Saying the CPI-M has nuked the farmers in Nandigram and the UPA government, LK Advani says the NDA will raise the Nandigram issue in Parliament.
Authorities were bringing 150 people who had taken refuge along with several others at a make-shift tent behind the BDO's office ever since clashes erupted in trouble-torn Nandigram in the run up to the May 11 panchayat polls. However, motorcycle borne CPI-M men allegedly beat six of them at Maheshpur near Satengabari and Gokulnagar, Trinamool Congress bloc president Abu Tayeb alleged.
The Governor had visited Nandigram on Sunday to assess the situation after CPI-M's 'recapture' of the area and said that wrong-doers must not be exonerated and the CRPF should continue there for some more time.
Communist Party of India-Marxist and anti-acquisition Bhoomi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee activists on Monday exchanged fire in trouble-torn Nandigram in east Midnapore district amidst reports of a gunshot injury to one person.
Three persons were killed in a bomb blast in Nandigram on Sunday when a bandh was being observed in the area at the call of the an organisation opposing land acquisition.
The Bhangabera bridge on the border between Nandigram and Khejuri is where the first spark of violence erupted early January, leading to the divide between the Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee and the Communist Party of India-Marxist.
Taking a serious view of unabated violence in Nandigram, the National Human Rights Commission on Monday sought a report from the West Bengal government on the situation in the area and asked the Union Home Ministry to take steps to restore peace in the trouble-torn parts of the state.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has expressed concern over the recent violence in Nandigram and asked Union Home minister Shivraj Patil to look into it urgently. In a letter to the Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Partha Chatterjee, Dr Singh said, "I have seen your letter of October 28, 2007 regarding the recent incidents in Nandigram. I am concerned about the developments there and I have spoken to the Home Minister to look into these urgently."
To a question, Roy said though there had been no fresh clash at Khejuri near Nandigram, additional police forces had been deployed in the areas adjoining it.
Trouble began on Sunday morning when about 100-200 people from Khejuri tried to enter Nandigram in batches.
"There were CPI-M men carrying red flags who blocked my car and some other vehicles which were going along with mine to Nandigram. I was hit on the face and they tried to pull my hair and were about to drag me out of the car," Patkar told PTI over phone from the spot.
Basu, who attended a meeting of the party's labour wing CITU, however, stressed the need to bring peace in the area.
Railway minister promises jobs for land deals for the project.
As many as twenty-three live bombs were recovered from Nandigram on Wednesday even as no untoward incidents were reported after skirmishes between the Trinamool Congress and CPI-M resurfaced. Police raided Talpati Canal near Janani Itbhata (Brick kiln) in Khejuri block near here in the early hours of Wednesday and recovered 23 live bombs, a rifle and several rounds of ammunition from the area.
Fresh violence erupted in simmering Nandigram on Thursday when one person was killed in an exchange of fire between clashing groups, allegedly supporters of the Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Bhoomi Uchched Protirodh Committee, as the number of deaths rose to two since Wednesday.
Trinamool Congress on Wednesday called for a 12-hour general strike in West Bengal on March 16 in protest against alleged police atrocities in Nandigram.
Sources in the Prime Minister's Office said the meeting lasted for about 30 minutes.
The Bharatiya Janata Party along with its coalition partners had decided to stall the proceedings in Parliament on Tuesday if a Nandigram-specific debate was not allowed.
A year after seven people were killed in clashes between pro and anti-land acquisition agitators in Nandigram, locals are apprehensive that the relative peace that prevails will vanish once the CRPF is withdrawn.
Continuing its probe in the Nandigram massacre of people on March 14, the CBI has registered four fresh cases against local CPI(M) leaders and police officers for allegedly raping women and holding them hostages.
After the discovery of graves at Bidyapit village at Khejuri and Talpati canal, another grave was found on Monday near the former Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee stronghold of Maheshpur in Nandigram, the police said.
The 100-strong intelligentsia sang We shall Overcome and a Bengali version of Bob Dylan's Blowing in the wind, when they were arrested. Incidentally, the Communist government in West Bengal has always promoted mass songs and revolutionary songs.
The two groups resorted to firing and hurled bombs from Satenganbari village and Takapura in Nandigram and from the adjacent CPI-M stronghold of Khejuri since Friday night, Superintendent of Police G A Srinivas said.
Calcutta High Court on Thursday directed the CBI to immediately visit the troubled areas and collect all evidence of firing by the police.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has submitted a preliminary report on the March 14 police firing in Nandigram to the Calcutta High Court.
Bullets were recovered near the site of a grave in Nandigram on Tuesday. The grave was detected on Monday in Parulbari village, which is adjacent to Mahespur, a former stronghold of the Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee. "Over 23 spent bullets were found near the grave located in a paddy field," Satyeswar Panda, Superintendent of Police, said.
Even the police were yet to go to the trouble-torn Basulichak and Dinabhandupur villages although combat force personnel staged a route march at Narby Tekhali village.
The adjournment comes as no surprise as Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party had on Sunday hinting at going ballistic on the Centre's silence about the events in the area.
The happenings of the past 10 months in Nandigram -- that once obscure hamlet of the hinterland of West Bengal, which has now begun hitting headlines in world media -- do not lend themselves to any clear appraisal of the situation. Nobody knows for sure who did what there.
The West Bengal government has denied before the Supreme Court all allegations regarding the reported excesses committed by the state administration in Nandigram where 14 people were killed in police firing in March last year.
3 women activists of the Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Commitee on Tuesday claimed they were beaten up and stripped by the CPM cadres in Nandigram for refusing to support them in the ensuing panchayat polls.
Why the common man doesn't matter to Communists.
Das, the Trinamool worker and a prominent representative of Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee was hit with sharp weapons by miscreants at Tengua bazar and died on the spot on Tuesday night.
The visit is being viewed as a politically significant event with Bhattacharjee being at the centre of a controversy, over the bloody recapture of Nandigram early last month by his party cadres, and the turmoil in the area since January over the state government's move to acquire land for a mega chemical hub project. The chief minister's visit has already created a great deal of enthusiasm among the Communist Party of India Marxist workers in Nandigram.
Standing by his denouncement of the ruling CPI(M)'s capture of Nandigram, West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi on Sunday visited the troubled area on Sunday and said wrong-doers must not be exonerated and pitched for presence of CRPF for some more time.
About 30 CPI-M men at Riapara stopped Gouranga Deb Hazra, PTI's East Midnapore district correspondent, who was riding pillion on a motorcycle, on his way to Chandipur from Nandigram around noon.
The men in police clothes had ordered the demonstrators to go back but they had refused saying they would do so only after an assurance from Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee that the Special Economic Zone and chemical hub would not be set up at Nandigram, he said.
Karat admits that creation of the Third Front was a wrong move.
However, until any order from the Supreme Court was received with regard to the Nandigram cases, the matter would not be formally adjourned.
The state government's stand on land acquisition for industries and the Nandigram police firing on March 14 is understood to have figured at the meeting.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances