This is the first instance of violence since the Central Reserve Police Force was deployed in the area following the 'recapture' of the area by the CPI M. The forces were present at the village when the houses were set on fire.
Bengali intellectuals, who recently participated in a huge march in Kolkata to denounce the recapture of Nandigram, have floated a platform for a set of demands. These include immediate return of Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen to the city and no further pressure on farmers of Nandigram for setting up industry.
According to the statement, "For the past few months, the administration and the police have been out of the area which has been utilised by the armed elements led by the Maoists to entrench themselves. Bunkers have been built and landmines laid."
Gurudas Dasgupta of the Communist Party of India raised the issue in the Lok Sabha and asked the House to join him in condemning US attempt to bully the Left parties. "The nation has a view on Nandigram, but we cannot allow the US government to interfere in the internal affairs of India. I condemn the US report," he said in a brief mention in the Lower House.
The winter session of Parliament beginning Thursday will see sparks fly with a range of issues from Nandigram violence and the stalled India-United States nuclear agreement to problems faced by farmers and wheat imports providing the ammunition for rival parties. The Nandigram issue is expected to make the three-week session of Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha a stormy affair and may push the nuclear deal to the back seat amid signs of a thaw between UPA and the Left.
Fresh from the Nandigram flashpoint, the West Bengal government is set to begin a two-way 'battle' to keep industrialisation going in the state.
"We are seriously discussing that it may not be possible to continue any longer in the Cabinet because of unprecedented police brutalities in Nandigram," senior RSP leader and party member of Parliament Monoj Bhattacherjee told PTI.
Banerjee, whose party is spearheading the agitation against acquisition of farmland for a proposed SEZ by the Left Front government, entered Nandigram in a procession with members of the Krishi Jami Raksha Committee.
Trinamul Congress leader Dinesh Trivedi on the violence in Nandigram.
On Monday, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee slammed West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya's promise to the people of Nandigram that land would not be acquired till the people were convinced about the need for it.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday slammed Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for seeking en bloc voting by Muslims for the Trinamool Congress and said had his party made a similar appeal to Hindus, it would have been criticised and censured.
The proposed chemical hub in West Bengal, which won't come up in Nandigram because of violence there, has to be set up near a port, state Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said on Wednesday.
Ahead of the second phase of polls in the state, Banerjee's letter, which was released by the Trinamool Congress on Wednesday, seeks to drum up support from opposition leaders by stating how non-BJP states have suffered due to the saffron party led Centre's actions.
Against the backdrop of the Lok Sabha results, a much larger scale of desertion was anticipated from the TMC. 'It seems, people don't believe that the ship is sinking.'
Even as it comes to terms with the land acquisition controversy in Nandigram and Singur, the CPI(M)-led West Bengal government has handed over the order for possession of 4,300 acres
The West Bengal government is likely to shift the chemical hub project to Haldia since it requires proximity to a port.
He announced adjournment of the House till April 26. Before the debate began, Chatterjee appealed to members to discuss the contentious water-sharing issue in a dispassionate and responsible manner.
'In spite of all the sermonising from the political class, when they come in public, the ministers don't follow their own rules.' 'They don't mask.' 'If you look at the West Bengal election campaigning, if you look at the Assam election campaigning or if you look at Kerala election campaigning, they are not setting an example.'
'What did we get out of this agitation? Nothing... Now we feel it was all a mistake. We have no work, and our land has turned infertile. We are living in abject poverty'
Ironically, the BJP, which seeks to unseat the TMC from power, has taken a leaf out of Mamata Banerjee's strategy of soliciting tinsel town's support towards causes and fielding actors in elections.
Jayanta Roy Chowdhury reports on how the West Bengal elections are being fought by the BJP and Trinalool Congress amid COVID challenges, 'Bangaliana', and campaigns based on religion, region, and caste.
Following the incident, some long distance trains, including Konark Express, Kanyakumari Express, Nandigram Express and Pragati Express were rescheduled.
Communist Party of India-Marxist politburo member Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Sunday admitted to the complicity of his partymen in the killing of nine villagers at Netai in January, 2011 during his tenure as Chief Minister of West Bengal, which had caused a nationwide outcry.
As the West Bengal chief minister was busy containing the fallout of an internecine feud in her TMC following a rebellion by a redoubtable Suvendu Adhikari, the Centre shot off a fresh letter to her government to immediately relieve three IPS officers for central deputation.
The Centre has sought a detailed report from the West Bengal government on the circumstances leading to the violence.
The combined Left parties drew a blank in the polls to the assembly which they had run with an overwhelming majority for 34 long years, with their vote share dwindling to a mere 5.47 per cent in 2021.
Just as the superstars of Indian cricket only play IPL and international fixtures and ignore the Ranji and Mushtaq Ali trophies in domestic cricket, Narendra Modi should play a very limited role in state assembly elections, argues Sudhir Bisht.
'You don't win elections on the basis of borrowed players.' 'There is a great crisis of leadership for the BJP in Bengal'
Lakhs of voters turned up to cast their votes in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha polls.
'The TMC forgets that if people don't stand by you, your party will never win.'
The BJP could win only 16 out of 57 seats where Shah campaigned.
Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha leader Derek O' Brien met the agitating farmers at the Singhu border in the afternoon.
Will appeasement, rising unemployment and her dictatorial style become major obstacles in her path? asks Payal Singh Mohanka.
As state minister Suvendu Adhikari, along with other functionaries, openly air grievances against the Mamata Banerjee-led dispensation, senior leaders are frantically looking for ways to pacify the rebels.
'During Amit Shah's recent visit to Kerala, the strategy of concentrating the attacks on the CM on false charges was clear enough.'
'Mamata is campaigning hard and not giving the BJP a walkover.'
After deciding to release 52 political prisoners, the West Bengal government will now withdraw cases filed by the Left Front regime against those who took part in Singur and Nandigram movements, and at Netai, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced on Thursday.
Mamata Banerjee promised a new era in West Bengal. Yet, workers at Haldia say that old habits of extortion and violence continue under the Trinamool flag.
The state now has a new policy, under a new government.
'The TMC did not bother telling me, a sitting MLA for 20 years, why I was not being given a ticket.'
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