[Marxism] Article in People's Democracy on Nandigram

["A. Mani" <a_mani_sc_gs@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Nandigram: Rumours And Truths

Debranjan
 

AS if the death of 14 people is not enough unfortunate, deliberate rumors are 
being spread now about the Nandigram incident. Every possible medium â
television channels to Internet, are being used to magnify the âhorrorâ.
 

NUMBERS INFLATED

 

To portray the March 14 incident as a âmass killingâ, the number of those 
actually killed is now being inflated to infinite. If one reads through 
various statements by the opposition leaders and a section of the media, the 
number of dead can be anywhere between 50 to 200, even âthousandâ as 
claimed 
by an actress in her column in a Bengali daily. Some like Medha Patkar have 
alleged that the children were beaten to death ââ without providing a 
single 
instance, without naming a single child. The reality is that by March 20, the 
number of dead remained at 14, including one killed in bomb injury. Two 
bodies remain unidentified, unclaimed, fuelling suspicion that they were 
outsiders brought in for âactionâ by Trinamul Congress. 


There is also a constant rumor of large number of people being âmissingâ. 


Here is a short take (A CNN-IBN report): Nandigram: No missing report filed 
yet

Monday March 19, 03:30 PM 

New Delhi: Even five days after the police firing left 14 people dead in 
Nandigram, no missing report has been filed with the police so far.
 

"Nobody has lodged any missing diary in connection with the incident. So, 
going by official records, there are no reports of any person missing," East 
Midnapur police superintendent G A Srinivas said. 
 

One of the top leaders of the farmerâs body that is heading the agitation 
against the state government and the CPI(M) over the now aborted SEZ project 
of Indonesiaâs Salim group in the village, also said that nobody had filed a 
missing report. 
 

However, convenor of the Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee (Commitee for 
Resistance against Land Acquisition), S K Sufiyan claimed that they were 
still collecting details. 
 

Now, how the lies are being manufactured has been provided by another 
interesting piece of report by the correspondent of Ekdin, a newly published 
Bengali daily, claiming to be âthe only oppositionâ. This virulent 
anti-Left 
paper reported on March 18: ââ here true news means the news of their 
choice. 
The moment I reached Nandigram, I heard thousands of bodies are floating in 
Chuniburi canal. Another story is police has entered in a school and killed 
children by piercing them. Some were telling police has carried the beautiful 
ladies in lorries. I asked where they were taken. One replied âtowards 
Kolkataâ. I asked âhave you seen anything?â He said, âNo, the other 
people 
had seenââ.Wherever I was talking with people there were some who were 
prompting people to tell that the police has cut down womenâs chestsâ. I 
was 
forced to stop them.â 


By the way, this correspondent has also reported that how the rumours had been 
spread for the last two and half months and how the local journalists were 
threatened to work under duress. 

 

For the last few days there are reports of ârapesâ too in some newspapers. 
Incidentally, in all cases the source of the news is same: one Ashok Samanta, 
who is a renowned leader of SUCI doctorsâ cell. 
 

WHO CARRIED FIRE ARMS? WHO ARE THE LEADERS? 

 
Not only on March 14, the criminals were in rule in Nandigram from the first 
week of January. Even before the day of confrontation with police, the 
newspapers reported that the criminals were prepared with firearms and they 
were in the attacking mood. Some examples from their reports: 

 
âIt is apprehended that at least six outsiders are killed by the firing from 
agitatorsâ (Bartaman daily, March 10) 
 

âThe armed residents are on the streets for stiff resistance. The women are 
with sticks and sharp weapons. Many of the men are carrying fire 
armsâ (Pratidin daily, March 14) 


âThe leader of the Bhumi Ucched Protirodh Committee S K Sufiyan said, we also 
fired to resistâ (Ekdin, March 10).


There are numerous such reports in the press who are spearheading the 
anti-CPI(M) campaign. Anandabazar Patrika has printed a photo of a rally of 
Bhumi Ucched Protirodh Committee in which some persons are seen openly 
brandishing revolvers. 
 

While it is true that a section of the general people in Nandigram has joined 
the agitation, the so called movement has its special leaders. It is these 
âleadersâ who had attacked the houses of CPI(M) sympathisers, burnt 22 
houses, destroyed 48 houses, killed at least 4 CPI(M) activists, ousted 
hundreds from the villages, engaged in rape and torture of women, collected 
lakhs of rupees as ransom. 


Anyone going to Nandigram now will hear the name of one Khokan Shet, a 
Trinamul activist who has been charged with rape and looting much before the 
Nandigram incident. Shet has also led the barbaric killing of Sankar Samanta, 
CPI(M) member of the panchayat. He led the attack on March 14 too. 

 
The leader of the action squad is Imran, popularly known as âDacoit Imranâ. 
This hardcore criminalâs profession is dacoity in East Midnapore and South 24 
Parganas. He is leading the looting spree in villages. It is reported that he 
led a team of armed criminals on March 14 in Talpati area. Another hardened 
criminal Bhaglu has become the leader of the agitation. Bhaglu is an 
absconding criminal charged with three murders in Diamond Harbour sub 
division of South 24 Parganas. He was also charged with rape cases. All these 
cases are there before he became a leader in Nandigram. He is now a Trinamul 
Congress activist.

Some of the âagitatorsâ were hired. A team of almost 35 criminals were 
brought 
from adjoining Kanthi and even from Pingla, Keshpur. Two known criminals of 
Jharkhand Party â Irfan and Suven Ghosh â were brought from Belpahari and 
Binpur along with some people of those areas. Both these leaders are charged 
with more than one murder case in their respective areas. They were close 
associates of Maoists and were trained by them. They killed several CPI(M) 
leaders and activists in West Midnapore district. It was mainly through them 
that the Maoists joined in the armed action in Nandigram.


Yes, these are the âleadersâ whom we see in media accompanying Medha Patkar 
to 
L K Advani.

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Best

A. Mani
Member, Cal. Math. Soc

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