Author: Editorial
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: November 12, 2007
Bloodshed drowns Gandhi's voice
Nandigram's unending tragedy appears to have
been totally ignored by those responsible for maintaining law and order in
West Bengal and those charged with the responsibility of ensuring the State
Government does not stray from its obligations under the Constitution of India.
As the CPI(M), whose militia has been relentlessly unleashing terror in Nandigram,
gloats over its reoccupation of territory it had ceded to villagers opposed
to acquisition of farmland for industrial use -- in this case for setting
up a Special Economic Zone by an Indonesian firm of questionable repute --
the media and the lib-left intelligentsia have chosen to downplay, if not
ignore, the terrible bloodshed and loss of human lives. Contrast this with
their vociferous denunciation of the Gujarat Government and you will get a
clear picture of the perversity that has replaced intellectual integrity in
our country. The UPA Government could have prevented much of the latest spate
of violence if it had rushed paramilitary forces that had been sought by Chief
Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who stands isolated in a party of thugs.
Instead, the Government, terrified of upsetting the CPI(M), especially its
top leaders who have been advocating a brutal suppression of popular resistance
in Nandigram without betraying the faintest concern for the law of the land,
chose to drag its feet, thus letting Mr Prakash Karat know of its true loyalties
and pandering to Mr Jyoti Basu and his ilk who have the temerity to suggest
that it has been a "peaceful takeover" at Nandigram. If the CPI(M)
is to blame for the criminal misdeeds of its cadre at Nandigram, then the
Congress, which controls the Union Home Ministry, is guilty of facilitating
the mass murder, rape and arson we have been witnessing since October 27.
Seen against this backdrop, it was morally
courageous and constitutionally correct of West Bengal Governor Gopal Krishna
Gandhi to issue a statement, asserting that the "manner in which the
recapture of Nandigram villages is being attempted is totally unlawful and
unacceptable... The most accurate description for Nandigram is... that it
has become a war zone. No Government or society can allow a war zone to exist
without immediate and effective action". The CPI(M) has not wasted any
time in denouncing Mr Gandhi and accusing him of "overstepping his constitutional
limits." This is the second time Mr Gandhi has raised his voice against
Marxist atrocities in Nandigram; on both occasions he has been castigated
for daring to tell the truth. Strangely, the Union Government has not bothered
to take note of his assessment, nor has it admonished the Marxist regime for
its abysmal failure to enforce the rule of law and uphold the Constitution.
The Home Minister is probably blissfully ignorant.
The Prime Minister, who is given to spending
sleepless nights over the plight of terrorists, is not known to have lost
any sleep over the Marxist mayhem in the villages of Nandigram. He remains
unmoved and untouched by the butchery being committed in West Bengal, or so
it would seem from his reluctance to so much as seek an explanation from the
Left Front Government. Yet, the Prime Minister and his colleagues would not
have wasted a moment if similar comments had been made by Governors of BJP-ruled
States. Which only proves that the Prime Minister is no 'accidental politician'
as he claims, but as cynical and callous as his criminal Marxist friends.