Author: Correspondent
Publication: Rediff.com
Date: November 14, 2007
URL: http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/nov/14nandi2.htm
[Note from Hindu Vivek Kendra: In other circumstances
this episode would have been projected as an attack on Dalits and Muslims.
In West Bengal, and since the criminals are Marxists, the episode is projected
as reclaiming territory.]
Over 600 Dalits and Muslims have been killed
in Nandigram, most of them in the last week, claimed Dalit activist Dr Udit
Raj, quoting a report from the West Bengal unit of the Indian Justice Party
and the All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations. Dr Raj is president
of the IJP and chairman of the confederation.
In a press release, Dr Udit Raj claimed this
was the reason why the media and social activists were kept out of the area.
Most residents of Nandigram are Muslims and
Dalits, and that is the reason why this particular area was chosen to establish
a Special Economic Zone, claimed Dr Udit Raj, also a member of the National
Integration Council.
According to the release, the West Bengal
unit of the All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations staged a dharna
to protest the brutalities committed against the locals in Nandigram.
The release further states that the Justice
Sachhar Committee, set up to improve the life of Muslims, revealed that under
the Left Front government, the Muslim population in Bengal is continuously
overlooked, resulting in low literacy rates and low levels of employment.
The release added that social activist like
Medha Patekar, CPI-ML leader Dipankar Bhattacharya and others should view
the Nandigram violence from the perspective of class and communal divisions.
