Author: Ravik Bhattacharya
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: November 15, 2007
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/story/239368.html
Return home, take the local administration's
help, Rs 1,000 for buying household articles destroyed, Rs 5,000 for repairing
damaged homes - that was West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's
call to the 10,000 villagers of Nandigram his CPM cadres evicted in what he
called a "morally and legally" justifiable step.
But here, at Ground Zero, these words play
out like a cruel joke for villagers of Satengabari and Ranichawk huddled in
relief camps.
"How will we return and where will we
return? Have you seen my house?" asks Khairul Mir, in his 40s. "There
is nothing there, only a few pillars. Even my mattresses were looted before
the houses were set on fire. If I go back, they will burn me alive with my
family."
A supporter of the Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh
Samiti (BUPC), the umbrella opposition group to the CPM, he, his wife and
their two children are now living in the largest makeshift relief camp at
Brojomohan Tiari Institute school in Nandigram.
In Satengabari-Ranichawk, where The Indian
Express reached this morning - the area was out of bounds until last night
even two days after the CRPF moved in - at least 160 of the 240 houses have
either been razed to the ground or reduced to skeletons without roofs, there
are charred frames for houses and the embers are still smouldering. Others
have been turned into piles of brick and mud.
Satengabari and Ranichawk, on the border between
Nandigram 1 Block and Nandigram 2, were once home to around 2000 people. Today,
only around 150 are living here - rows of burnt and destroyed homes line the
winding road into the villages.
Brojomohan Mondol, secretary of the Satengabari-Ranichawk
CPM local committee, is compiling a list of damaged houses, vacant houses
and damage to property. He admits this was a CPM stronghold before the movement
against the proposed land acquisition erupted in January this year.
"The total votes polled in the last Assembly
elections was 1100 here, out of which TMC (Trinamool Congress) got only 205.
The rest was all ours. This was our party's stronghold but after January,
the people's trust in us eroded," Mondol said. "Now after 11 months
of struggle we are back in control." He is unusually frank when he says
that a "majority fled their homes" after the attack by CPM cadres.
Mondol said village committees had been formed
now. "All homeless TMC families are welcome but we have drawn up a list
of 12 BUPC supporters who will not be allowed here forever," he says.
The Indian Express could find only a few families
of CPM supporters staying in the two villages. They had returned just a week
ago, having spent months at refugee camps when the BUPC was ruling the area.
Both these families were former TMC supporters. Now they have joined the CPM.
Manik Maity, former supporter of TMC, said, "My family and I will perish
overnight if I refuse to carry their flag or walk in their rallies. They have
asked me not to speak to the media."
Meanwhile, on the ground, the CPM has begun
reinforcing its hold on the villages, setting up village committees or Gram
Raksha Bahinis. The formula: join up, march twice a day and enlist. Or else,
live at your own peril.
"The committee now sees to the welfare
of the village. We are tightening our organisation with two rallies a day.
Once in two days, women will take out rallies. We are a disciplined party,"
says Mondol.
Back in Kolkata, a day after the Chief Minister's
we-paid-back-the-Opposition-in-the-same-coin statement, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee
announced he had earmarked Rs 1 crore from his relief fund for the victims
of Nandigram. "Those whose houses were totally burnt down will get Rs
10,000 for rebuilding them and those whose houses were damaged partly will
get Rs 5,000. All the victims will get Rs 1,000 for buying household articles,"
the Chief Minister said.
The district administration, which held a
peace meeting with all political parties to urge people to return to their
homes, received another jolt when refugee camp inmates heckled District Magistrate
Anup Agarwal and Superintendent of Police S S Panda tonight. Both were not
allowed to enter the Brojomohan camp.
Said Block Development Officer Ashok Sarkar,
whose office was set on fire after the March 14 police firing in which 14
villagers were killed: "We have decided on a number of initiatives to
develop Nandigram. Tenders will be called soon for repair of damaged roads
and government property."
The TMC refused to accept the government's
offer of returning home in peace. Abu Taher, the TMC leader who attended the
peace meeting, said: "The administration first must ensure protection
for the ousted villagers and then talk of sending them home."
Meanwhile, two villagers of Garchakraberia
were allegedly beaten up by CPM cadres and were admitted to Nandigram Block
hospital. Police recovered two improvised guns, 153 bullets and two landmines
from the Satengabari-Ranichawk area.
