Ultra-Left party in Nandigram protest
09 January, 2007
Ultra-Left party in Nandigram protest
Monideepa Banerjie
Kolkata: For one month now, West Bengal is in turmoil over land acquisition, first at Singur for a Tata Motors factory and now at Nandigram for an SEZ. But are the agitators people who could actually lose their farmlands for factories? Or are outsiders fanning the flames?
The arrest of six members of an ultra-Left party at Nandigram and the participation of several Naxalite groups in the Trinamool-led Singur Krishi Jami Raksha Committee increasingly point towards outsiders with diverse agendas fishing in troubled waters.The six men arrested at Nandigram are Naxalites who believe power comes from the barrel of the gun.
Monideepa Banerjie
Kolkata: For one month now, West Bengal is in turmoil over land acquisition, first at Singur for a Tata Motors factory and now at Nandigram for an SEZ. But are the agitators people who could actually lose their farmlands for factories? Or are outsiders fanning the flames?
The arrest of six members of an ultra-Left party at Nandigram and the participation of several Naxalite groups in the Trinamool-led Singur Krishi Jami Raksha Committee increasingly point towards outsiders with diverse agendas fishing in troubled waters.The six men arrested at Nandigram are Naxalites who believe power comes from the barrel of the gun.
]They were arrested for fomenting trouble in the area. They deny that but are very clear about why they have flocked to Nandigram. "We don't want any land at Nandigram to be given to Salim Group. The way farm land is being taken over, we are certainly against that and we are willing to fight on the issue till the end," said Dibakar Bhattacharya, member, CPI-ML.Extraneous elements like these also shared the dais with Trinamool's Mamata Banerjee during her hunger strike over Singur under the umbrella of the Krishi Jami Raksha Committee, comprising 20 disparate organizations. The Trinamool knows their antecedents but doesn't mind as long as they share the same objective.
"Who is a Naxalite? Everyone is using the term freely. Naxalite is simply a person who is committed to political revolution over how land is owned. So if anyone has that definition, he is a Naxalite," said Derek O'Brien, spokesperson, Trinamool."You may not agree with revolution because revolution is quick change. Some us may feel not revolution but evolution which is slow change," O'Brien said.Violent revolutionOne other member of the Krishi Jami Raksha Committee is the Mazdoor Kranti Parishad led by Abhash Munshi who also heads the trade union at Hindustan Motors, the CK Birla company that manufactures ambassador cars. But even that is explained away.
"They are from Hooghly district, the same as Singur and their experience about more jobs and more development from ventures like Tata Motors is that it is all vague," said Partha Chatterjee, MLA, Trinamool."They are part of this programme right from the beginning. They are with us not as a part of Hindustan Motors.
They are opposed to Hindustan Motors management. So there is no reason why they cannot associate with our movement," Chatterjee added.In principle, ultra-Left Naxalites swear by violent revolution as a fair means to achieve their end. For now, there may be a convergence of objectives between them and all those agitating over land acquisition at Singur and Nandigram.
But sooner rather than later they might find themselves riding on the back of a tiger and unable to get off.
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Labels: Bengal, Nandigram, News
posted by Bimal 9.1.07,
