Three years on, Nandigram asks for peace

The 7500-odd CPI(M) (Communist Party of India Marxist) cadres who had been driven out of Nandigram and adjoining Khejuri in the wake of resistance against land acquisition for the 13,000 acre chemical hub project, have returned albeit without fanfare or talk of “re-capture”.

In the rural community that achieved notoriety in 2007 for unabated violence and turf wars, giving Trinamool Congress (TMC) a platform for the change agenda, there is a movement away from hostility and a grudging acceptance of coexistence and industrialisation.

‘Paribartan’ the buzzword for political ‘change’ in West Bengal appears to have come to Nandigram.

“Almost everybody who had been forced to leave has gone back. Fifty-odd remain in relief camps. This has happened because people no longer want violence and will ostracise the TMC if it goes back to that school of politics,” said local CPI(M) leader Lakshman Seth.

Having paid the price of allegedly spearheading the violence last time around by losing his seat to TMC in the Lok Sabha elections of 2009, Seth appears to have emerged wiser.

Over 100 CPI(M) offices, vandalised and shut in the aftermath of the TMC panchayat victory and the second time routing of CPI(M) cadres, have haltingly opened and red supporters are willing to accept allegiance in the open.

“I am a CPI(M) supporter and will vote for them,” said first time voter Sheikh Arafat in the presence of a crowd, an admission that would have been close to impossible three years back.

Symbolic of the change are graffiti, streamers and flags decorating the countryside. In 2007, when they changed, the transformation was absolute from the red to TMC colours. Today, the countryside symbolises the rivalry-a multitude of colours as opposed to either party’s complete dominance.

“They [CPI-M cadre] have come back and are in hiding. As of now, things are peaceful. Violence is always a possibility here, but the mass warrants against both sides and the fact that the election commission is looking for them, has so far meant that things remain silent,” said Sheikh Riazuddin, a small-time local businessman.

The area, along with neighbouring Sonachura was the crux of the turf war between the TMC and the CPI(M), the seeds of which lay in the issue of land acquisition for a proposed chemical hub by the Singapore-based Salim group. The proposed hub was to later displace people across 36 villages.

With a predominantly Muslim population, the area has traditionally been a red bastion. The civil war like situation which continued from January 2007 and escalated in March when a police firing killed an unspecified number of people ran through mid-2008. Unsurprisingly in the ensuing panchayat elections TMC and allies gained total control of the area.

Nandigram had since become the symbol of people with a supposed anti-industry stance. It was symbolic for other reasons as well. It was Nandigram that turned the Bengal intelligentsia, many of who were Left-leaning, against the West Bengal government. In Kolkata, 170 km from Nandigram, apolitical rallies became a daily fare.

Despite the anti-industry image remaining constant, the people have changed-'a change' ironically similar to the pro-industry stance taken by Banerjee’s manifesto.

“We are all for industrialisation and are ready for land acquisition, but only if done on fair terms through a process of dialogue and acceptance. Unilateral action and a mute acceptance of communist diktat will not be accepted,” said Khejuri resident Anukul Maity.

A clear reversal of the stance that violence-ridden Nandigram took in 2007, when the very idea of giving up land was unacceptable.

Here, in evidence is Mamata magic. “It is impossible for us trust anyone besides her. Agreed that we need industrialisation, but we cannot trust the Left or even independent private investors,” Maity said.

Incidentally, the patches of stark green lush fields is deceptive, given that land in the area is mono, dual crop or barren and priced at 2-lakh -Rs 3 lakh an acre as opposed to Singur, for example, which is multiple crop, the peak market rate commanding a price of Rs 57 lakh an acre.

And while most still believe that Mamata must be given a chance, if not due to merit then because of disillusionment with the Left, signs of an erosion of trust in the overall TMC merit are already visible.

Nihari Layya, a scheduled caste TMC worker and a panchayat member from TMC for three terms has stopped going to work and disassociated herself from the party citing reasons of mismanagement of work and fund misappropriation by the lower-rung TMC leaders.

“Didi is good to us, she understands our problems. The problem today is that a lot of work that is coming to the panchayats is not getting done because of lower levels of TMC leaders. Hence I have quit, but I have faith in her,” she said.

Also in question is Banerjee’s choice of candidate for the legislative polls. Local TMC workers have written to Mamata against Firoza Bibi—who won the Nandigram by-election for assembly by some 39,000 votes—but to no heed.

The martyrs' epitaphs dotting the Nandigram countryside might be painful souvenirs to survivors of death and the fact that it might still become a reality; as of now Nandigram is asking for peace.