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Nandigram decides to keep politicians at bay
Sujit Nath
Nandigram, January 6
DETERMINED NOT to let Nandigram become yet another political battlefield, villagers who stand to lose their land to make way for the proposed, special economic zone (SEZ) have decided at a meeting on Saturday that they would unite and not let go of even an inch of farmland. The move is in response to the meeting that local leaders of most Opposition parties have had with the state administration on Friday afternoon.
The villagers fear that the state government is keen on breaking the unity of the people and are thus trying to get politicians of diverse political parties involved in the issue. Singur, for instance, they point out, .is a case in point. What started off as a fight for land by the villagers there was hijacked by the' Trinamool Congress that made it easier for the Left Front government to tackle the problem.
The villagers are angry at politicians for yet another reason. Soon after the meeting with the district administration officials, leaders of the Trinamool, the Congress and the SUCI went round the troubled villages telling the people to stay clam. Yet, when armed suspected cadres of the CPI (M) attacked the village of Sonachro on Saturday night, no politician had come forward to defend them.
So, it's a decision to fight their own battle themselves. On Saturday, the villagers gathered at Garchakraberia to voice their concerns. Organised by the newly-formed Bhumi Uchhed Protirodh Committee, an alliance of local apolitical outfits, most villagers spoke out against the politicisation of what is essentially a fight for livelihood, the presence of the Jamat-E-Ulema-Hind in the committee has made some villagers angry and a new platform is likely to take shape in the coming days.
Meanwhile, tension is palpable along the Nandigram-Khajuri border where CPI (M) activists have set up camps. BDO Ashok Bera told HT, "These are camps for the Haldia Utsav. They are not CPI (M) cadres, they are tourists." But Khejuri .CPI (M) gram panchayat member Sadhin Pramanik said, "The camps are there to keep a close watch on the villagers. If they attack us we will fight back."