Red is the colour of blood

There is clear evidence after the massacre that 'Operation Nandigram' was jointly conducted by the police and armed cadre of the ruling CPI(M)

Rajat Roy nandigram

There was a time when Nandigram was merely a plot of land in a backward agricultural area of West Bengal. It's now another word for carnage. Nandigram also means conspiracy and political isolation. One day, perhaps, it will be a term for harmony.

March 14, 2007, has opened up a new chapter in the contemporary history of West Bengal. It was the day a 2,000-strong police force fired at the villagers of Nandigram in coastal Midnapore, killing at least 15 people, and injuring another 70. The unofficial account puts the death toll at around 72, for several people are still missing. The state administration wanted to take control of the area where thousands of peasants have been opposing government efforts at acquiring 15,000-20,000 acres of agricultural land to set up a chemical hub — or a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) — with investment coming from the Salim group of Indonesia.

There have been other incidents of police firing on people in Bengal. But Nandigram told its own story. In the first place, it was not a case of sporadic firing and there has been no evidence yet that the police acted in self defence. Second, it is gradually becoming clear from an inquiry conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and video clips, that 'Operation Nandigram' was jointly conducted by the police and armed militants of the ruling Communist Party of India Marxist, CPI(M).

That's ironical, to say the least, for in the last 30 years of the Left rule in the state, rural voters have been consistent in their support for the communists. In fact, in the late 1940s and early 1950s, like many other peasant belts of Bengal, Nandigram had joined the communist-inspired Tebhagha Movement. In the heart of Nandigram stands a statue of Bhupal Ponda, a peasant leader of the area who died fighting landlords and zamindars.

Even in the last assembly election, when the the Left Front won 235 seats out of 294, 155-160 of its victories were from rural areas. But that didn't stop the police and the armed men of the CPI(M). The brutality of the attack was such that whatever little could be shown by the various TV channels ( the police and party cadres blocked the entry to the spot when the operation was on) shocked the state. Governor Gopal Gandhi expressed "a sense of cold horror''. In an impromptu statement, he said: "The thought in my mind and of all sensitive people now is — was this spilling of human blood not avoidable?"

The repercussions were felt all over. Some of the prominent Left artists and intellectuals voiced their anger and anguish against the government, a few resigned from government bodies, some returned government awards — and quite a few came out on the streets in protest. The judiciary, too, reacted.

The Kolkata High Court ordered a CBI inquiry into the incident and the interim report of its findings has already put the ruling party on the backfoot. The arrest of ten CPI(M) militants with firearms and the recovery of ammunition, coupled with TV channels' video images of armed men in civilian clothes operating along with the police, indicated the involvement of the party in the incident. The 15 bodies have a macabre story to tell as well. Only five had bullet wounds below the waist. The majority had either been hit on the chest or head.

Two weeks later, the political body count has begun. The first in the line of fire is Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee — severely criticised inside the party, within the Left, and, of course, outside the government for mismanaging the Nandigram affair. The party has stopped the implementation of SEZs in the state till a comprehensive policy is formulated by the Centre.