Nandigram shows CPM's brutal, savage face

LEFT'S LAST STAND: At least 30 people have died in Nandigram since January.

Other stories in the section:

Nandigram massacre revisited, a year on

It's exactly a year since the violence that killed 14 and injured more than 150 people in Nandigram.

• Nandigram yields more graves, 3 could be of women
• Two arrested for violence, protests in Nandigram
• National Wipes: News from across the country
• Trust vote: Deve Gowda reveals nothing, MDMK split wide

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• Nandigram massacre revisited, a year on
• Nandigram yields more graves, 3 could be of women
• Two arrested for violence, protests in Nandigram
• National Wipes: News from across the country
• Trust vote: Deve Gowda reveals nothing, MDMK split wide

Keywords: Diptosh Majumdar, IBNLive Chat

It’s chaos and anarchy in Nandigram after CPI-M activists allegedly resorted to arson and looting in the area and violence spilled over to the rest of the state. What has gone wrong in West Bengal? Does CPI-M really have blood on its hands?

These were the questions that CNN-IBN National Affairs Editor Diptosh Majumdar dealt with when he engaged readers in an online chat on the Nandigram issue on IBNLive on Monday afternoon.

Full text of the discussion:

Ghosh:Will Nandigram trigger the end of West Bengal's seemingly endless romance with the Left?

Diptosh Majumdar: It should. If it doesn't, any sensible person like you or me will know there couldn't be a greater tragedy.

Minerva: If the chemical hub is not being constructed in Nandigram, then why is the unrest continuing? And why can't the CPM just leave the place and its people alone rather than acting like goons there?

Diptosh Majumdar: This is the way the CPI-M has ruled Bengal for three decades. It doesn't have any popularity; it only instills fear. It rules in the villages by bulling people into stamping the ballots for them. Nandigram is about pushing CPI-M supporters who had been outnumbered by other political groups in. CPI-M's ruthless, brutal, savage face has been exposed in the Nandigram massacre.

Rinku Ghosh:Given the Left's beginnings in West Bengal with land reforms, why has its SEZ policy run aground so badly? Being expert turf 'managers', didn't they foresee the people's power coming?

Diptosh Majumdar: It's not the SEZ policy. I don't think we can look for easy answers here. It's the price the CPI(M) is paying for allowing the growth of a Frankenstein called the CADRE. It's an anachronism in a democratic society.

Prashant:Is the SEZ policy more political than an economic issue?

Diptosh Majumdar: It's a fight between the ruthless establishment who wants only its supporters to benefit and the helpless rest of the village society. It's both but please, I am repeating, Nandigram is not about SEZ.

Amit:What is your point of view regarding Mamata Banerjee? Where was she when thousands of innocent villagers were forced to leave their homeland 11 months ago? Now why is she creating this chaos once again when the Government of West Bengal is trying to restore peace in the area? What type of game is she playing with the common people of West Bengal?

Diptosh Majumdar: West Bengal deserved a better alternative than Mamata. And this time, you cannot accuse her of making chaos. You and I are free to move anywhere in the country. Even Mamata is. Why should she be forced to sit in Tamluk and why should cadres block her way. This is a dangerous situation. The CPI-M is blocking freedom of movement, that's against the Constitution.

Rinku Ghosh:Do you honestly think that with the people's outcry against Nandigram in a TV age it is possible to effect a regime in Bengal 'electorally'?

Diptosh Majumdar: Difficult just now, but I personally believe after watching a ridiculous press conference of Prakash Karat, the CPI(M) General Secretary, that this is the beginning of the end.

S Chowdhury:I think it will be a tragedy if TMC comes to power in West Bengal after Left. They are the worst political party without any ideology. They just want to destroy West Bengal for power.

Diptosh Majumdar: It maybe, but no sane society can have a government for more than 30 years. Then you will have CPI(M) thugs ruling the way they are ruling Nandigram, with blood in their hands.

Prasenjit Banerjee:Why do you think Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is allowing such things to happen which is effectively ruining the already low image of West Bengal?

Diptosh Majumdar: I don't blame Buddha alone. I blame the party, including the intellectuals sitting here in Delhi who live in the ice age.

Ekalabya Patnaik:What should the CPI-M do to stop all that is happening in West Bengal today?

Diptosh Majumdar: Frankly speaking, I am saying this with full conviction, the CPI(M) should give up power after what it has done in Nandigram.

Dr Bhabatosh:Dear Diptosh, frankly I (and I believe nobody) know what actually has happened in Nandigram as it has been isolated from the media (and the rest of the world). With the little understanding of the situation, the simple question that disturbs my mind is how do I differentiate religious extremism from socio-economic-political extremism?

Diptosh Majumdar: I thought Narendra Modi was the biggest political villain of our time. After Nandigram, I seriously doubt that belief I had.

Subham:Sir, do you think the road to development and reform that the Left pursued for last three decades will be halted by the dirty politics over land?

Diptosh Majumdar: Why say dirty politics over land? It is dirty and bloody politics.

Rupak Banerjee:Is this time to compare Modi's Gujarat with Buddhadeb's West Bengal?

Diptosh Majumdar: I think it is.

Swasti S Bhowmick:With other Left Front partners like RSP/Forward Bloc and the CPI washing their hands off the Nandigram issue, will the front crack finally?

Diptosh Majumdar: Showing signs of it definitely, but the fact remains that these smaller parties have long lost their spines.

Rana:I there any difference between the massacres that have been organised by the Left in past starting from burning 29 tram cars in 1959 or say Marichjhapi massacre with the latest ones?

Diptosh Majumdar: This was different, this is far worse because it is a brutal massacre only to ensure political supremacy of a single party.

Abhishek: I lived in Kolkata between 1995-2000 and what struck me was the apathy of the upper middle class elite towards the numerous attacks on civil liberty and the rule of law by the cadres of the CPI-M. In a way, I think this section of the people have deserved what they have got -- a government headed by a party which is so very brazen in abusing human rights. Don't you think so?

Diptosh Majumdar: Agreed, but finally some of them are out on the streets. I was deeply moved when I saw my favourite poet the 73-year-old Sankho Ghosh on the streets on Sunday. He is a poet who has stood for everything good and righteous. So, the middle class is finally finding a voice.

Santosh: Hi Diptosh, do you think it is democracy prevailing in Nandigram when people are not being allowed to move freely? Why is Centre not interfering in such kind of a situation?

Diptosh Majumdar: I sometimes wonder what right Karat and Co have to question the nuclear deal and raise issues concerning sovereignty when they cannot guarantee basic human rights in a province under their control.

Ekalabya Patnaik: What were these so-called social activists (Ms Medha Patkar and her group of intellectuals) doing all these 11 months when thousands of people (mainly CPM supporters) were rendered homeless and they had to live in relief camps. Now that the people are trying to get back to their homes, these social activists are trying to make a lot of noise about the human rights?

Diptosh Majumdar: Ekalabya, the CP-M rules by pushing people out when they are not their supporters. For once, the opposite had happened in Nandigram. Worse had happened in Keshpur. In West Bengal, believe me, you are a human being only if you are a CPI(M) supporter.

Abhijit Roy: Has the CPM pushed the rewind button on West Bengal's industrial resurgence thanks to some shortsighted political strategy? Will there be some political tradeoff between the nuke deal and Nandigram?

Diptosh Majumdar: The Congress needs the Left in this Lok Sabha and may be even after the next general elections. Mamata is never a safe bet and may not be bring the number of seats the Left will get. So Manmohan and Sonia may find it politically more astute not to offend the Left too much. But the Left is on the back foot. I don't think, of course, that the Left can give up its stand on nuclear deal.

Philip Mathews: I think the CPI-M has lost its ideological supremacy long time back. They are behaving worse than fascists at this point of time. Kerala where I am from is decaying under their rule and they seem to have different policies for different states. They are definitely playing the communal card in Kerala and they I think would prefer a Stalinist-type rule.

Diptosh Majumdar: Nandigram is experiencing a worst form of Stalinism.

Muthuswamy:Hi, what is the difference between Godhra and Nandigram? I see no difference, CPI-M cadres carrying weapons! We have politicians alike, what is your opinion?

Diptosh Majumdar: It's quite similar. If complaints of gangrapes are true, there's not much that's different. Even respected Left historian Sumit Sarkar says that.

Arjun Janamatti: I believe the situation in Nandigram might lead to an Emergency in West Bengal.

Diptosh Majumdar: It won't happen. Since we didn't do it in Gujarat, this government will not have the courage to do so. I personally believe that a state with such a powerful parallel, armed force should be brought under President's rule.

Dr Bhabatosh:If the Left, the so-called conscience keepers, can threaten the govt on nuclear issue, should the govt now not rise against the Left and separate from them, sacrificing the greed for power?

Diptosh Majumdar: The hypocrisy of the Left is very badly exposed.

Raghu:Hi, now don't you think the CPI-M is being paid with the same coin, they oppose SEZs in rest of the country, but in West Bengal it's the opposite, and the Opposition is playing the role of the Communists?