Fear stalks Nandigram as Kolkata walks for peace

Nandigram/Kolkata: Fear stalked relief camps in Nandigram housing thousands uprooted by the latest outbreak of violence between members of Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) and land rights activists.

Thousands marched protesting the Marxist "onslaught" on Nandigram, pitting the intelligentsia against West Bengal's Left government as never before.

Days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh voiced concern over the Nandigram happenings, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya announced Rs10 million (Dh909,090) in compensation for each of those rendered homeless in the troubled area, about 150km from Kolkata.

Report

The state government also sent a report to New Delhi about the Nandigram situation and the measures it has taken to bring peace to a region where unrest since January has left at least 34 people dead.

Nandigram has been on the boil ever since the government proposed to take over farmland to set up a special economic zone.

Although the plan was scrapped after public protests, Trinamul Congress-backed Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee (BUPC), remained locked in a turf war with the ruling CPM.

For weeks the CPM accused the BUPC of ousting Marxist supporters from Nandigram. Last week thousands of CPM members stormed Nandigram, forcing the BUPC sympathisers to flee.

Those in relief camps alleged that they were without even the basic necessities while the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was not stopping CPM from rampaging through their homes.

Mute spectators

"CRPF personnel have been mute spectators to the CPM onslaught. They are driving out [BUPC] supporters from the villages and torching their homes. Many women have been raped and abducted by the cadres," BUPC leader Abdus Samad said.

"Only this morning, three of our supporters were abducted from a relief camp near the Nandigram High School. We still don't know their whereabouts," he added.

Condemning the violence, filmmakers, artists, actors, writers and committed citizens marched on the streets in Kolkata for about three hours in silence. They wore black badges and held placards reading "Shame on West Bengal Government".