[Reader-list] WB CPI (M) Deputation meets Governor on Nandigramdevelopments

[Tapas Ray]

The memorandum places a great deal of emphasis on Maoist involvement. 
Mention of this factor is also being heard frequently from 
government/ruling quarters. There was a lengthy item recently in Ajkaal, 
a Bengali daily supposedly close to Chief Minister Buddhadev 
Bhattacharya, with a title that translates roughly as 'Not Cong[ress] or 
Trinamool, it's Maoists that are entrenched in Nandigram'. The item 
says, essentially, that Tinamool and other opposition party workers are 
providing cover for Maoists in the area.

With this supposed involvement of Maoists, Nandigram becomes part of the 
larger Maoist challenge which Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has stated 
as being the greatest before the Indian state at this time. Therefore, a 
subtext in the memorandum is a call - to the Centre through the Governor 
- to view Nandigram as part of the national "Maoist problem". This call 
for a "law-and-order" approach can also be read as an admission of the 
failure of the political process.

A few thoughts, for whatever they are worth.

Long before the Maoists became involved in Nandigram, which is in the 
south-eastern part of West Bengal, in the coastal region, they had 
established themselves in the western part. In fact, one of their 
strongholds at that stage was the tribal-inhabited western part of 
erstwhile Midnapore district. Nandigram was also in Midnapore. After the 
district was split up into West M. and East M., the Naxalite (Maoist) 
belt fell in West Midnapore along with Bankura and Purulia districts. 
Nandigram fell in East Midnapore.

Thus, geographically, the Maoists were never far from Nandigram. The 
West Bengal government and the CPI(M) probably should have foreseen that 
if discontent festered, it would not be long before the Maoists found 
their way into Nandigram.

But why and how have the Maoists come back to West Bengal - in the 
western part long before Nandigram - over a quarter century after it 
seemed that the state had put the bloody Naxalite phase, which lasted 
from the late 1960s to mid-1970s, behind itself? If the weakness or 
failure of the democratic process can be blamed for the rise of the 
Maoist challenge in the tribal-dominated states of Chattisgarh and 
Jharkhand, and the tribal areas of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and 
Orissa, can something similar be said of West Bengal as well? A senior 
leader of one of the CPI(M)'s "junior partners" in West Bengal's Left 
Front government had told me that extremism was bound to rise if the 
people's urge for democracy was curbed. He was a grassroots politician, 
not an academic, and I suppose he had his ear to the ground.

If he had seen the writing on the wall, why hadn't the "senior partner" 
in the coalition, namely the CPI(M)?

Was there a way to forestall Nandigram's turn towards extremism - 
assuming that it has indeed taken that turn as the CPI(M) MPs and ruling 
circles claim? There probably was, but that option was - and is still 
being - passed by. The CPI(M) MPs' memorandum to the Governor makes it 
clear that even almost eight months after the March 14 carnage, in which 
14 people died, the "package announced" for victims - include 
compensation for the victims, shifting of the remaining police officers, 
punishment for the guilty, withdrawal of cases, and providing relief to 
the distressed people - is still only being "iterated". In this regard, 
those interested may read this article, which appeared in the Economic 
and Political Weekly last month:

http://www.epw.org.in/uploads/articles/11127.pdf

It says, "The findings of a people’s tribunal in Nandigram point to the 
fact that relief, rehabilitation and justice are yet to be provided to 
the victims of the Nandigram police firing on March 14.

Tapas



TaraPrakash wrote:
 > In other words, the government has lost control and must be replaced.
 > It was an interesting thing to add in the memo that the alliance that 
included ultra left destroyed red flags. The governor should be 
infuriated by this revelation. So, the president's rule in West Bengal? 
Marshal law?
 >
 > ----- Original Message ----- From: "prakash ray" <pkray11 at gmail.com>
 > To: <reader-list at sarai.net>
 > Sent: Saturday, November 10, 2007 2:21 AM
 > Subject: [Reader-list] WB CPI (M) Deputation meets Governor on 
Nandigramdevelopments
 >
 >
 >> A delegation of four WB CPI (M) MPs and one MLA met the Hon. 
Governor on the
 >> late morning of 9 November. The delegation in a detailed memorandum