialization by the national
andinternational business
houses under their neo-reform
policy enforced against mass-movement led by the leftist.In
25
Bengal leftist was locked into a cleft stick. They dolled out lands to the
poor peasantry,the peasants yielded crops that landed West Bengal in first position in
India , as a 26
resultthe consumer market boosted up
to more or less Rs.20000 crore,
and the industrialoutput
has sunk to zero-core. The other provinces rich in industry, mainly
27
four innumbers, supply the
requirements. Thus the State has been grounded to an importingstate
lacking manufacturing
units. There lies the importance of
28
Power plants, Steelplants, Motor factories, Chemical hubs, Roads and Airports and IT hubs to arrange
moreemployment for future
generation. The needs are still
29
there not only for the eastern partbut for all over India. The recession bars, the policy
hinders, the polity debars,
theprinciple differs, the vastness of
nation with 30
diversity disunite, so how one can fastforward to
move alone.So Posco failed, Davol
backtracked, Noida land grab spilled. But to
monolithic media , itis only the
31
wretched Nandigram that
caused the ruin of Bengal.Tthis
village of ancient Tamralipto was
unknown in history but elegant in
style. Alas!Nandigram
32
is now famous in story but sick
in vile.
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