Opinion | Columnists
Consensus needed to sort Nandigram issue
It is unfortunate that the West Bengal government has turned out to be as autocratic as the governments in many other states in India.
- By Kuldip Nayar, Special to Gulf News
- Published: 23:22 November 16, 2007
I asked some high-up in the government at the Centre what happened at Nandigram. He merely said: "It was the CPM's Waterloo." The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has, indeed, been exposed and it has lost stock among the intelligentsia.
Nandigram in West Bengal is a cluster of villages. This is where the CPM government tried vainly earlier in the year to acquire agricultural land in the name of "public interest" to establish a Special Economic Zone (SEZ). The Salim Group of Industries from Indonesia had sought a SEZ to start an array of industries. It meant huge capital for West Bengal. This was an effort to begin the industrialisation of the state which was once a hub of the corporate sector. The proposal had to be dropped because of violence.
I think that the matter should have ended when state Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya gave an assurance that the land would not be taken forcibly from the farmers. He was overwhelmed by the death of 14 people in the fight between the authorities and the villagers or, more aptly, the CPM and the Trinamool Congress, a regional party.
The police were responsible for most of the killings. Apparently, the government, particularly the CPM had not given up the idea. Nor had they forgotten the slight they had faced. It looks as if both the government and the party were preparing themselves for an opportunity for taking revenge and occupying the land forcibly.
A few days ago the CPM cadre reignited the fire by attacking some villages in Nandigram. State home secretary Ranjan Ray confirmed that the CPM triggered clashes. More than 500 villagers fled to escape the party's wrath. Two persons were killed this time, not by police. During the attack by the CPM cadre, the area was sealed. The police stood by silently. No media person was allowed to go in. Human rights activists were barred from visiting the place. An activist like Medha Patkar was slapped. The CPM's fury was undiminished till it had "recaptured" the non-party villages. It was a war-like situation which forced state governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi to describe Nandigram as a "war zone".
He was more critical of the CPM government in his other observations: "Enough is enough" and that "the manner in which the recapture of Nandigram is being attempted is notably unlawful and unacceptable".
Anguish
The CPM's attack on the governor did not absolve of what the party did in Nandigram. His statement only expressed his anguish. The governor did not want to create a crisis by recommending to the Centre the imposition of president's rule in view of the failure of law and order machinery. He confined himself to a warning to the government which it did not like.
The CPM should know that the warning had to be public when his private advice was not heeded. That the governor's warning was only an understatement can be judged from the reaction of Trinamool Congress president Mamata Banerjee who resigned from the Lok Sabha on the ground that a jungle raj prevailed in West Bengal.
I have no doubt that the Trinamool Congress is politicising the issue. Likewise, I have no doubt that the CPM is playing with fire by articulating its authority. Poor governor has been caught in the cross-firing.
Fire-fighter
Jyoti Basu, the former chief minister, can play the role of a fire-fighter. But he is a dove when the hawks dominate the CPM. It is unfortunate that the West Bengal government has turned out to be as autocratic as the governments in many other states. New Delhi would have intervened and imposed president's rule on lesser reasons in other states. But since the CPM is crucial to the continuance of the Congress-led government at the centre, it cannot even dare to express its concern.
The Congress has only gone on record lest its silence should be noticed. Yet the party is too depended on the CPM, especially to have the Indo-US nuclear deal going. Already, the intractable Left has allowed the Manmohan Singh government to have talks with the IAEA.
The Nandigram violence has scotched another chance for the CPM to industrialise West Bengal. The use of guns by its cadre is bound to scare the investors away from the rest of India or abroad. Capital does not come to the areas which are uncertain and inclined towards violence.
Still the bigger question that the Nandigram happenings have thrown up is how to safeguard the democratic ways in the states which are becoming authoritarian, government after government. Coalitions at the Centre have made things more difficult because they are in no position to upbraid a ruling party in a state. Invariably, it is its lifeline, the key support. The way out is, however, not that a single party attains the majority at the centre. The states have to develop a sense of tolerance and spirit of accommodation. In fact, this is the glue which has kept India together despite different religions, different languages and different standards of living. And this is the glue that the nation cannot afford to let go dry.
Despite its intractable ideology, the CPM has accepted the parliamentary system of government. It officially recognises the leader of the opposition. The party has to develop a consensus in the state to sort out questions like Nandigram. It is heartening to see that some Left parties have distanced themselves from the CPM on this point. This gives strength to democracy because it indicates that the parties rise above the discipline of ideology when it comes to the people's interest. The CPM should tear a leaf out of their book.
Kuldip Nayar is a former Indian High Commissioner to the UK and a former Rajya Sabha MP.
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