The Hindu Business Line : <I>Trauma at Nandigram </I>

These are the questions that inevitably arise in reaction to reports in all sections of the media of the apparently unjustified and indiscriminate firing by the police at Nandigram in West Bengal, resulting in a shocking death toll of 12 at the time of writing. The unprecedented intensity of anguish and the outrage at what seems to be nothing short of a feelingless and reckless unleashing of brute force on people, comprising mostly women and children desperate to hold on to their land and livelihood, can be imagined from the fact that for the first ever time in the Constitutional history of free India, a Governor was moved to issue a public statement that was plainly censorious of the government of a State of which he himself was the Head.

By any token, it is a strongly-worded indictment by the Governor, Mr Gopalkrishna Gandhi. He has clearly indicated that the spilling of human blood was avoidable and that over the previous two days, ``as I received inputs of rising tension'', he had been advising the Government on the need for a sensitive handling of the situation. Even the Governor's anticipatory advice was to no avail. The `cold horror', as he puts it, of the trauma will haunt the State and hang like a sinister shadow over the Left Front Government for a long time, and may even generate a swirling political maelstrom strong enough to dislodge it.

Soon after the peaking of the agitation at Singur and the tragic loss of lives in the first confrontation between the police and the protesters at Nandigram, I wrote in this column (Resolving Singur's crisis, December 11, 2006 and Reality Check in West Bengal, January 10, 2007) about the ``abrupt and, to an extent, abrasive responses of the Chief Minister to criticism'', and the State Government's tendency to dismiss the developments ``as a Saturnine ruse on the part of Opposition parties to gain political mileage'', adding, "It is folly to hope that by blaming it all on political scapegoats, the problem will go away." I also suggested the setting up a Task Force chaired by Dr M. S. Swaminathan to advise on the land use strategy and the right mix of agriculture and industry for the development of the State with a human face.

Although the dispatch of a large contingent of police to Nandigram was ostensibly to clear obstructions and restore communications, it was also no doubt meant to assert the prestige and authority of the Government. In any case, the CPI (M) cadres should have been asked to keep away since their presence in large numbers could only have the effect of further pressuring the police. Instead, the Chief Minister himself should have taken a hand, preferably by visiting the blockaded area in person and reaching out to the people in a spirit of understanding and conciliation.

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