Author:
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: November 10, 2007
Hungry men, women and children, rendered homeless
after CPI(M) cadre began to shoot and bomb their way into Nandigram this week,
wailed in despair as the early winter fog lifted on Thursday morning. Having
escaped the Marxist marauders with noting more than their lives, they cowered
pitiably under whatever shelter they had found. Many were not so lucky: They
have been spending the past many nights on the open sodden grounds of the
local BMT High School.
Hundreds continued to arrive in an unending
queue of vehicles of all sorts -- caught in a mass exodus, the likes of which
this part of the country has probably not witnessed since the days of Partition.
Wives and children bade tearful farewells
to husbands and fathers rushing back to the 'frontline' to take up positions
against the invading CPI(M) cadre. A few km away, armed Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh
Committee (BUPC) members, who have been resisting acquisition of farmland
since January, prepared for the last stand.
Though Thursday was largely incident free
in Nandigram, the atmosphere was charged. Heavily armed Marxist cadre were
continuing to make a steady advance from across their original position beyond
Talpatti canal. The paddy fields just beyond the small town of Nandigram have
become their launching pad. For a section of the Trinamool Congress-led BUPC
leaders, the fight is all but over. But some diehards in villages like Sonachura
and Garh Chakraberia, who are said to be carrying ampoules of poison in their
pockets in a dramatic gesture of threatening to commit suicide rather than
surrender to the CPI(M)'s militia, known here as harmad bahini, have decided
to fight it out till the last man.
Though the turf war has been raging for nearly
11 months now, the CPI(M), whose cadre have been at the receiving end till
recently, struck back with lethal force on October 27. Till then, BUPC was
in total control of Nandigram Block I.
Taking advantage of the complacency that had
crept in among BUPC members, CPI(M) cadre ran over Ranichowk, Satengabari
and Takapura in Nandigram Block II to gain strategic advantage, ruthlessly
putting down all opposition. BUPC activists were shot and houses were set
ablaze. But the BUPC activists fought back and regained control of Ranichowk
and Satengabari.
Their gain was short-lived. Barely a week
later, the CPI(M) militia launched a fresh attack, this time capturing most
villages in Block II, apart from Ranichowk and Satengabari. The biggest loss
for BUPC was Brindavanchowk, its 'operational headquarters'. The Marxist juggernaut
continued to roll on and by Wednesday evening, CPI(M) cadre were knocking
on the BUPC's doors in Nandigram proper. Police personnel deployed to maintain
law and order remained mute witnesses as thousands of villagers fled their
homes and hundreds of rounds were exchanged across the ripening paddy. Bullets
and bombs flew as in a war zone in the middle of a raging battle.
The BUPC activists tried to fight back the
Marxist marauders but their opponents were too well entrenched. They had to
retreat under the deadly firepower of the Marxist militia armed with sophisticated
weapons, including self-loading rifles and 5.56 mm Insas rifles.
Asked about the mayhem unleashed by their
cadre, CPI(M) leaders maintained that "Maoist guerillas are fighting
alongside the BUPC". Though the BUPC received some support in the form
of equipment and strategy from the Maoists, it is yet to be established that
Maoists are actively involved in the fight for control over Nandigram.
Having gained much territory and "rehabilitated"
party workers, the CPI(M) on Thursday appeared to have changed its tactics.
It is now trying to break the BUPC's support base: CPI(M) leaders are moving
around, urging villagers to return home. The 'truce', however, does not apply
to BUPC leaders.
This has caused chaos among the BUPC's rank
and file. While a section of the BUPC's top leaders has fled the battle zone,
a sense of defeatism has begun to overwhelm those down the line. Meanwhile,
CPI(M) cadre have begun to infiltrate the BUPC: One of them was detected on
Wednesday and lynched.
With BUPC activists retreating into Nandigram
town, which has been cut off from the rest of the world by the Marxists, the
organisation's remaining leaders are making desperate efforts to restore morale.
On Thursday afternoon, some BUPC activists
tried to storm Nandigram police station; they failed miserably. A short distance
away, on the road to Nandigram, Medha Patkar of Narmada Bachao Andolan was
set upon by CPI(M) cadre. She claimed she was punched in the face while the
police looked on passively.
By Thursday evening, Nandigram was awash with
rumours about a major attack being planned by the CPI(M) cadre later in the
night. The relative calm during the day could turn out to be the proverbial
lull before the final storming of Nandigram by foot soldiers of the CPI(M).
At a shelter for 'refugees', a sobbing woman
being nagged by her hungry children said, "Now all they have to do is
remind villagers elsewhere of Nandigram. There will be no resistance to the
CPI(M) anywhere." Her husband is out there somewhere, manning the last
post.
