Nandigram back on the boil; 2 killed in 2 days

VILLAGE PATROL: Police march through Nandigram village in West Bengal on Thursday.

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Kolkata/ New Delhi: West Bengal’s Nandigram village—the site of a violent agitation against land acquisition a year ago—is on the boil again.

Two persons have been killed since Wednesday in clashes between CPI-M activists and members of the Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee (BUPC), an organistation opposing land acquisition in the village in East Midnapore district.

A CPI-M worker died in a gunfight between party supporters BUPC members on Thursday.

"Dulal Garu, a CPI-M supporter, was gunned down by the BUPC members near Chadalpur in Nandigram. He received a bullet injury while walking in a rally taken out by the CPI-M," Nandigram police station officer-in-charge Debashis Chakraborty told IANS.

A CPI-M worker, Niranjan Mandal, was shot dead on Wednesday at Rajaramchak area of Nandigram. The CPI-M blamed the BUPC, which is backed by the Trinamool Congress, for Mondal’s death.

Protesting his killing, the district CPI-M leadership has called for a 24-hour strike in Nandigram on Thursday. "The shutdown is being observed in Nandigram and some adjoining areas. BUPC activists dug up roads at four-five points in and around Nandigram," East Midnapore police superintendent S S Panda told IANS.

However, villagers said CPI-M supporters opened fire and hurled crude bombs at BUPC members. Gunfights began on Thursday morning in some areas of Nandigram, which flared up last year over a land acquisition proposal for a special economic zone (SEZ).

The CPI-M said the strike had been called to protest “repeated attacks” on party members. "In the last two days they have murdered two of our ardent supporters and they are trying to create a reign of terror in the whole area", said Ashoke Guria, a local CPI(M) leader.

BUPC leader Sheikh Suffian leader rejected the allegation and claimed the CPI-M had been “creating trouble” in the area. "We condemn this CPI-M-sponsored violence in Nandigram. CPI-M cadres have been creating trouble ever since they lost the local body election in May. Since we have come to power, we have some responsibility to restore normalcy in the violence-hit region. We have requested everyone to maintain peace in the area," Suffian told IANS.