[Reader-list] Fwd: [foil] Press Release: Savage State Terror in Nandigram!

[Jeebesh Bagchi]

----- Forwarded Message ----
From: nilanjan hajra <nhajra at hotmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2007 9:59:03 AM
Subject: FW: Fwd: [foil] Press Release: Savage State Terror in  
Nandigram!
Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2007 04:28:59 +0000

In addition to the protests listed below against Buddhadeb  
Bhattacharjee-led
CPI(M) government's well planned (for over two months) and calculated  
murder
(the police IG was constantly in touch with the Chief Minister) of at  
least
20 farmers in Nandigram, the following leading theater personalities  
(as far
as I know, there may be some more) of West Bengal have resigned from the
West Bengal Natya Academy, refusing to have any connection with the  
killers:

Mr. Bibhas Chakraborty
Mr. Monoj Mitra
Mr. Ashoke Mukhopadhyay
Mr. Kaushik Sen
Mr. Bratya Basu

Bratya Basu has written a moving piece in Bengali daily Ek Din on farmer
Haradhan Bag's suicide after losing his land in Singur to the TATA  
MOTORS.

EK DIN Editor Suman Chattopadhyay in a signed front page Editorial has
compared the Nandigram murder to Jaliwanala Bagh.  West Bengal's  
Governor
Gopal Krishna Gandhi in his reaction has said, "the news has filled  
me with
cold horror" (reproted in all major channels and dailies).

Lawyers in large numbers, irrespective of party affiliations, have  
taken to
the streets across West Bengal in protest.

CPI(M) Politbureau Members Biman Bose, Brinda Karat and Sitaram  
Yechury have
justified the police action.

We appeal to all human beings to join the protest in whatever  
possible form.
   Please also forward these mails to as many as you can especially  
outside
West Bengal.

In Solidarity,
Nilanjan Hajra.
Kolkata.
- ------------------------------------------------------
Dear All,

A situation of terror has been created by the ruling
C.P.M Government and party in Nandigram over the past
few days. The matter reached a head as a huge
contingent of 4000-5000 comprising the Police Force
along with Para-Military, Rapid Action Force and
Combat Commando Force attacked Nandigram in the name
of "Operation Nandigram". This has come as a
repressive measure in the face of protest and local
movement (Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee (Committee
to Prevent Farmland Eviction)) by the people of
Nandigram against the forceful land acquisition for
proposed SEZs (Salim Group, Indonesia) in the area.

This is the second instance of violence in the area,
the first being in early January when 6 people were
killed. The last instance was provoked in the wake of
the local adminsitration serving notices for land
acquistion. After country wide crticism and protests
againt the state government, the Chief Minister had
issued a statement that no land would be acquired in
Nandigram if the people are not willing. Despite this
statement government has continued to maintain
pressure in the area through deployment of armed
forces. This clearly shows on whose side the Fascist
West Bengal Government is.

Today, on Wednesday morning the armed forces broke
fire on the people as a result of which 20 people have
been killed and over 200 injured. The State Government
and West Bengal police are still not declaring the
numbers dead and injured. A huge protest movement has
spread accross West Bengal. In every district
rallies,demonstrations, road-blockages are being
organised.In Kolkata a protest in the Rajya-sabha and
other places is going on. National Hawker Federation
and
Hawker Sangram Committee is also strongly condemning
this barbaric fascist action of West Bengal government
and organizing rallies all over Kolkata. Reporters
from all the major media institutions are also being
forcefully stopped from covering and reporting the
reality. Two reporters of TARA BANGLA News were
threatened by CPM party caders and are now missing.

WE APPEAL TO ALL THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN DEMOCRACY TO
CONDEMN THIS FASCIST MOVE BY THE GOVERNMENT TO
PRESSURISE LOCAL COMMUNITIES TO GIVE UP THEIR ONLY
SOURCES OF LIVELIHOODS. WE SEE THIS NANDIGRAM POLICE
FIRING AS A MASS KILLING LED BY THE GOVERNMENT WHO
STANDS ONLY IN SUPPORT OF CAPITALISTS AND ITS OWN
SELFISH INTERESTS.

WE APPEAL TO ALL CONCERNED TO
SEND LETTERS TO THE PRIME MINISTER, PRESIDENT AND
CHIEF MINISTER OF WEST BENGAL CONDEMNING 'OPERATION
NANDIGRAM'
ORGANISE PROTEST MEETINGS AND DEMONSTRATIONS IN OUR
RESPECTIVE CITIES AND REGIONS
SPREAD THE NEWS OF THIS HENIOUS ACT OF THE GOVERNMENT
IN WEST BENGAL
WRITE TO HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION FOR IMMEDIATE
INTERVENTION
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT

Sudipta Moitra
International Federation of Hawkers and Urban Poor
National Hawker Federation
Hawker Sangram Committee
16/17 College Street, Kolkata-700012, West Bengal,
India.
Tele/Fax: 91-22196688
Mob: 09433972662.
E-mails: ifhup.secretariat at gmail.com ,
nationalhawkerfederation at gmail.com ,
hawkersangramcommittee at gmail.com ,
sudipta.y2k at gmail.com , saktimghosh at yahoo.com

Samar Das, NAPM - 0943335946

Sumit Chowdhury, NAPM - 09830249430
sumit_chowdhary at yahoo.com

In Solidarity
Rifat Mumtaz and Manshi Asher

PLEASE CIRCULATE THIS MAIL WIDELY

II.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6448749.stm

'Seven die' in India farm clash

At least seven people have died after police in
eastern India fired at farmers protesting at
industrial plans.

Riot police were sent to Nandigram in West Bengal
after protests against land being used for a planned
chemical hub.

Police confirm two deaths. Doctors say five others
died of bullet wounds. Unrest in January claimed six
lives.

Protests have gone on despite the state government
pledging to move the plant elsewhere. New economic
zones are a hugely contentious issue in India.



'Regain control'

Farmers in Nandigram have fiercely resisted the West
Bengal government's plan to acquire farms for a hub
for chemical industries by an Indonesian company.


Six people, including a policemen, died during
protests in the area in January.

Earlier this week, the Communist-led state government
promised to shift the proposed chemical industry hub
out of Nandigram if locals continued to oppose it.

But Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya said the
administration would have to "regain control" over the
area and plans to send in riot police were announced.

Angry farmers along with political workers, belonging
to the state's governing Communist party and the
opposition Trinamul Congress, have dug up roads, burnt
down wooden bridges and attacked government officials
and policemen trying to enter Nandigram during the
past two months.

The BBC's Subir Bhaumik in Calcutta says it is not
clear why Wednesday's clash happened inspite of
government assurances to the local farmers about their
land.

On Wednesday morning, nearly 5,000 policemen set out
to take control in Nandigram when protesting farmers
prevented government and the police from entering the
area.

Police officials say they ran into fierce resistance
from thousands of farmers, both men and women, at the
village of Bankaberia.



'Lawlessness'

Senior West Bengal official Prasad Ranjan Roy said the
police fired tear gas shells to break up the protests,
and then fired and charged through the protesting
crowd when they came under attack.


"Nandigram has descended into lawlessness and no
government can simply be inactive," he said.

Eyewitnesses say the local hospital is teeming with
injured persons, many of them with bullet wounds.

The Trinamul Congress has called for a statewide
strike on Friday to protest against the police firing.


Two allies of the Communist party have said the police
action was "most unfortunate".

The issue of farm land acquisition has generated much
emotion in West Bengal in the past few months.

The government's move to allot 1,000 acres of land to
industrial giant, Tata Motors, to build a car factory
in the Singur area in Hooghly district generated
widespread protests.

State governments in India are acquiring large tracts
of land to set up special economic zones (SEZs) to
push up employment and earnings.

The federal government reckons that SEZs will bring in
$13.5bn in investment and create 890,000 jobs by 2009
if the ambitious plan is allowed to proceed.

Critics say this is destined to become the biggest
land grab in post-colonial India, given the lack of
transparency and rampant corruption in government.



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