The Hindu Business Line : Reaping the whirlwind

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Reaping the whirlwind

Sharad Joshi

on the Left parties' trumpeting of the virtues of land reforms and the importance of owning land.

The angry reactions of West Bengal's peasantry to the attempts to take away their land for SEZs are founded

I visited Nandigram and Sonachura villages in Eastern Midnapore district of West Bengal, and managed to have fairly extensive interactions with the villagers as also with those injured in the police action, still in hospital. The West Bengal Governor, Mr Gopalkrishna Gandhi, himself admitted that it was filled with "cold horror". The Governor earned a lot of sympathy from the people at large and quite some admiration from the Opposition parties. Yet, "Cold horror" is rather a mild expression used for what has happened in that region since March 14.

A a posse of over 5,000 policemen attacked a gathering of farmers protesting against the acquisition of their land for a Special Economic Zone to house a chemical complex to be constructed by Salem Corporation of Indonesia.

Travelling from Kolkata to Nandigram and further to Sonachura, even to a casual observer it is obvious that the area is essentially an agricultural zone. Small badis (houses) surrounded by coconut palms, fishponds and lush green fields, swaying gently to the breeze, nature seems bountiful to the agriculturists here. But lying dangerously close to the refineries of Haldia make these lands the target for downstream chemical companies, and, now, West Bengal's Government and politicians.

Unexpected resistance

In most villages on the Nandigram-Sonachura road red flags flutter with the `hammer and sickle', `sickle and corn', or the `white Star' emblazoned on them. Some villages also have the tricolour with `TMC' printed on them. Clearly, this is a stronghold of the Communists who never thought that their plans to acquire the land would meet with such stiff resistance. The villagers in the `red' habitats were said to be quite enraged that `the counter-revolutionaries' of Nandigram should be evoking so much sympathy from outside West Bengal and from the Governor himself.

By all accounts, the Communists have used all possible techniques to hijack elections in West Bengal, and particularly in this region. The police and the Home Guards are apparently packed with young comrades. That by itself ensures victory in elections. Under the banner of land reforms, land has been distributed to small tenants and landless families; but the title documents are all said to be with the party apparatchiks. That ensures that the peasantry will march to the polling booths and vote appropriately. Had the Left parties won the last Assembly elections with a less thumping majority, Nandigram and Sonachura would never have happened, is a refrain.

According to official statistics, 12 protesters were killed by the attacking forces, which it is alleged contained, in large number, the party cadres. For, the policemen are said to have developed a fairly amicable relationship with the villagers over the period of the protests. The comrades-in-uniform were said to have been unhappy with this development. According to a report, the Chief Minister himself had addressed the cadres and asked a rhetorical question, "Enough of barking, when are the dogs starting to use their teeth?"

The villagers strongly repudiate the estimate of 12 dead. They put it all above a hundred. Some claim to have seen three large trucks loaded with dead bodies taking off from the site of the shooting. Hopefully, the CBI, which has been charged with the investigation by the Kolkata High Court itself, will set the matter at rest. In one hospital, I saw a number of patients, mainly women with blue and black marks on the body; the effects of the lathi-charge. I got an impression that the agitators had deliberately put the women and children in the vanguard in the hope that that would take the edge off the police attack. But these hopes appear belied.

The Governor cannot be entirely unfamiliar with the kind of terror the Left parties are said to have let loose in the West Bengal countryside. He could not be unaware of the manner in which these parties have reportedly marshalled refugees from Bangladesh. He should have felt "cold horror" at what was happening during the elections that have given the Leftists a clear mandate.

Love for Land

One very remarkable thing in the happenings in Nandigram area is the peasantry's fierce love and pride of the land. They all talk of giving up life rather than their land. This is not quite the case in some other States with the farmers driven to suicide willing to hand over the land provided the price is right. What makes the Bengal farmers different?

The Left parties are apparently reaping what they sowed. For decades they have trumpeted the virtues of land reforms and how important it was to possess land. The people have obviously learnt the lesson well and are now ready to lay down their lives for their land — the icon of social prestige. Once again the Communists are coming to know the wrath of the peasantry that is now going around tearing down the red flags and turning against their commissar tormentors of three decades.

(The author, a member of the Rajya Sabha, is the Founder of Shetkari Sanghatana. He can be contacted at sharad.mah@nic.in)

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