[This is a long post. So be warned. May I also request people to read the whole post if they at all choose to start reading. Update on December 3, 2007: A minorly edited version of this post has appeared in the December edition of Pragati]
Amar naam, tomar naam—-Vietnam
“My name, your name, Vietnam”. Resonating across the streets of Calcutta and the villages of Bengal, this slogan of the late 60s and early 70s was as much a cry of solidarity for the Vietcong fighting the Americans as it was emblematic of the growing popularity of the philosophy of Communism among an entire generation, a political ideology that defined itself primarily by its support for the “little guy”, the downtrodden and the oppressed, as they fought the depredations of the West, evil corporations, landlords and the oppressive rule of the Congress. Tapping into this groundswell of Bengali idealistic passion, came to power a man who had positioned himself perfectly to ride the wave, branding himself as the “Sarboharar Neta” (the leader of those who have nothing).
A man by the name of Jyoti Basu, the leader of the CPIM.
Bengal was never the same again.
After nearly thirty years of Communist dominion in West Bengal, in what can only be called poetic irony, a word that rhymes with Vietnam has come to symbolize the political ideology of a new generation, that defines itself primarily by its support for the “little guy” as they fight the same set of enemies as before but with the oppressive rule of the Congress being now replaced by the oppressive rule of the CPIM.
That word is Nandigram —a human tragedy, an indictment of the extra-Constitutional authority of the democracy-crushing CPIM, and a political dagger in the hands of both the religious right and the “actual” Left to draw blood from their common enemy, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya
Will Bengal ever be the same again?
Nandigram—Nothing Neutral About It
Before we try to understand the significance of Nandigram, let us first try to get out of the way a common misconception. Nandigram is hardly about about resistance to the acquisition of land for SEZs—–the original notice by Haldia Development Authority was quickly withdrawn and as this video shows, (a person on being asked why they are continuing the struggle even after plans for the chemical hub have been officially abandoned says ” Why won’t they take the land. They still might. So we will continue with our agitation.”) it’s all about the struggle, the original cause be damned.
So then what is Nandigram?
A violent dog-fight for power being waged by the old guard (CPM’s Laxman Seth) on one side and the new Trinamool goombahs backed by the Maoists on the other, a conflict that had been simmering for quite a long time and only needed a spark to set alight.
For those of you who would like to believe that the Bhoomi Ucched Protirodh Committee is an organization of unarmed, peaceful Robin Hoodish peasants who have been resisting the “evil government” from encroaching on their land kindly see this multipart video[1, 2 and 3]. You will 
see people repeating rumors of hundreds of deaths (a number even the Bhoomi Ucched people cannot back up with names and addresses), telling fantastic stories of village ponds red with blood being emptied of all water and “purified” overnight. You will also see images of policemen with their heads bashed in being taken away, unarmed protestors hurling stones at the police from a neat pile of bricks that seem to have spontaneously materialized out of nowhere, Panchayat offices vandalized, a rotting body of a policeman Sadhucharan Chaterjee being recovered from the river and the most harrowing of them all—the wife of CPM leader Shankar Samanta detailing how her husband was dragged out of his house, hacked into pieces and set afire (which might remind some of Ehsaan Jafri).
But while many tears may be shed for Ehsaan Jafri (and rightfully too), there is little sympathy for Shankar Samanta. Why? As this report by a group of Left intellectuals (a few from JNU) say, Shankar Samanta had killed innocent villagers and hence “had it coming.”(or more precisely his supposed crimes put the murder in perspective) Of course, some questions may be raised as to why the word of the villagers (people who murdered Shankar Samanta) are considered to be fact while the CPM’s description of Shankar Samanta as “very harmless man” is put in inverted commas. I personally am not saying that Shankar Samanta was innocent or was harmless by any definition (not that it justifies his being brutalized by a mob) but this kind of rather uneven treatment of two versions of the story indicate that these self-professed Left winging intellectuals were pre-disposed to be critical of the CPM. [The Leftist fact-finders do not seem too interested in the fate of Sunita Mondol, a class ten girl, mutiliated and raped and hung on a tree at a time when Bhoomi Ucched people had barricaded the village and driven out all CPM men] While this bias against the Left by Leftist intellectuals may on the face of it seem paradoxical, I shall subsequently try to explain why the CPM under Buddha is the “true Left’s” biggest nightmare.
And while some of you may have stopped reading by this time and already gone to the comment section, for those who are still with me—-yes the video, originally telecast on a channel that is noted for its CPM sympathies, linked before also is not neutral, presenting just one side of the story with the narrator making no effort to hide which side her sympathies lie. This absence of reliable sources and numbers is indeed a problem for anyone trying to form an opinion on the actual events that happened in Nandigram. What then should people do?
Look at both sides of the story, use common sense and come to a conclusion.
Which for me is that while the CPIMs were no Cinderellas, the Bhoomi Ucched people are not exactly Snow Whites either—as a matter of fact they have quiet a bit of blood on their angelic halos. They had created unrest by spreading rumors of sinister plans to grab land, even after the government had publicly dropped all plans for land acquisition. They had driven out, through violence, villagers who held political beliefs different from theirs. They had looted, killed and raped. They had set up an alternate authority in the barricaded villages where people could not enter until vetted by the local Trinamool toughs.
Against this backdrop, it is incumbent upon any government to take action to restore the rule of law. There were however many options open to the West Bengal government to do that within the framework of legality—including calling in the Army. However the government took none of these options—–simply because they were not interested in merely affirming the rule of law.
Instead, they were more concerned about meting out raw retribution for the atrocities that had been perpetrated on the CPIM cadre and to re-assert the hold of the Marxists on rural Bengal. This is why, a crack army of the worst of CPIM goons from every corner of the state, using human shields drawn from the local population, marched upon Nandigram in a commando-style operation before going on a rampage of pillage, murder and rape while the police, also keen to seek revenge, backed them up.
The icing on the cake was provided by Chief Minister, Buddhadeb Bhattacharya who justified this dastardly extra-constitutional act of wanton violence as the “tit” for the “tat”, “our boys” paying “their boys” back in the same coin, completely forgetting his responsibilities as the CM to be protecting everyone in the state.
Shameful. Utterly shameful.
Vir Sanghvi explains this as the traditional Communist mindset that makes no distinction between state and party. I would put it slightly differently— it was more about asserting one of the most basic premises of Left rule in Bengal: what the Party giveth the Party taketh away (many of the Bhoomi Ucched people being ex-CPIM)
The CPIM Recipe for Power
To understand this a bit more, we need to look at why the CPIM has been politically impregnable in rural Bengal for more than thirty years.
CPIM’s stranglehold on rural power in Bengal stands upon several pillars. One of them is infiltration—-every government institution is staffed by Reds and anyone who is not Red is made irrelevant powerwise. The second is redistribution—-forcible acquisition of land/wealth from larger landlords and redistribution among cadres: a sure way of creating a large support base. The third is percolation—-letting the fruits of power percolate down the Red power structure (making a large number of people complicit in minor forms of corruption) whereas other parties tend to concentrate the benefits in the hands of the top brass, leaving the rank and file disgruntled. And the fourth is intimidation—in the cities it was through what Jatin Chakraborty, one-time best pal of Jyoti Basu and then sworn-enemy called “scientific rigging” and in the villages it was through acts of barbaric violence against anyone who tried to challenge the party; dead bodies turning up in ponds or in the paddy fields from time to time leaving villagers in no doubt as to who called the shots.
However as the years have gone by, a new generation of farmers have emerged, no longer having the same sense of obligation towards the CPIM that their fathers had. This has led to an erosion in the support base of the CPIM with many of the old strong hands graduating to the Trinamul Congress. With Buddha spelling out grand strategies of industrializing Bengal’s rural landscape, a palpable sense of fear of being displaced has taken root among the rural population, a fear that has been adroitly fanned by Trinamul and Naxalite elements to get farmers to take up arms.
A violent break out had become inevitable. And when mayhem, initially targeted at CPIM took place in Nandigram, it became imperative for the Party to assert its power over life and death if only to set an example, if only to show that their iron control over the red dominion is as unforgiving as it always has been, if only to prevent a domino effect all over the state.
What the CPIM did not bargain for was the massive public upheaval in Bengal and the tidal wave of opinion directed at Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, that found expression through SMS-s, online petitions, mass emailing-s, discussions on social networking sites and a silent walk through the heart of Calcutta attended by thousands of people. While the only silver lining from this whole episode may have been this show of conscience from the people of West Bengal, what has been amusing to observe is the outpouring of vitriol against Buddhadeb and the CPIM from the Left-leaning cultural leaders of the state—–one of the Left Front’s most trenchant support base.
This has wrongly been interpreted by many as an expression of disillusionment by the Bengali intelligentsia with Communists after the heinous events of Nandigram .
Nothing I feel could be further from the truth.
Buddhi-Jeevis vs Buddha-Jivis
The Bengali intellectuals are livid not at the CPIM party in particular (the CPIM of Jyoti Basu) or the philosophy of Communism in general, despite the fact that it is an idea that has been confined to the dustbins of history elsewhere in the world.
They are just hopping mad at Buddhadeb Bhattacharya and his politics.
Because he is *not* Left enough.
You see these same intellectuals, with a few exceptions like Suman Chatterjee (whose anti-Left stance has been as constant as his tendency to get married to multiple people), had been perfectly silent during the dark days of the 80s and the 90s when Ananda Margis were being shot down by CPIM goons while the law looked the other way, when a factory manager had a tire put on him by the workers and set on fire in broad daylight as the Left workers cheered, when three women were pulled out of a car to be raped and Jyoti Babu brushed it away with a ” such things keep happening”, when CPIM goondas rode on bikes brandishing pipe-guns preventing entire localities from voting.
As long as the city was brought to standstill by massive rallies against the imperial Americans and their instruments of evil like the General Agreement on Trades and Tariffs (GATT), as long as bandhs protesting the anti-people policies of the Center gave the babus a day off, as long the militant trade unions of CITU sent another multinational packing from the city, as long as the powers-that-be blew out hot red air from body orifices, as long as Jyoti Basu handed out plots in Salt Lake at throw-away prices from the Chief Minister’s quota to the city’s “cultural elite” (read Leftist intellectuals), everything was just ah-ok
[Jyoti babu once famously asked why people ever complain about CPIM rule after all the plots of land he has given to the press, the artists and even the opposition.]
Usha Uthup, who has of late discovered a hidden stream of anti-CPIM-ness, verbalized the mindset of the left-leaning Bengali intellegentsia once upon a time with her ” Jyoti Babu Jyoti Babu don’t worry Jyoti Babu” song set to “Mustafa Mustafa don’t worry Mustafa” .
Nothing that happened in those happy days of Jyotism was worth protesting about or writing citizen’s reports on— not the reign of terror of the CPIM, not the total subversion of contrarian opinion in all the institutions and not the marginalization of those intellectuals whose views did not tally with the Left.
Things however started changing once Jyoti Basu, the darling of the “humanist” intellectuals, stepped down and Buddha took over. Noone knew how different Buddha actually was from Jyoti Czar before he became the CM—–as a minister he was as dogmatic as the rest of the Alimuddin crowd preferring to spend his time translating revolutionary works into Bengali and analyzing obscure movies of peasant uprisings.
But then something changed.
He first put the cat among the pigeons by saying that unregulated madrasas were being used to spread messages of Jihad. Immediately there was an outcry from many Left intellectuals as even hinting that there exists a concerted movement of radical Islam is blasphemy for “radical humanists”. Then started Buddha’s active courting of foreign investment, even the notorious Selim Group of Indonesia, once the bete noire of the Bengal Communists for having buttressed Communist-hating Soharto. Buddha’s aggressive industrialization drive was in sharp contrast to Jyoti Babu’s summer-time sojourns in European capitals, the official reason for which was attracting “foreign investments”. Because these rather faint endeavors produced nothing but better physical and emotional health for the leader of the destitute, they were acceptable to the real Leftists, albeit after a smirk or two.
However unlike Jyoti-dadu, Buddha was actually getting evil capitalists into the state. He was undermining the authority of the mighty trade unions, trying to get rid of the prevalent bandh culture (or as the intellectuals would say putting curbs on democratic expression of dissent) and dreaming of rapidly industrializing Bengal’s countryside, an endeavor that would provide opportunities for so many Bengalis, who had to leave the state due to the closure of industries in the 70s and 80s because of militant trade unionism and lack of electric power, to come back again.
So what’s wrong in all this?
Bloody hell it’s not Leftist !
For a state whose intellectuals have a tendency to glorify poverty (” We are too cultured to be rich”) and consider screwing capitalists and “imperialists” preferable to the flight of capital and loss of jobs, Buddha represents all that is not Bangali Communism.
For the JNU crowd of “historians” it has become increasingly difficult to explain over sips of capitalist beverages at the India habitat center why the CPIM central leadership opposed the same policies at the center that Buddha followed in Bengal,why Karat foams and froths about not undermining China while Buddhadeb argues for greater US-India cooperation.
Surely such a person had to go !
In a video whose link I have lost, I saw a supposed Bangali comic taunting Buddhadeb by reading out passages from his uncle Sukanta, a noted revolutionist Bangla Communist poet, to point out how much he had deviated from the golden path of Communism. During the townhall discussion on NDTV, an audience member called for the need for an alternative “Leftist” movement without Buddha.
Why do I mention this? Simply to re-iterate that the present disturbance has not made a large section of Leftists disillusioned with the philosophy of Communism. On that contrary, it has merely provided them a rallying point to articulate their desire of bringing back the old Jyoti Basu days of “pure Marxism” and comfortable stasis.
Some of you might interpret this last few paragraphs as a defense of Buddhadeb. It is not. Buddha, for all his great administrative skills (and this reminds me of yet another Chief Minister) and his radical reforms,has failed , either willingly or because he is powerless in this respect, to change the fundamentally oppressive nature of Left rule that bases itself, among other things, on fear and subjugation of dissent. In failing, he has himself handed to his critics, on both sides of the political spectrum, a multi-pronged trident to draw blood. And they arent being shy in poking it everywhere.
For those of you who think I am shooting the messengers (the brave Left intellectuals), I say in my defense that I am not equating Buddha’s responsibility for atrocities with the political opportunism of the “Bam-ponthi” intellectuals—they of course do not balance each other out. However, it is not unfair to point out the not-so-hidden agenda of some of the prominent Left voices (often masquerading as “independent”) who have spearheaded the protest, especially when you consider how they have remained silent spectators when other atrocities perpetrated by the Jyoti Basu-led Left front have happened.
The divided loyalties of the Bengali intellectuals, torn between their Marxist ideals and loyalty to the hand that gives, has been perhaps best captured by Mrinal Sen (a mostly silent voice against Left Front barbarities in the past) walking in two marches on successive days, one taken out by “citizens against Buddhadeb” and one taken out by the CPIM in support of the Chief Minister. A sidelight: Prabhuji Mithun walked in support of Buddha which was slightly ironic considering that in movies like “Tulkalam” and “MLA Fatakeshto” he is shown as fighting for farmers against evil corporations out to acquire their land. Of course Mithunda has his reasons and I will not try to analyze them here as it is futile trying to peek into the mind of God.
Lastly, Nandigram has been a gift from above for an increasingly irrelevant Mamta Banerjee and for the religious right, who after years of being pilloried by the Left for atrocities on innocents in their states, are enjoying kicking the Reds in the nuts ( I have never seen terror like Nandigram says Mr. Advani [yeah right]) and even accusing the Left of communal violence against minorities, forgetting of course to mention that many of the victims and many of the accused are Muslims.
Conclusion
Once the smokescreen has cleared, political punches landed and the sense of outrage has dissipated, what’s left in Nandigram is a human tragedy of epic proportions whose the victims have cut across all political lines.
What’s even more horrifying however is what lies in the future.
With the continued perpetuation of the traditional Marxist power idiom of violent cadre-ism and the accompanying reactionary “itching-for-violence” Maoist-Trinamool presence in rural Bengal, incidents like Nandigram will remain just one rumor, just one notice, just one bullet away from happening.
It is difficult for me to blame buddhadeb as a person. I like him as he is trying to do something. My grudge is against the left-rule which for 30 years threw meritocracy out of window. I hate the left-rule which ensured that everything from police to school gets filled up on basis of party-loyalty. More at oshantomon.blogspot.com
Arnab,
The truth is, as you noticed, that the CPIM is divided between those who profited from the “machine” (terrors, land reform, and redistribution of wealth), that is, the old cadre, and the “reformers” (reindustrialization, and more prosperity). What Buddhadeb has unleashed is ultimately untenable for a party that is so deeply clientelistic. Whereas the “machine” relies on forced capture of land, etc., the reform group relies on secure private property rights and curbing of labor militancy. This contradiction has created a split that Buddhadeb cannot easily overcome.
What Buddhadeb wanted was a reform akin to China, but what he did not understand was that the Indian media is free, social networking cannot be controlled by the government, nor can the opposition forces. So, his economic liberalization has had its political impact. He is not Deng, but Gorbachev; with all the implications that it entails for the CPM.
Another salient point that you hinted at, but did not develop at length: the entwining of the party and the state. The state government, from the panchayat, to the police station is controlled by the diktat of the local party offices of the CPIM. Thus, is the CPIM collapses, so does the state apparatus of Bengal. This is the scenario that not many have thought about. This is very important in light of continued infilitration of Jehadi elements through the porous borders of Bengal and Bangladesh.
Anyway, I was waiting for your viewpoint on the issue: it is rather balanced and astute. Perhaps, you should read Sunil Gangopadhyay’s piece in Anandabazar. He also implicates these intellectuals. People like Aparna Sen, Goutam Ghosh, and especially Rituporno, have fed on the CPIM institutions, via the very same film festivals, the “plots”, the sponsorship of movies, etc.. However, I think, the opposition that brings down single party regimes lie within them. This has been the trend the world over: Dubcek, Yeltsin, or Cardenas in Mexico. So, yes, they are being disloyal, but they will exploit their protected status, which is not shared by those in the Opposition, to be the first rebels.
The sufferings of CPIM rule are very personal to me. My family comes from the extinct species of “Bengali Business” houses. Now, not a single person from my generation lives in Calcutta; and, exile is a bitter experience. Yet, when I see the literati against the CPIM, members of the same set who stood outside our institution and instigated laborers, I feel that what was lost by us, the economic and social philosophy of capitalism, is being vindicated.
Vasabjit
Those of us who are outside Bengal and those who are living the daily suffocation of the CPIM rule seem to have different view points. For many of the non-aligned “common” people the overwhelming opposition of the CPIM stance by the left intelligentsia has come as a very faint ray of hope, a hairline crack that may, with some wish full thinking, bring down the communist establishment sometime in the next few hundred years. For those of us who have distanced ourselves from Bengal politics where incidents like Nandigram stir the heart as much as say the genocide in Sudan but still retain enough Bengali-ness to be appalled by the episode, this review says it all.
while you have exhausted all angles of this issue i just want to add this:
the biggest achievement of the West Bengal Left(and maybe the only one apart from building Nandan) is the abolishing of the zamindari system.
it’s not as if the new generation of farmers do not need the CPI(M) as land reforms in West Bengal are very strategically incomplete. most sharecroppers do not have title to the land they till (hence are also not entitled to compensation when the land is acquired). so they depend on the Left for the limited rights they have.
so, ironically, it is this incompleteness in land reforms that is the biggest obstacle to land acquisition and thereby, industrialization.
This along with many other factors show that there is no moving forward without addressing the acts and omission of 30 years of misrule for Buddhadeb Bhattacharya.
it was sheer political opportunism to ferment the insurgency in Nandigram. however, i am stunned by the stupidity of those fools who supported the BUPC, thinking they can speak the language of brutality better than the CPI(M).
This is a good article and puts a lot of things in the right perspective. But I would object to a few points. The fact that the people of Nandigram were able to do such an act with the support of Trinamul Congress or other parties is totally wrong. From 1967 CPIM and its allies have lost only once in that area. This is an area which is as CPIM as it gets. This is a protest which arose out of the people due to the fear of loss of property. The people involved here were mostly the common people and some people who left the CPIM. These people know very well how the CPIM works and what would happen. And so they used the same means of violence to blockade the area. The Trinamul Congress and other parties is just using the situation to establish a base in the area.
I like the fact that you say that Buddhadeb should be judged by what he and his government has done and not what he thought or might have thought. But I don’t totally agree with your picture of the buddhijibis. One must realize that buddhadeb with his personality and poetic side is a great favourite of the buddhijibis. It is only after the recent incident that there is such an outcry among them. It is true that the protesting buddhijibis were mostly silent during the atrocities during jyoti basu’s term. That was because most of these people were actively part of the communist government coming to power. Then the situation was such that people in power were their friends whom they felt incorrect to criticize. It is when the government and the buddhijibis changed one generation that the criticism has again started. There is some disillusionment among some of them .And there are still some of them who still pledge their allegiance. I don’t think buddhadeb not being leftist enough has anything to do with the situation.
Looking at Bengal’s Godhra are we?
“This is a protest which arose out of the people due to the fear of loss of property.”
Samik, I beg to disagree. As WTF pointed out, this is more about who holds the title to the land and benefits from acquisition. The people who were protesting the acquisition initially were certainly not the land-owners.
In fact, wherever new projects have been successfully initiated in Bengal, the land-owners have seen the projects as a windfall and happily sold agricultural land at market prices (I should know, almost all of the agricultural land in my village got sold for an industrial project, the land-owners literally scrambling over themselves to sell).
For all of Bengal’s fertility, agriculture is hard work with uncertain returns. Also, the CPIM’s consistent undermining of landowners have left them with very little control over how their land-holdings are to be used. And land-owning families tend to be better educated and skilled, so have a better chance of finding employment in the new project.
The ones who protest the acquisition are the sharecroppers/agricultural tenants or agricultural labourers. They receive no compensation, have very uncertain prospects of finding employment in the project (beyond the initial construction phase), and are less mobile as well.
Personally, I think the sharecroppers/labourers are outraged at this ultimate betrayal by the CPIM, given that CPIM’s rural base is almost entirely built on the solid support of sharecroppers/labourers. Ergo, exodus towards the Maoists.
(Arnab, I obviously haven’t been following the details closely, but I was surprised to note that Trinamool is spearheading the violence there. I thought the Maoists were to blame entirely).
Of course, bolte hobe na, but this is definitely one of your best pieces. Given all the charged emotions around the issue, it is hard to get a semblance of balance.
Finally, a balanced point-of-view on Nandigram!
@WTF:
“the biggest achievement of the West Bengal Left(and maybe the only one apart from building Nandan) is the abolishing of the zamindari system.” WTF??????
Operation Barga is not same as the aboloshing of Zamindari, which was aboloshed MUCH before CPM came to power….
On a lighter note, you missed out one more ‘jeebi’ Arnab-da. The complete list is ‘buddhi-jeebi’, ‘buddho-jeebi’ & ‘60GB’.
The last mentioned are the ’sunshine-industry’ workers in Kolkata’s Sector V (not to be confused with the sunrise which dawned in Nandigram, according to some).
Strong post GB,
You certainly remember a lot of stuff from the “good old days” of Bengal’s communist rule
GB,I hoped from the time the first comment appeared for post on Nandigram, that you wont take it up.I thought you, as everbody, will present a picture through the glass tinted by one color or the other. Glad you have proved me wrong. Couple of points I think you have not considered in the post. One is the greatly increased hunger for newsfeed of the country, due to the 24×7 news channels. The episodes of Jyoti babu era that you mentioned, would be big time stories in today’s constantly “breaking news” days. Then again we also did not have Greatbong.net (and other blogs) at that time. You pointed very briefly towards “another Chief Minister”(he had “parivar friends” doing the bidding, not people from his house). Worth mentioning that the alternative person to lead West Bengal, Didi, makes for a case of being compared to Pakistan.
IN GUJRAT , GOONDAS ARE ARRESTED AND PUNISHED BY COURT BUT IN BENGAL NO ONE ARRESTED TILL DATE.
WHY?
Brilliant ! Your best political post
Very well balanced sane take on the realities that most concerned people I meet, seem to ignore. The media has also fuelled confusion by not highlighting the true picture and is instead more concerned about TRPS which shoot up only showing jingoistic incendiary views. Last Sunday’s “We the People”(of Barkha Dutt fame) had an extremely confused Derek O brien (a person I so admired for being the perfect quizmaster after his father Neil O’Brien, the original quizmaster from the old Telegraph magazine days), who during the Nandigram debate had to justify his joining the Trinamool (after he himself brought it up) and botched up his image miserably by surprisingly incoherent blabber. The self-righteous crowd and the “Goddess of self-righteousness” , Barkha (yes she is one from the pantheon that dominate Indian talk shows of late) would not even let a journalist/filmmaker speak about what she had witnessed first-hand in Nandigram.
Thank God for the Internet… sane voices can’t be supressed by loudmouthed pacifists or fanatics-turned-innocent-sympathizers(with bespectacled Bambi eyes).
Nice post…the picture is too good. At first glance I felt as if blood was being dropped on the leader
“Buddha, for all his great administrative skills (and this reminds me of yet another Chief Minister) and his radical reforms,has failed”
Carrying from my previous comment on “Stinking Modi”, I want to reiterate that Modi is one of the most successful chief minister any India state ever had. He has single-handedly turned Gujarat into most developed state in the country.
@ciph3r
Totally agree with you. It was sad to see Derek O’Brien in that incoherent blabber.
Arnab,
I am an admirer of your writing, and generally identify with your line of reasonings. But this time, I must say you have genarlized a LOT by painting all the buddhi-jibis by same brush calling all of them ultra- lefts, which they are not. The Nandigram is just not a divide between left and ultra-left ( who according to you were anti- Budhdha to begin with), it is a matter of much larger and severe disappointment!
I am one of those persons who saw a ray of light in Budhdha. I myself am a victim of the left’s education policy( and its english-hatao thingy), industry policy and what not, and assent of Budhdha and talks of industrialization, we all felt happy.
But whatever CP(I)M does, it does in a weird way. Industrialization is good, but why government is being Dalal of lands? Government can simply ask the private companies to buy the lands from the farmers? why forceful evictions ( and there are forceful evictions, even if you don’t admit).
And what kind of groups?? Salim?? A shady group known for human rights violation? Apart from Tata, Budhdha has failed to attract a SINGLE respectable group.
And if you say, he failed but he and the new CPM is all for industrialization, then nothing is farther from truth. They are on your side only if you are deeeeeep -pocket with enough money for the relevant persons. If you go to set up a unit in rural bengal with moderate budget, they will have news for you.
Regarding anti-CPM sentiment, the cradle of torment is full and oozing out from any fissure available anywhere. Sometimes the fissure is Maoist insurgency ( don’t paint the villagers at Purulia as ultra-left, they don’t know what ultra-left or maoism is, only reality to them is torture of CPM and the “maoist” cadres are just a channel who can take retribution; I can appreciate as I have lived better part of my life at bandowan and nearby places) , sometimes for the lack of better it is TMC, in Chandmoni Tea Estate where CPM bulletted down peacefull hungry laborers it was a local labor union. But CP(I)M, with all its terrorism and supprot from an impotent centre has managed well so far in containing them.
Regarding your argument on trust, your amusement at why people disbelieved CPM even after CP(I)M publicly announced they will not go for an SEZ at Nandigram, well!! CP(I)M ( including our CM)publicly say , they are a communist party, and we should believe them! Hmm..
Arnab,
Rather good attempt to study the situation rationally. However, don’t you think that the situation reminds you about Frankenstein?
And Buddhadeb Babu, much as I admire him for his efforts towards reviving the economic situation of Bengal, has really added fuel to the fire by his comments.
After all, making such comments do not endear him to the investors too.
I am glad you summed up the issue so well. But I just want to ask about which JNU historians you are talking about. There is a major problem in the Indian historiography; it is inconsistent and hopelessly polarized. On one hand it is painful to see the rightist historians like Makhanlal and others who find ways to show that everything originated from the Vedas then you have the leftist historians. Students of history either have the choice to either go with the right or be with the left, and if you ask me their historical documentation makes much more sense. Some of our best historians are the ones with Left bias Romila Thapar, Irfan Habib, D.D Kosambi, G.R Sharma to name a few. Then you have the post colonial theorists, so Indian history as such is very convoluted, well all history is. But I do think the Left historians have done much more profound research than anyone else, even with their obvious bias.
“the biggest achievement of the West Bengal Left(and maybe the only one apart from building Nandan) is the abolishing of the zamindari system.”
It was indeed an achievement - NOT in the sense that it lifted people out of poverty. But it was an achievement and a genius act in the sense how it ensured a single party to be so well entrenched in power. All political parties should study this phenomenal achievement (but hopefully not be able to replicate ! One state wasted is enough)
Arnabda,
I guess Aparna Sen didnot get a plot in golf green or in Salt Lake at a lower price and guess thas the root cause. However see Soumitro , Dada, Prabhuji they are all supporting our dear CM simply because they have been patronized . So the Budhhajibi’s are the ‘HAVES’ and the buddhijibis ( or budhhibichis (no pun intended)) are the havenots.
All Budhdhajibis are BudhdhiJibi but not all budhdhijibi’s are Budhdhajibi. Example: Aparna Sen
I have a few points to make.
1. Any riot in India does not die down easily. The reverberations of Nandigram will be felt throught Indian politics and society for not merely years but decades. Just like other riots like Bhagalpur, Delhi, Mumbai, Gujrat etc.
2. Also just like Gujrat, the left may or may not loose Bengal in the next elections. but Nandigram will definately slow down their progress in other states. They will be weaker in national politics, which can be already seen in the nuclear deal.
Balanced analysis Arnabda, But as you mentioned, I still believe Buddha is the main culprit. Comments like “They have been paid back by their own Coin” - is not at all acceptable in democracy. Unfortunately there is no strong, responsible opposition in West Bengal, otherwise CPIM would have been in trouble.
WEll, I guess your article also iterates the point that when it comes to violence and the ability to murder in cold blood for a ‘higher’ end, the leftists and rightists are on the same plane, all the time.
I have been shocked witless by the defence of Nandigram by the Karat’s and yechury’s of the world. A defence that is eerily similar to the godhra defence a lot of sympathisers bandied about at the time.
The way out? Having spent time in Bengal, I think it will become increasingly obvious to the people that even stasis is not desirable, as it’s just not good enough any more. With outsiders streaming in all the time, legally and illegally, chances are the sort of bullying the CPIM got away with for years will start fading, as a second generation of settlers get the confidence to speak out and ‘express’ themselves. It will take a few dedicated election comission officials to make sure that they are not disenfranchised, of course.
A Vir Sanghvi, or even the views you have expressed, find more takers today, than they would have a few years back. The intellectuals too, if they live up to their moniker, will know when to make the shift to the right side.
The biggest problem of course remains the ’solution’. The crazy Ms Mamta Banerjee will put off the most ardent supporter of change, and a Congress that continues to swear by dynasty and nothing else holds out equally poor hopes for providing options.
Our best hope will be that the experience leads to at least the politburo being populated b far more people like Buddhadeb than currently, so that the man can at least execute what he sets out to do, rather than tripping up on sharp heels of his comrades.
“The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.”
In the classic Orwellian way, communist rule in Bengal has come a full circle.
I was not hopeful about Bengal when I had decided to shift base to Bangalore, 10 years back, and I am not still.
Good post GB. Provides a lot of insight into Bengal’s politics for ‘outsiders’ like me.
I have sympathies for Buddha-babu and his progressive policies but after the Rizwanur episode showed parts of the adminisration/police in bad light he must have thought of being of some damage control in the Nandigram episode. Instead he outraged the “Sarkar-maai-baap” tradition in our country by raging a shameless “eet-paatkel” debate against political opponents. Biman Bose ( Don’t even want to talk of him) was outright indecent in the CPIM rally where he tried to lampoon the intellectuals and the general support that the silent-match gathered.
It is not a state-secret now that Buddha is being feared and cornered by large quarters of ‘traditional’ Leftists within and outside Alimuddin. His plans are being sabotaged meticulously and his wish to portray Bengal as a FII destination is making the hawks quake in their pants. What for ? The answers are obvious. ‘Phoren’ connotes the Capitalist-America and hence a fear of losing support-base. One can only sigh in resignation that Jyoti-babu has so many cronies in the system till now.
But, as you have very appreciably made no bones about calling a CARNAGE a carnage…. Nandigram will go down the history pages as just another rural skirmish which managed to reach the ‘ears’ in Delhi, stalling the House unnecessarily for a couple of days. Blood spilled is blood lost. In our country, Life lost is a life forgotten. And that’s what sad.
p.s- Would love to know your views on my post on Nandigram.
How come no mention about Benoy Konar,Biman Bose and Shyamal Chkraborty..the infamous trio inciting the comrades from Alimuddin..at least press was allowed freely to move during Gujrat riot..what is there to hide in Nadigram by left?
I read the whole post.
How you get this patience to examine the other side of the story as well in such great detail! Contrast this with your views on Gujarat. There’s no other side there. How can there be truth in what ‘communal’ people say!
Budhadeb is not modern day Nero for people like you. Though the administration was in his hands to curb the violence which he didn’t, he can not be blamed solely for this. Contrast this with how you have criticized Modi.
There were riots for three days in Gujarat. Rioting has become commonplace in Nandigram. There were riots in Singur. There were ration riots very recently in West Bengal. Yet Budhadeb cannot be blamed. Budhadeb is the most ‘modern’ chief-minister you can get.
The human rights commission has indicted the WB government. That doesn’t find mention. On the contrary, whatever the said commission says about Gujarat is gospel.
And I don’t know what you found wrong in what Advani has said. Anyway it’s your duty to nail Advani and his party for whatever they do, good or bad.
People wanting to get to know how horrible Nandigram has beome under Budhadeb, please read this.
http://dailypioneer.com/columnist1.asp?main_variable=Columnist&file_name=mitra276.txt&writer=MITRA&validit=yes
The above comment was by me.
By the way,
“West Bengal government has sought six columns of Army to be deployed in Kolkata following violence over Nandigram.”
In my last article you had asked me for reference to the people who had been burnt in the brick kilns. Here you go………
http://telegraphindia.com/1071121/asp/bengal/story_8574034.asp
Arnab, kudos. The most balanced and comprehensive take on this subject that I have come across. Publish, man.
Except that I can’t agree about the ‘administrative ability’ (or acumen or whatever the term that you used).
You’ll appreciate why I won’t comment further here or add my 2-pice bit. When I can get online again we should talk about this.
J.A.P.
The jubilation continues unabated :
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7105277.stm
“The protesters started pelting policemen with brick bats and acid bottles in several places,
ARMY DEPLOYED AFTER CALCUTTA RIOT
==================================
Hundreds of soldiers are trying to keep peace in Calcutta
Troops have been deployed in the Indian city of Calcutta after protests over a controversial writer turned into riots.
Police using tear gas and baton charges were unable to control crowds calling for Bangladeshi feminist writer Taslima Nasreen to leave India.
Rioters blocked roads and set cars alight. At least 27 people were hurt. More than 100 arrests have been made.
Crowds were also protesting at recent attacks on Muslims in the Nandigram area in the east of West Bengal state.
A number of people have been killed and thousands left homeless in Nandigram after violence over now-abandoned state plans to industrialise farm land in the area.
Wednesday’s trouble in the state capital began after the predominantly Muslim All-India Minority Forum called for blockades on major roads in the city.
The group said Ms Nasreen had “seriously hurt Muslim sentiments”. Many Muslims say her writing ridicules Islam.
Police arrived in strength to disperse the demonstrators.
Violence then broke out in Ripon Street in the north of the city and spread to Park Circus, Moulali and many other areas of central Calcutta.
The BBC’s Subir Bhaumik in Calcutta says he saw two army columns, one in Park Circus and one in Moulali.
For most of the day, parts of the city centre were a no-go area, with main roads closed to traffic and commuters stranded.
Children spent hours in buses before they could be returned to the safety of their schools.
“THE PROTESTERS STARTED PELTING POLICEMEN WITH BRICK BATS AND ACID BOTTLES IN SEVERAL PLACES, so we can say the trouble making was planned and co-ordinated,” Calcutta police chief Gautam Chakrabarty said.
Idris Ali, a senior leader of the Minority Forum, blamed the state’s ruling Communists for the violence.
“They have infiltrated our ranks and sparked the violence. We wanted to protest peacefully but the Marxists are trying to discredit us,” Mr Ali told the BBC.
The Marxists denied the charge.
“We had no idea of their plans, they have planned the trouble, they must take the blame for this mayhem,” Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Biman Bose said.
@ Arnab
A very well balanced article.
Even though what happened in Kolkata today actually points to a more than what is already discussed.
Bringing anti-Taslima Nasreen feelings into the protests points to something that I have always talked about.
Are these the first signs of ‘Beirut effect’….only time will tell.
Har Har Bom Bom….how dare you instigate those innocent, secular, peace loving followers of Islam. Its all your fault….so lets hang Modi.
Such a situation in a country with the second largest standing army in the world! What we need is not a half-assed ‘effort’ but full-on ‘action’. But deploying the army is again another sham. Remember when the army went in to nab Veerappan and his band of 7 (or was it
merry men and returned empty-handed?
From the way I look at it, there’s nothing left in the left. The right also seems to be rooting only for their self’right’eous agenda. The center, aptly remains undecided. Mamta has no motherly love for the people. Irony is the norm here.
GB has tried to cover all sides here, but is there even ONE mainstream media report about Nandigram that is unbiased? Who do the people turn to? Or do the people really care?
What a fuking shame!
I am wondering as to who these Muslim rioters are. They are dressed in salwar kameez, and are basically speaking and chanting in Hindi. They are also asking for Taslima’s deportation to Bangladesh. I am (pardon my political incorrectness) wagering that these are Bihari muslims not Bengali muslims. It must also be noted that Rizwanur was a Bihari muslim. The botched police investigation led to a mini riot in Park Circus.
Thus, here we have a perfect overlap of a local crisis that has overlapped with the larger Nandigram situation. Taslima Nasrin is the symbol of the CPIM progressive platform: attacking her is attacking the CPIM.
The one problem is that the whole situation might take a communal/regional angle, which Mamata Banerjee (and other’s in the Opposition) can exploit. We must not forget that Calcutta has a history of sporadic violence. Everyone loses in such an event.
Godhra, Nandigram .. has started looking like a pattern.
Arnabda,
You are on a hatrick. Two consecutive excellent posts albeit of different flavours. I agree with you that this Nandigram issue has been turned into a political cash cow by all parties concerned. Trinamool as we all know follow one principle alone : Left bashing.
Let’s accept that industrial development is much more regarding that farming. To stagnate industrial growth would be a killer as we have all seen for the past 30 years. However, the farmer also has his rights to his land and livelihood. If one really had the farmers interests at heart then instead of going for cheap vote gains one should strike at the base of power. That is, one should work towards developing the farming standards in the state to a point where the crops make substantial profits so that the govt thinks twice before taking the land away. Invest in infrastructure, education and farming technology so that the farmers are empowered in the proper sense. Don’t just kill CPI(M) cadres. That won’t help the farmers or the state in general.
@Divya, WTF - To those of you who think that the abolishing of the zamindari system was a great acheivement, I ask was it fair to take lands away from those who owned it? Isn’t the same thing happening now in Nandigram? That is so “Robin Hoodish”…take from the rich ….however unfair it maybe and just give it to the pooor instead of working constructively towards uplifting the poor.
@ Vasabjit Banerjee : “I am wondering as to who these Muslim rioters are. I am (pardon my political incorrectness) wagering that these are Bihari muslims not Bengali muslims.”
Does it matter if they are Bihari or Bengali? The knives of the former excruciate as searingly as the latter.
“Thus, here we have a perfect overlap of a local crisis that has overlapped with the larger Nandigram situation.”
Isn’t this a typical ploy of the ‘religionists of piece’. They have the jaw-dropping ability to turn any situation in to an ‘anti-Muslim’ one. That is why never, in the history of the world, has any non-Muslim been successful in arriving at a single long-lasting solution with them, be it political, economic, or social.
“Taslima Nasrin is the symbol of the CPIM progressive platform: attacking her is attacking the CPIM”.
Is Taslima Nasrin truly a symbol of CPIM progressiveness? From a political and tactical angle, does her cause have any significance beyond the short term?
I think the Muslims of West Bengal have run out of causes to gripe about. There are no Gujaratis to retaliate if they burn 50 Hindu children & women alive (somehow the Patels of Bhowanipore are of softer mettle than Godhra).
There is no local clamouring for a unified civil code to impair preferential Islamic god-gifted rights. In fact, there is not even a murmur about their slow strangulation of a failed state by mass immigration and brutal ousting of the rapidly evanescent rural Hindu population.
They have grown B-O-R-E-D. Time for some entertainment. Time for some action. Time to attack Hindus. Peaceful (sic) protest in Mominpur today. With brickbats and acid. Peaceful protests engulfing the whole state tomorrow.
They used brickbats and acid AGAINST THE POLICE. God knows what they will use against us common folk.
My state has failed. My country is failing. Ons small consolation I will draw as the inferno closes around me, the scoundrels of the CPM, Congress and anti-secular (i.e pseudo-secular) brigade, who are responsible for this horrific debacle, will be flung into the fire by the Muslims before me.
I shall die with their screams drowning my own. So it will not all be wasted.
Unless I manage to emigrate for good to golden antipodean shores first. And fast.
GB,
First of all let me thank you for giving us a quite balanced and accurate picture of the Nandigram Crisis. I myself hail from a state that has a strong Left presence, though the rule ain’t absolute there are large swathes where the writ of the CPIM is ABSOLUTE! We don’t have goons with sawed off guns but we have Party Assassins with unmatched Machete and Garrote skills. Your point about the CPIM taking Direct Action against defiance of their writ, as against the Govt imposing Law & Order, is the key.
My take, OTOH, is on the “Intellectuals”….
The Intellectuals’ bile might be a result of them sensing that the “old ways” are changing. In post-breakup Russia and Belarus-Ukraine etc the old “Apparatchiks”, viz. Revolutionary Poets, Leftist Artists, Party Theorists, Leftist Philosophers etc, lost their umbrella. The new states wanted none of the deadwood…. it was Mafya and Capitalists and Rock Stars all the way. One has to see what this did to this class of (mostly) freeloaders to understand the fear of the Indian Chatterati. ( China is a different matter, post Cultural Revolution convulsions and all.)
The fact that Leftist Academics,Intellectuals and Artists hog the limelight is the political capital of the CPIM in power in W.B., Kerala (every other term though), the commie influx into the Media and Academic realms taking advantage of Nehruji’s idealism (and his occasional gullibility) and the infiltration of the Commies (like Kumaramangalam) into Indiraji’s INC. The Old-Boy networks, selective promotions, symbiosis, post-swapping, contacts with their Leftist/Pinko friends across the globe (look at the likes of Ward Churchill and Chomsky!). Truly a Communist-International, eh?
Now the rise of a new Bourgeois-Left, as against the hardcore “Party” Left, poses a fundamental threat to the well-being of the Intellectuals. Pinarayi Vijayan in Kerala and Buddhadev Bhattacharya are (in my opinion) harbingers of this New Indian Left that is free from Dogma, willing to dine with the devil, cavort with Capitalist Imperialists in public etc etc. These new commies have no time for vacuous “theories”, high falutin’ discourses on the subtle differences between Leninism and Marxism or indulge the Apparatchiks (who have egos the size of Jupiter). They are more practical, self-serving… and of course you might have the odd Commie who really want to make things better for the people, even if it damages “Party Standing”.
If such a faction gains ascendancy in the battle for the minds within the party (and without), it might be the end of the jolly Gravy Train. Voices once respected will not be entertained any more…. meritocracy may force Party Artists out of the loop….. underperforming workers and their parasitic leaders might find their status “under review”… “Established” Cultural Leaders and Ideas will be ousted by iconoclastic manifestations of global pop culture/capitalism/consumerism… Holy Cows won’t be holy anymore. This probably worries the intellectuals no end.
It ain’t JUST the “comfortable, very familiar stasis” as you pointed out…. it’s the question of sustainment of a large swathe of people. Influential people. These critters ain’t gonna cave in just like that. Some are already diversifying into Dalit Issues or Minority Issues or “Arms Control” or other Astroturfing campaigns, but the lion’s share in these areas are already taken by other parties…. and they will never enjoy paramountcy in these unfamiliar lands. Moreover, this ain’t as big as the Great Left Umbrella…. seats are limited you see.
Just my 2 cents.
“And what kind of groups?? Salim?? A shady group known for human rights violation? Apart from Tata, Budhdha has failed to attract a SINGLE respectable group.”
Huh?? What the Salim Group is known for is crony capitalism and borrowing money against next-to-nothing collaterals, not human rights violations (sounds familiar?). If they are to be accused of human rights violations, then every major conglomerate, whether American, European, Chinese, Indian or Indonesian can be accused of human rights violations.
In pre-1998 times, think of the Salim Group as an Indonesian Reliance Group - or an Indonesian Bajaj Group, but at a bigger scale (read Polyester Prince).
GB,
I think you should emphasize that the leaders of Bhumi Uchchhed PS are ex-cpi(m) men. They know how the wrath of the party works because they have meted it out to others before. They also know that they will not find forgiveness in the party. Like all communist parties, at the top level cpim is medieval. So these are desperate men fighting for their lives. This is why they turn to the Maoists. I have no doubt that the Maoists will try to use this incident to put their bases in West Bengal. This will be surely bad. But, please tell me this. Why should I, as an anti-communist, care. We have seen (and felt) our share of “education”, cpi(m) style, about what happens when you oppose the party. For us, Maoists are just another wolf.
Please feel free to tell me why we should care whether it is Maoists who do the extortion, or cpi(m). Of course, for people who has careers and more invested in the current ruling dispensation (and who, for whatever reason, ignored its depradations over the years; remember midnapur assembly election, Rajarhat, Bantalla, AnandaMarg? ) this event has come as a shock to see their own vulnerability against the system they supported so long.
How is it you still don’t unequivocally support property rights?
Instead of trying to figure out, on a case by case basis, whether this application of eminent domain is good, that one bad.
At times the media’s portrayal of this seems like “sunil gangulir diste diste lekha”. The essential evil of the left is glossed over. Even at the statesman. Pioneer is, of course, more fire and brimstone. Voices in the wind.
@ Vasabjit:
I think you are quite wrong about the “CPM using Tasleema as the mascot” thing.
Tasleema is a anti-Islamic humanist and CPM cannot even utter those words for fear of losing votes. Tasleema is a pariah in Bengal and the poor lady is running from pillar to post to get somebody to support her stay in India.
This riot in Kolkata was coming anyway…how Buddhadeb handles it… will determine how many years we are way from the ‘Kristallnacht’.
@ Vasabjit:
I know about Tasleema’s plight first hand because until 4 months back, a friend of mine was in direct communication with her.
GB,
I must add that I more or less agree with what you wrote, in spite of the above. A correction/clarification: Suman Chatujje has been consistently anti-cpi(m), not anti left. Also his anti-cpim stuff started only after the cpim started attacking him, for some trivial reason. Given also that he was a naxal during his JU days (so I have heard), I would imagine he is exactly like the other Antels.
all the best
Are you deleting my comments Arnabda ? I don’t fidn them.
[GB adds: No I have not. I never delete anyone’s comments unless abuse is used. I never got your comments—they are neither in moderation nor in spam. I am sorry for the inconvenience though but it just didnt go through.]
@ Vasabjit
And what is this Bihari Muslim..Bengali Muslim thingie…? Are you still living in the 1971, “Joy Bangla” propaganda years?
GB,
I have been waiting for this post for long. And THANKS a lot not only for your unbiased perspective but for the brief historical perspective you gave for people like me with limited knowledge about Bengal politics.
I saw an episode of Big Fight in which there was this CPI guy, BJP guy and Congress guy (I am sorry I don’t remember the names). The Congress guy said ‘Though Nandigram is a BIG shame for CPI, but please don’t forget the murderers of Gujarat’ .. people clapped .. and the BJP guy retorted ‘And how about the 3000 Sikh who were killed in Delhi - 84′ .. people again clapped. And that sums it up. This is how Nandigram will be remembered. Another one liner used in blame games on which people will clap in talk shows.
Hi GB!
I, like most of the other people posting here, am a regular reader of your blog. Many a times I’ve started writing comments on your posts and quit halfway thinking that my comments would be all very personal and they will not be able to “contribute” in any way. But this time I proabably would make an exception.
Thanks a lot GB, for putting up the most balanced article on this issue I’ve come across till now. The situation is grave and it does concern people like me who still are in their 20s and do wish to go back to the place they have been a part of all through their childhood.
CPM asks Tasleema to leave Bengal.
http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/nov/22taslima.htm
Hi Great Bong,
I follow most of your posts very closely and must say this post is very poignant in terms of content and neutral representation of facts. I’m not a “baam-ponthi” in any sense of the word, however I beg to differ with you on one point. You mention that Buddhadev Bhattacharyyas justification of the “tit for tat” act is not supportable, but I’d like to point out that the government has repeatedly tried to enter into dialogue with Trinamool and the latter constantly declined to do so. In the one instance that a meeting was eventually wored out, Mamata Bannerjee publicly stage showed resent by walking out before any reasonable conclusion could be reached. No doubt the comment seems very inhumane, especially since so many civilian lives are lost, but I fail to see in what other “bhodroloki” way can the histrionics of this insane female be handled ? She has created a wierd combination by tying with BJP and the Maoists, resists getting into any bilateral talk, and her party openly propounds the policy that they will come up with a BUPC where ever land acquisition is contemplated (in other words no cooperation at all, no matter what the govenrment ventures). It seems the government has put it’s best foot forward to resolve the matter peacefully, but there has to be initiative from the opposition too. Other than the “tit for tat” policy, looks like the only option the government was left with was getting this female treated in some mental asylum.
Rishi,
Thanksgiving break has indeed stoked our fires or perhaps increased our time. However, yes, there is a Bengali-Bihari problem that extends not merely to 1970-1971, but from Surawardy’s direct action movement during the mid-forties. Sadly, it is a well known fact that the Bihari muslims were the most radical East Pakistan supporters. This ironically made them pariahs in newly independent Bangladesh, where they are still denied citizenship status.
Due to the well known CPIM policies of resettling everyone and their uncle from Bangladesh, the Bihari muslims returned to Calcutta through the last three decades. Most of them have settled in precisely the riot affected areas in Calcutta; anyone who has made a trip through Park Circus and adjacent areas can easily attest to this demographic reality. Now, let me be clear, I am in no way stoking any ethnic fires here, but the CPIM used the “communal harmony” card with them to win the last elections (I think they have a left MP and MLAs at present). Of course, the Rizwanur case revealed the CPIM’s real interests (maintaining status and perks for the bhadraloks, party apparatchiks, and their IAS/IPS minions). So, these folks feel let down.
Finally, their own movement has become conflated with the ongoing Nandigram issue. This is actually a part of social movement oriented explanations: how large social movements attach themselves with local cleavages to develop….comprende?
@ Vasabjit:
The Bengali-Bihari distinction amongst the followers of Islam, in my opinion is a typical Bengali Hindu self deluding theory, that worked only once, the 1971 liberation war.
During Suhravardy’s time (direct action day), intellectual Bengali Hindus tried to fool themselves (nothing unusual) into thinking that the Bengali convert to Islam is somehow ’superior’ and hence less reactionery than the Hindi speaking convert to Islam.
This self-delusion, on the part of Hindu Bengalis stemmed primarily from the extreme language parochialism that exists even today amongst the Bengali ‘bhadrolok’.
Noakhali, broke that pipe dream in 1946. Self-determination and accession to Pakistan by Sylhet confirmed it.
BTW, now that Tasleema is being kicked out of Kolkata, everyone can go back to the usual CPM-Trinamool/bhumi ucched/maoist/islamist cacophony while i observe the tactical and strategic chess that is now Bengal.
No informed person, who has been following the Nandigram incidents, will deny what started off as a mass-uprising against land-acquisition has shifted gears to ‘elaka dakhal er lorai’ between warring parties. The detestable part is that the State is a protagonist in this war for reconquest. The state is, as the CM says, “conquering back” land from some of its people, and “paying back” some of its people “in the same coin”!!! Buddha is unable to distinguish between party and state. It is impossible not to protest this.
However, I am sad to see that you support the indiscriminate ‘neoliberal’ industrialization line advocated by Buddha. The need of the hour is jobs. While industrialization is inevitable, selling of farmlands (and a lot more farmlands than what is required, if you’ve been following many article that appeared in the aftermath of Singur and Nandigram) to large corporation led industries which perform ever so poorly as job-generators, catering to only a few at the cost of many, and hence moving the entire society more and more away from a stable equilibrium.
I would encourage you and all your readers to read this analytical article and then revise your own judgement. The article explains analytically why putting our investments in small industries and rejecting profit-making large corporations will help the economy fare better.
Thanks.
Btw, I am not a JNU historian, thought I’d mention that
Guys, GB -
I am very confused here.
Nandigram was about (apparently) land to be seized by the government and the farmers protesting against it OR (really) CPIM and Trinamool and other vested interests trying to show who is the “bloody” boss.
The riots in Kolkatta are Nandigram related.
How the fuk does Taslima figure in all of this ?
@ Turrtle:
“The riots in Kolkatta are Nandigram related.
How the fuk does Taslima figure in all of this ?”
lol…Because Bengal has a high Muslim population, and Nandigram has a even high Muslim presence.
Since, a large section of the participants in these protests are followers of Islam…hence Taslima was just a matter of time. Tomorrow you will have the same Nandigram protesters in Kolkata, include American presence in Iraq as a additional reason for rioting.
By the way, I agree with the comments made by Samik.
@rishi_khujur : I think your statement needs a little correction
“Because Bengal has a high Muslim population, and Nandigram has a even high Muslim presence.”
It should read - “Because Bengal has a high [Bangladeshi] Muslim population, and Nandigram has a even high [Bangladeshi] Muslim presence.”
I think this Naslima thing is something to do with most muslims being from bangladesh
@ Kaunteya
“I think this Naslima thing is something to do with most muslims being from bangladesh”
Nehi bhai…I have to say that there is little ideological difference between Bangladeshi or a West Bengali Muslim. Except for the dialect, and small physical features (if they are Sylheti) they are indistinguishable.
Those physical and dialect differences exists amongst Bengali Hindus too.
So bottomline, the Taslima Nasreen thing has to do with Nandigram being a ‘first prom-party’ event for overt Islamism in Bengal.
@ Kaunte