Nandigram SEZ: A tale of promises and betrayals

Sukanta Goswamy
The Statesman

NANDIGRAM, Jan. 13. — Promises are made to be broken and the CPI-M seems to have mastered the art at Nandigram with villagers having been duped following assurances of a job and other benefits in return for their service to the party.

The CPI-M party office at Rajaramchak that was torched by an infuriated mob on 4 January was built in 2001 on the land of Sk Abdul Mannan, a local inhabitant. Mr Mannan, a previous supporter of CPI-M, was promised that one of his sons will be given a job at Haldia for his gesture. But after several years that promise is yet to be fulfilled.

A retired teacher of Rajaramchak High School, Mr Mannan said: “They assured me employment for my son at Haldia in return for the land but they betrayed me.” Now Mannan is an active member of the anti-land acquisition movement at Rajaramchak.

District Krishak Sabha leader Mr Ashok Guria said, “We never made such promises to Mannan.” CPI-M leaders who had been campaigning for industrialisation before tension broke out here have fled the area and taken shelter in Khejuri and Haldia.

These leaders, Mr Shankar Prasad Khatua, Mr Hrikesh Dhara, Mr Pashupati Jana, Mr Chandan Hazra, Sk Abir Hossain and Mr Niranjan Mondal, are not returning to their homes at Nandigram fearing backlash. In Sonachura, Kalicharanpur and Kendamari gram panchayats, the Left Front have a clear majority over Trinamul Congress but at present the Left Front supporters have sided with the anti-land acquisition movement.

Sk Sirajuddin, a local inhabitant, said their movement against land acquisition has no political colour or motives. “We will not hand over our land at any cost or under any condition,” he said.