Dictatorship of the ‘Proletariat?’

'Operation Recapture' shows the ruthlessness of a victorious army subjugating the conquered land. However, for how long can the CPM dominate Nandigram by brute force? A graphic account of what really happened

Rajat Roy Nandigram/Kolkata

It seems all quiet in Nandigram now. Around 1,200 CPM supporters, who were driven out of their homes, have returned. The West Bengal police, who were unable to enter the villages since March 14, 2007, after the first 'police-CPM-engineered' massacre of villagers and farmers in which 14 were 'officially' killed, are pumping their chests. Paramilitary forces are conducting flag marches to reassure the people. Relief workers, medical teams and media are being allowed access. The roads and street-corners are adorned with red flags of the CPM. Young, aggressive men in motorbikes are patrolling the area — often operating as armed cadre of the ruling party.

The defeated and demoralised leaders of the Bhumi Uchchhed Pratirodh Committee (BUPC) have fled to the neighbouring districts. Some of them are still around, but they have taken shelter in a relief camp. When things were at its peak, there were at least six to seven relief camps sheltering over 15,000 people. Now, only one relief camp is functioning at the BMT High School in Nandigram Bazaar, where about 600-700 people are still waiting for their turn to return home. Nandigram has been truly recaptured by the CPM.

According to official estimates, the toll of 'Operation Recapture' is pegged at four dead and 10 injured, while a few rape cases were reportedly recorded with the administration. But unofficial estimates put the death toll at 20 or more and BUPC claims that at least 32 people are still missing. In the prevailing atmosphere of several disappearances, eliminations, mistrust and fear, where the state administration's role is not above suspicion, it is still difficult to come to a realistic estimate.

The arrest of Tapan Ghosh (CPM's West Midnapur district committee member) and Sukur Ali (CPM's Garbeta zonal committee secretary), while smuggling out three people with bullet injuries, gives strength to the BUPC allegation that the CPM might have kidnapped a number of injured people, later, killed them, and destroyed all evidence. The criminal history of Ghosh and Ali is widely known. They were arrested at Egra near Nandigram on November 10, when the local TMC people gheraoed a convoy of four cars and found out that injured people were being abducted.

Since the CBI chargesheeted them as main culprits of the Chute Angora murder case, they have been evading the law. On January 4, 2001, at Chute Angora, five Trinamool Congress (TMC) supporters were murdered allegedly by CPM activists. The CBI investigation found Ghosh and Ali as the masterminds of those killings and they were chargesheeted along with 13 others. But the police, incidentally, declared them 'absconders' — although they have been prominently seen in many party programmes. Despite the court declaring them proclaimed offenders and ordering their property to be attached, nothing has been done to that effect. Indeed, even now, after their arrest, CPM leaders like Benoy Konar (who has been rather belligerent and crude recently) and Deepak Sarkar have proclaimed that these two are “assets” of the party.