[Reader-list] Nandigram....

[TaraPrakash]

Well, the wizards of the words, Hitler was one of them, know how to confuse
the and send the main issues to the backburner. The exchanges in the below
mail and whatever preceded this clarification seems to me as criminal and
unfortunate as is the debate whether Babar ever demolished the Ram temple in
Ayodhya and built the mosque in the temple's place; after the massacre in
Gujarat. Whether there was a notice or not, what its contents were, whether
14 people got killed or 14 thousand, or none at all, is a debate that
mortifies those butchered in Nandi Gram. It hurts the sensibilities of those
who suffered with them, wherever they were.
As a citizen of this democratic country, people would like to know, why the
goons of Capitalist Party of India (Murderers) , were allowed to have a free
for all in Nandi Gram. CPIM has been getting itself elected by people
"democratically", whatever means they use for it is a different matter, why
couldn't they function in a democratic manner? Weren't, those who died, on
whatever side, citizens of this country who had a right to protecttion by
the state? If the state couldn't give them protection, shouldn't the state
government, at least, apologise for failing in their duty?
Rather than isolating the criminals and their bourgeois supporters in the
metropolitan cities, by letting them explain to you that actually there were
13 people and not fourteen whom we killed, and actually the women who were
raped were not virgins, and the notice was printed with inkjet printer and
not hand written, it was signed by x and countersigned by none, and so on
and so forth, aren't we giving them space for sidetracking the actual
violence unleashed on the villagers?
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Shuddhabrata Sengupta" <shuddha at sarai.net>
To: "sarai list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2007 6:19 AM
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Nandigram....


> Dear All,
>
> I have recently been forwarded a post (on the Foil List) made by Vijay
> Prashad on the Foil List
> (http://insaf.net/mailman/listinfo/foil-l_insaf.net)
>
> This post contains Sudhanva Deshpande's criticism of the reading I had
> done (posted here and on Kafila.org)of his ZNet Commentary on Nandigram
>  (earlier forwarded on this thread on the Reader List by Prakash Ray.)
>
> Since this is not a private communication, and has been made on an
> archived mailing list. I thought - that in the interests of free and
> fair debate on the issue of Nandigram on the Reader List, since it
> represents a significant criticism of my recent writing and in order
> that we have more than one side's take on this issue - it ought to be
> read here as well.
>
> regards,
>
> Shuddha
> ---------------------------------------------------
> SUDHANVA DESHPANDE'S CRITICISM OF MY POSTS ON NANDIGRAM
>
> Dear Shuddhabrata,
>
> Some friends were kind enough to forward your response to my ZNet
> commentary, which you posted on the Sarai list. I found then that the
> response is also posted on Kafila. Your eloquence overwhelms me. I am
> not,however, similarly blessed. I will keep my response short, and limit
> it to the two points of fact that you dispute.
>
> The number of dead. I said that 14 died on March 14, and, as many on the
> Left have said, this was 14 too many. I have faced police brutality a
> number of times while protesting, and I am no fan of it. I am perfectly
> willing to believe that the number exceeds 14. All I am asking for is:
> where are the lists of those dead or missing? Masum supplied to the
> Asian Human Rights Commission a list of 11 dead, and there were fears
> that the number would be higher. For seven-and-a-half-months, from March
> 14 to end of October, Nandigram was out of bounds for CPI (M)
> supporters. Surely, this was enough time to figure out who was missing.
>
> As I wrote in my commentary, the one list submitted to the court turned
> out to be a fraud. If you have come across any other list, please do let
> me know. Sanhati doesn't have a list, by the way, so don't bother with 
> that.
>
> As an aside, a Bengali paper today published an interview with a
> "corpse." This man, by the way, is Kanai Sheth, alleged to have been
> killed on November 9. He is also, by the way, the father of Khokon
> Sheth, the main accused in the killing of Shankar Samanta, the elected
> panchayat member from Nandigram, who was hacked and burnt on January 7.
> Old man Kanai, by the way, was not interviewed in a hideout, but in his
> own house, where he returned after the violence abated. He was, by the
> way, hiding in a CPI (M)-run camp all the while, which is why the BUPC
> activists couldn't trace him and presumed him murdered, especially given
> his relationship to the main accused in the killing of an elected
> representative. Oh, but the interview appeared in Ganashakti, so I am
> sure it is utter fabrication.
>
> Then, the notice. What did I say? That the notice was meant to clarify
> rumours about land acquisition, and that the notice itself was not a
> land acquisition notice. As you well know, the proposal of the chemical
> hub was not new. The location was not finalized. There was speculation,
> there were rumours ­ about how much land would be acquired, which blocks
> would come under acquisition, whether it will all be done at one go, and
> so on. The notice was meant to clarify how much land would come under
> acquisition. The second notice was a further clarification on the first
> one, to say that the acquisition would be in phases, and to tell the
> public exactly which blocks were to be covered.
>
> In any case, as the Chief Minister pointed out, the Haldia Development
> Authority had overstepped its jurisdiction in issuing the notice. But
> suppose, for argument's sake, that it had not overstepped its
> jurisdiction. Is a notice that informs the public of an intention to
> acquire land the same as a notice that actually acquires the land?
> Surely not. Even you would understand this. A research proposal is
> merely that, a proposal. A Ph.D. thesis is something else.
>
> Did I say in my commentary that the notice(s) denied the proposed land
> acquisition? No. You simply attribute it to me. The simplest argument to
> demolish is one that was never made.
>
> Your other, more recent post, the one about Prabhat Patnaik, Irfan
> Habib, Vivan Sundaram et al., was also forwarded to me, this time by
> another friend, with the question, "Why is he so abusive?" I corrected
> her by pointing out that there was in fact no abuse in your post, though
> the prose tends toward purple. Given your long record of struggle and
> sacrifice for the poor and dispossessed, you are understandably angry
> with individuals who have nothing to show on that front. People with
> fancy institutional affiliations do not abuse. Abuse is what a poor
> cycle rickshaw wallah gets from guys who drive big imported cars. I am
> told it leads to a testosterone surge and makes them feel manly.
>
> You have never made a secret of your intense hatred for the Left. I only
> urge you to lace your purple prose with the occasional nod at verifiable
> facts.
>
> Best,
>
> Sudhanva
>
> PS: Reptiles - Phylum Reptilia ­ are a class of vertebrates, and they do
> have backbones, I am afraid. And a species is not the same as a phylum
> either. And to deride reptiles because they do not, like the species
> Homo sapiens, have a conscience ­ oh dear, this is not very humble, is it.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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