Red-hand Buddha - Cops take their toll in Nandigram

The Hindu, Marcus Dam

KOLKATA : Eleven persons were killed and 34, including 14 policemen, injured when the police opened fire on a violent crowd in the strife-torn Nandigram area in West Bengal on Wednesday.
Violence erupted as the mob hurled stones at the police moving into the Sonachura area, Bhangabera and other parts. As lathicharge, bursting of teargas shells and firing of rubber bullets failed to disperse the protesters, the police resorted to firing. One person was killed when a bomb he was carrying exploded.
The policemen were moving in to restore communication links and normality in the area, large parts of which had remained inaccessible since group clashes there on January 6-7 claimed six lives.
Roads leading to the area were dug up by members of the Trinamool Congress-led Bhoomi Ucched Pratirodh Committee, which is opposed to the setting up of a chemical unit in the area.
Claiming that more than 20 persons were killed and 200 injured in the firing, Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee has called a 12-hour Statewide "general strike" for Friday. This has resulted in the rescheduling of higher secondary examinations, which were to begin that day.
The Congress and the BJP too gave a call for a 12-hour and 24-hour strike that day. The Trinamool and the Congress have demanded that Article 356 (President's Rule) be invoked in the State in view of the "total breakdown of law and order."
Members of both parties walked out of the Assembly in protest against the police firing and demanded a statement from Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
The Purbo Mednipur district Kisan Sabha and the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, both affiliated to the Communist Party of India (Marxist), called a 12-hour bandh from 5 p.m. on Wednesday in protest against attempts by troublemakers to resist the move to restore normality in Nandigram.

The Telegraph

March 14: The Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government’s armed attempt to reclaim Nandigram ran into waves of resistance fronted by women, leading to the deaths of at least 14 people in police firing.
The police succeeded in entering Nandigram, which villagers opposed to land acquisition had turned into a no-entry zone for the administration for over two months, but left deep bloodstains on the chief minister’s industrialisation campaign.
The police action also gave Mamata Banerjee an opportunity to call a 12-hour Bengal bandh on Friday, disrupting examination schedules.
The killings drew widespread condemnation, including a grim statement from governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi that “the news has filled me with a sense of cold horror”. “What is the public purpose served by the use of force that we have witnessed today?” he asked.
A huge contingent of police, amassed over the last few days, mounted the mission to recapture Nandigram around 10 am today.
Over 1,000 policemen, split into two groups, raced towards Sonachura — the theatre of the main battle, around 170 km from Calcutta — from two flanks . A 2,000-strong reserve force stood by, waiting to move in once the advance party smashed its way though the hurdles.
However, one of the thrust arms came face to face with a wall of 400-500 women, behind whom stood around 2,000 villagers armed with spears, rods, lathis and scythes. Pipe guns, muskets and country-made pistols were also in the arsenal.

A convoy of officials and labourers with excavators, road-rollers and sandbags trailed the police. One of the objectives of the raid was to repair roads dug up by villagers, the ditch becoming a symbol of protest against land acquisition. A bomb squad and ambulances made up the rest of the caravan.
With the force advancing, a chant rose from the villagers, asking the police to “go back”.
The police, led by deputy inspector-general (Midnapore range) N. Ramesh Babu, told the villagers over the public address system to move back but were greeted by crude bombs and brickbats. Sound of shots was also heard.
Teargas shells were burst and rubber bullets fired but the villagers regrouped and surged back, this time without the chain of women shielding them.
The police then opened fire, using live ammunition.
“We found the teargas and rubber bullets had little impact on the aggressive villagers. They fled but regrouped and started firing at us. We had no alternative but to open fire,” an officer said.
Besides the fatalities, at least 75 people were injured — among them a dozen policemen.
The number of the dead fluctuated through the day — ranging from six to 20 — but there was no official word till the evening.
Chief minister Bhattacharjee reached the Assembly to make a statement, without realising that the House had adjourned five minutes ago. “Whatever I have to say, I will say it in the Assembly tomorrow,” he said later.
The onus fell on home secretary Prasad Ranjan Ray to confirm 11 deaths. Late tonight, East Midnapore district magistrate Anup Agarwal put the toll at 14 and other officials said the figure could rise.
Ward master of the Tamluk hospital, Atal Behari Jana, said 11 bodies, including that of a woman, bore bullet injuries. Most injuries were either in the stomach or chest.
“The police had to open fire in self-defence. Our force had guns not to fight the enemy but to restore peace in Nandigram,” director-general of police A.B. Vohra said.
The stated goals — regaining control of Nandigram and ensuring the return of CPM families that fled in January — were only partially met till late this evening. The police have established their writ in four of the six villages and a part of Sonachura but the CPM supporters are yet to return.
After calling the bandh, Mamata proceeded towards Nandigram but was blocked by CPM supporters. Long-distance private buses were parked diagonally on the road.


The Statesman
Sukanta Goswamy

Nandigram, March 14: At least 20 people fell to police bullets and more than 60 others, including 14 police personnel, were injured in the bloodiest ever clash between police and supporters of anti-land acquisition movement at violence-scarred Nan-digram today. Trouble erupted when police tried to enter strife-torn Nandigram. In a virtual indictment of the state government for the police firing Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi today said the use of force against the villagers could have been avoided. "Was this spilling of human blood not avoidable? What I advised government over the last two days, as I received inputs of rising tension in Nandigram, government knows. It is not my intention to enter into blame-fixing. But I cannot be so casual to the oath I have taken as to restrict my reaction to a pious expression of anguish and outrage.. But I also expect the government to do what it thinks is necessary to mitigate the effects of this bitter 14 March," he said.The Trinamul, Congress and Suci have given a call for a 12-hour bandh on Friday in protest against the killings, while Left Front partners condemned the police action. The Higher Secondary Council has postponed HS exams scheduled for Friday to 18 April. The chief minister told waiting journalists: “You would hear about it tomorrow.” The four deceased have been identified as Ratan Das (28) from Gangra, Imadul Khan (24) and Gobinda Das (22), residents of Saat Nambar Jalpai and Supriya Jana (39) from Sonachura village. Sambhu Das (33) from Sonachura village later died in hospital. All had died from bullet injuries. At least 46 people were taken to Nandigram Block Hospital, while the critically injured were sent to Tamluk Sadar Hospital. Five of the critically injured ~ Rasbehari Khara, Abhijeet Samanto, Swapan Giri and two women, Haimabati Haldar and Kanchan Mal ~ are being treated at SSKM Hospital in Kolkata. Miss Mamata Banerjee has said she will be visiting the injured at the Nandigram hospital tomorrow. According to the Bhumi Ucched Protirodh Committee, nearly 20 people have gone missing after the violence. Trouble started soon after a police contingent tried to enter Sonachura, Gangra and Saat Nambar Jalpai areas of Nandigram from Tekhali-Bhangabera end around 10 a.m. The agitating farmers formed a human shield with their womenfolk. They had assembled in front of the Singhabahini temple to seek blessings. Witnesses said there was some resistance by the villagers who started throwing stones at police. Police retaliated by firing teargas shells and then resorted to “indiscriminate firing”, eye-witnesses said. Abu Taher, member of the committee, alleged that CPI-M goons, using police as cover, fired at the villagers without any provocation. The CPI-M state secretary, Mr Biman Bose, denied the allegation. Tapasi Das, a resident of Gokulnagar who was injured, said : “Armed CPI-M cadres entered the village close on the heels of the police and went on the rampage.” According to Mr N Ramesh Babu, DIG Midnapore range, there was a large gathering when police tried to enter the area. “Before opening fire we urged the villagers to lift the blockade. When the mob didn’t disperse, we fired teargas shells. But the villagers retaliated by throwing bombs at us and we had to open fire,” he said. Finding the villages deserted CPI-M supporters allegedly looted houses and shops. Villagers alleged that at least five women protestors were raped by CPI-M goons. BUPC members complained a few bodies were dragged towards Khejuri and some were thrown into the Hooghly river by CPI-M cadres.

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Journalists denied entry

KOLKATA, March 14: Armed goons, allegedly backed by the CPI-M, reportedly prevented scribes from entering the trouble-torn areas of Nandigram after the news of violence spread this morning. The journalists had gone there to cover the violent clashes, but were not allowed to venture beyond the Nandigram police station. Two scribes, one representing a news agency and the other a television news channel, were allegedly held captive and severely assaulted in two separate areas in Nandigram while they were covering the clashes and their cameras and mobile phones were snatched. Police, however, denied any knowledge of the incident while the Left Front chairman, Mr Biman Bose brushed aside the charges and said that CPI-M supporters were not involved in any such incidents.
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A day after the suicide...

March 13: A day after Haradhan Bag, a farmer of Singur who, according to his family members, refused to part with his land for the Tatas’ small car project, committed suicide, the state government seemed unsure about the victim’s share of land in the project area. Bag’s family members and supporters of the Krishi Jomi Raksha Committee (KJRC) had claimed yesterday that the victim owned 55 cottah land in Beraberi and had refused to hand it over to the state government for the car project. However, the district administration today said that they would have to check records to discern whether Bag had any land inside the project area. Mr Vinod Kumar, the Hooghly district magistrate said: “We know that his family and legal heirs have land in the project area, but we have to check whether Bag himself had any property within it.” Director of industries, Mr MV Rao, refused to comment on the issue. Meanwhile, supporters of KJRC denied the district administration’s claim, saying that Bag himself owned a plot which was forcibly acquired by the government. “We have necessary documents to prove that Bag owned land in the project area,” claimed convener of the committee.

PTI

Expressing anguish at the death of several persons in police firing at Nandigram in West Bengal, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday said the incident was "very unfortunate".
"It is very very unfortunate. A number of lives have been lost. Violence is not the way to resolve the issue (Protests against the acquisition of land for industries)," he said on the sidelines of a valedictory function organised at the Foreign Services Institute (FSI) in New Delhi.
"The issue has to be resolved through dialogue," said Mukherjee, a senior Congress leader from West Bengal.
Eleven people were killed and 75 injured when police opened fire on a huge mob that fought pitched battles with the men in uniform in Nandigram.

HT

Expressing anguish at the death of several persons in police firing at Nandigram in West Bengal, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday said the incident was "very unfortunate".
"It is very very unfortunate. A number of lives have been lost. Violence is not the way to resolve the issue (Protests against the acquisition of land for industries)," he said on the sidelines of a valedictory function organised at the Foreign Services Institute (FSI) in New Delhi.
"The issue has to be resolved through dialogue," said Mukherjee, a senior Congress leader from West Bengal.
Eleven people were killed and 75 injured when police opened fire on a huge mob that fought pitched battles with the men in uniform in Nandigram,

TOI

NANDIGRAM: Simmering tension continued to prevail here on Thursday in the wake of violence and police firing that claimed at least 11 lives even as security personnel patrolled affected villages to prevent further recurrence of trouble. Police said they were still searching for bodies in the troubled areas of Nandigram even as the opposition parties including Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee claimed the death toll was "much higher". The Trinamool chief, who could not proceed to Nandigram on Wednesday night due to resistance by alleged CPI(M) activists, returned to Nandkumar and stayed there for the night before making a new move to march towards the affected areas of Nandigram on Thursday morning. The condition of some of the injured people admitted to different hospitals in East Midnapore district was critical and some of the injured have been rushed to Kolkata hospitals for treatment. In a fresh flare of violence at Nandigram on Wednesday,police fired several rounds in "self-defence" to ward off an armed attack by villagers as they tried to enter the villages after two months. The entire area turned into a battlefield and violence continued for sometime. Meanwhile, the opposition Trinamool Congress, Congress and SUCI have separately called for 12-hour shutdown on Friday to protest against the police action. The BJP has called for a 24-hour shutdown on Friday. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had reviewed the situation in Nandigram at an urgent high-level meeting with the Chief Secretary, Home secretary and other senior government officials. He is expected to make a statement on the Nandigram issue on Thursday. Governor Gopal Krishan Gandhi in a statement had expressed "a sense of cold horror" at the Nandigram incident and had urged the state government to urgently mitigate the effects of Wednesday’s incident.

BBC News

There have been fresh clashes between police and villagers in an area of eastern India where police fired on protesting farmers on Wednesday.
Fourteen people were killed and more than 70 injured during Wednesday's violence at Nandigram in West Bengal.
The farmers were protesting against government plans to set up a chemical hub and an industrial zone in the area.
Doctors who operated on the injured villagers say many of them were not hit by bullets from police weapons.

Khaki uniforms

"Some of these bullets are surely not from weapons issued to the police forces in West Bengal," a medic who wished to remain unnamed told the BBC from Calcutta's RG Kar Medical College.
"There are shotgun wounds, even injuries suffered from pipe guns widely used by local gangsters and political toughs in Bengal," he said.
The BBC's Subir Bhaumik in Calcutta says that locals and opposition activists in Nandigram allege that many of those involved in Wednesday's shooting of villagers were not policemen, even though they were wearing police uniforms.
"In Gokulpur and Bankhaberia, the second wave of attack on the villagers was carried out by men in khaki uniform, but they had no caps or service boots used by policemen," said Subhendu Adhikari, a local member of the main opposition Trinamul Congress party.
"They were wearing sneakers or sports shoes. We are sure they were armed Marxist cadres," he said.

Hugely contentious

Journalists heading for Nandigram on Wednesday ran into makeshift checkpoints manned by Marxists wearing red caps.
The BBC's Amitabh Bhattasali was among those whose vehicle was stopped at Chandipur by them.
Our correspondent said that they were clearly angry with the way journalists had covered the story, and were preventing journalists from travelling to Nandigram.
Protests have gone on there despite the state government pledging to move the hub elsewhere.
New economic zones are a hugely contentious issue in India.
What began as protests against the state takeover of farmland for industrial development has now turned into a trial of strength between farmers and the West Bengal government.

'Cold horror'

Nandigram remained tense on Thursday with the police using tear gas and staging baton charges to break up protests by angry villagers in the area.
Villagers also set fire to a local administration office and attacked policemen in front of the local hospital, which is teeming with relatives of the dead and injured.
The high court in Calcutta has ordered an investigation into the incident.
West Bengal chief minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya said 14 people had died and more than 70 people, including at least 30 policemen, had been injured in Wednesday's clashes.
The police action by the ruling Communist-led state government has been severely criticised by the ruling party's allies and the Trinamul Congress.Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi said in a statement that the news of police firing had filled him with a "sense of cold horror", and that the police action was perhaps avoidable.
Since January the villagers have violently opposed the state government's plans to take over nearly 10,000 acres of crop land to set up a special economic zone that would contain a hub of chemical industries to be commissioned by Indonesia's Salim Group.
Angry farmers along with political activists, belonging to the state's governing Communist party and the Trinamul Congress, have dug up roads, burnt down wooden bridges and attacked government officials and policemen trying to enter the area during the past two months.
Six people, including a policemen, died during protests in the area in January.

'Fierce resistance'

In recent weeks Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharya, who is pushing for Bengal's speedy industrialisation, has said that the project would be shifted elsewhere if the locals did not want it.
But he said Nandigram had descended into lawlessness and ordered the police to take control of the area this week.
The Trinamul Congress has called for a state-wide strike on Friday to protest against the police firing.
Two allies of the Communist party have said the police action was "most unfortunate".
State governments in India are acquiring large tracts of land to set up special economic zones (SEZs) to push up employment and earnings.
The federal government reckons that SEZs will bring in $13.5bn in investment and create 890,000 jobs by 2009 if the ambitious plan is allowed to proceed.
Critics say this is destined to become the biggest land grab in post-colonial India, given the lack of transparency and rampant corruption in government.

Business Line

Trauma at Nandigram
B. S. RAGHAVAN
Has the CPI (M) lost its common touch and sensitivity? Is the Buddhadeb model of economic development coming close to being discredited?
These are the questions that inevitably arise in reaction to reports in all sections of the media of the apparently unjustified and indiscriminate firing by the police at Nandigram in West Bengal, resulting in a shocking death toll of 12 at the time of writing. The unprecedented intensity of anguish and the outrage at what seems to be nothing short of a feelingless and reckless unleashing of brute force on people, comprising mostly women and children desperate to hold on to their land and livelihood, can be imagined from the fact that for the first ever time in the Constitutional history of free India, a Governor was moved to issue a public statement that was plainly censorious of the government of a State of which he himself was the Head.
By any token, it is a strongly-worded indictment by the Governor, Mr Gopalkrishna Gandhi. He has clearly indicated that the spilling of human blood was avoidable and that over the previous two days, ``as I received inputs of rising tension'', he had been advising the Government on the need for a sensitive handling of the situation. Even the Governor's anticipatory advice was to no avail. The `cold horror', as he puts it, of the trauma will haunt the State and hang like a sinister shadow over the Left Front Government for a long time, and may even generate a swirling political maelstrom strong enough to dislodge it.
Soon after the peaking of the agitation at Singur and the tragic loss of lives in the first confrontation between the police and the protesters at Nandigram, I wrote in this column (Resolving Singur's crisis, December 11, 2006 and Reality Check in West Bengal, January 10, 2007) about the ``abrupt and, to an extent, abrasive responses of the Chief Minister to criticism'', and the State Government's tendency to dismiss the developments ``as a Saturnine ruse on the part of Opposition parties to gain political mileage'', adding, "It is folly to hope that by blaming it all on political scapegoats, the problem will go away." I also suggested the setting up a Task Force chaired by Dr M. S. Swaminathan to advise on the land use strategy and the right mix of agriculture and industry for the development of the State with a human face.
Although the dispatch of a large contingent of police to Nandigram was ostensibly to clear obstructions and restore communications, it was also no doubt meant to assert the prestige and authority of the Government. In any case, the CPI (M) cadres should have been asked to keep away since their presence in large numbers could only have the effect of further pressuring the police. Instead, the Chief Minister himself should have taken a hand, preferably by visiting the blockaded area in person and reaching out to the people in a spirit of understanding and conciliation.

Central Chronicle


Nandigram: Oppn stalls House
Agencies
New Delhi, Mar 15: The Left parties today found themselves cornered in Parliament on the killing of farmers in Nandigram in West Bengal as they faced a determined attack by the Opposition which stalled proceedings of both Houses demanding dismissal of the CPI(M)-led state government.
Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha saw several adjournments before calling it a day as the BJP-Shiv Sena in the Lower House and the saffron party and the Trinamool Congress in the Upper House created a furore targeting the Left.
No business could be transacted in either House in spite of the fact that in Lok Sabha Finance Minister P Chidambaram was to reply to the discussion on the General Budget.
The ruling side had issued a three-line whip for the purpose.
Despite being key outside allies of the UPA, neither the Congress nor any other party in the ruling alliance came out to offer a helping hand to the Left.
A couple of days ago in the Lok Sabha, the Maritime University Bill controversy had left the Left embarrassed due to conduct of its members.
It was trouble from the word go today in both the Houses which saw slogans like "Communists are murderers" and "Communist high-handedness will not be tolerated" being raised by the Opposition which stormed the well in Lok Sabha
CBI probe
Taking cognizance of the situation at Nandigram in West Bengal, Calcutta High Court on Thursday directed the CBI to immediately send a team to the troubled area and inquire into the circumstances that led to the police firing which claimed 11 lives.
A division bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice SS Nijjar and Justice PC Ghosh passed the order on a petition by the National Alliance of People's Movement and some lawyers.
The court in its order directed a CBI team to immediately visit Nandigram and collect all evidence of firing by the security forces which resulted in deaths of so many people.
It directed the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government to file an affidavit detailing the circumstances under which the firing was ordered.
The court also directed that under no circumstances any evidence should be destroyed by any person and instructed the CBI to collect all evidence including the post-mortem conducted on the victims of the firing.
CBI advocate Ranjan Roy would also accompany the team during its visit to Nandigram.
Advani to visit
Senior BJP leader LK Advani is arriving in Kolkata on March 17 leading a five-member NDA delegation to see the ground reality at Nandigram following the killing of 14 people in police firing.
Announcing this, BJP state general secretary Rahul Sinha said in Kolkata on Thursday that the NDA team soon after its arrival in the morning, would immediately leave for Nandigram by a helicopter where it would meet a cross section of people, including the members of the victims' family, besides visiting the injured in the local hospital.
The team before returning to Kolkata the same evening enroute Delhi, was likely to meet senior district police officials to get their views about the alleged unprovoked firing, Mr Sinha said.
In this connection, Mr Sinha also urged the senior Left Front partners like RSP, Forward Bloc and CPI in the state to reconsider their decision on whether to remain in the Front anymore in the wake of Wednesday's massacre or join hands with the combined opposition in staging a well-coordinated anti-government protest to ensure an 'early exit' of the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government.

Financial Times


SEZ Violence

Police were forced to fire: Buddha
AGENCIES

Kolkata, March 15: The Calcutta High Court has directed the CBI to probe Wednesday's violence and police firing at Nandigram in West Bengal.
HC's order has put added pressure over the West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who justified the police firing at Nandigram in which 14 villagers were killed, while reiterating that the SEZ would not be set up there against the wishes of people.
Although Buddhadeb was not categorically sorry, he said the incidence was "most undesired and unfortunate" and the government was compelled to act to bring back administration in the area.
“It is an unfortunate incident but police were forced to fire in self-defence.”
In the House, bereft of the opposition, the Chief Minister making a statement on Wednesday's incident said that no government could accept absence of rule of law in any part of a state.
For two and a half months, the administration could not function at Nandigram, he said.
He said that the government decided that this situation could not go on and action by the police was initiated.
The Nandigram violence claimed at least 11 lives and injured more than 75. Police are still searching for more bodies in the troubled areas.
The violence at Nandigram was brought to the notice of the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday with the West Bengal government informing it that three persons were killed there in police firing.
Following a directive from Chief Justice S S Nijjar, Additional Advocate General, Nisith Adhikary informed the court that three persons were killed in police firing and 12 policemen injured in clashes at Nandigram during the day.
Earlier, the Chief Justice directed the Advocate General to inform the court about the incident at Nandigram after the police firing was mentioned by a lawyer, Tapas Bhanja, who prayed for a judicial enquiry.
Meanwhile, the opposition Trinamool Congress, Congress and SUCI have separately called for 12-hour shutdown on Friday to protest against the police action. The BJP has called for a 24-hour shutdown on Friday.

The Pioneer

Tiananmen in Nandigram
Saugar Sengupta Kolaghat / Kolkata

Buddha's police slaughter 15; scores injured

Mamata stopped on way to killing fields, gheraoed by CPM cadre in Tamluk; West Bengal bandh on Friday

Drawing inspiration from Deng Xiaoping, West Bengal's Marxist Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Wednesday unleashed his police and party cadre on the farmers of Nandigram who have been resisting forcible acquisition of their land for a Special Economic Zone project. In the bloodbath that followed, at least 15 men and women were shot dead in cold blood and scores of others injured.Eyewitnesses to this state-sponsored massacre, reminiscent of the slaughter at Tiananmen Square, have provided vivid details of how policemen, who were provided covering fire by CPI(M) cadre, marched on to this village in East Midnapore district, shooting protesters on sight. When wailing women came to retrieve the fallen, they were assaulted with ferocity that would shame wild animals.

On June 3, 1989, tanks of Deng's Red Army had literally crushed peaceful demonstrators demanding democracy at Tiananmen Square in Beijing. That massacre occurred in the dead of night. Wednesday's slaughter of those protesting Marxist strong-arm tactics in Nandigram happened in broad daylight.
Soon after news of Wednesday's brutality spread, anger erupted into protests at Kolkata, Hooghly, East and West Midnapore, North and South 24 Parganas, Malda, Coochbehar and elsewhere. The Forward Bloc, an ally of the CPI(M), has called a dusk-to-dawn bandh in Cooch Behar. Another Marxist ally, the RSP, has sought an immediate meeting of the Left Front.
West Bengal has been shaken as never before by the mindless killings ordered by the CPI(M)-led Left Front Government.
Newspersons on their way to cover the incident were stopped by Marxist cadre. At least two of them were mercilessly beaten up. After stitching together details that have been trickling out, what emerges is a shocking picture.
A 4,000-strong posse of policemen, armed with Insas and Kalashnikov rifles, led by Midnapore Deputy Inspector General NR Babu, set out on Wednesday morning to "liberate" Nandigram from the clutches of the Jami Uchched Pratirodh Committee, floated by farmers resisting forcible land acquisition, and launched a three-pronged attack from Tekhali, Bhangabera and Nandigram.
Apprehending such an attack, villagers had gathered in large numbers, forming a defensive cordon with women and children in the front. At first sight, the police fired several rounds of tear-gas shells. Next, they began shooting at the villagers. All the while CPI(M) cadre provided the police with covering fire. The hapless villagers retaliated by hurling stones.
Eyewitnesses say at least 15 have died in the firing; some claim that bodies have been thrown into the Haldi river to destroy evidence of police barbarity. At least 65 people, including seven policemen, have been wounded.
Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee, who has called a 12-hour bandh on Friday, claims at least 20 people have died in the firing. She was prevented from entering Nandigram. Her party MP from neighbouring Kanthi, Subendu Adhikari, told The Pioneer, "50 people have perished in the firing." About 65 people including seven policemen were injured. According to Opposition Leader Partho Chattopadhyay, "not less than 50 people have fallen to police bullets".
Senior RSP leader and State Minister Kshiti Goswami quoted sources claiming, "50 bodies have been carried to the local hospital so far... I do not know whether all of them were dead."
State Home Secretary PR Ray, refusing to provide casualty figures, has alleged that police have recovered a huge cache of arms from the village. But he could not explain why none among the seven injured policemen sustained bullet or bomb injuries.
Eyewitnesses say the police aimed at the midriff of the villagers while firing at them. "Some of the victims were brought to the hospital with their bellies ripped apart by bullets, their intestines falling out. Others had their limbs severed," hospital sources said.
This correspondent saw several victims with their limbs severed being sent to hospitals in Kharagpur and Kolkata.
It is virtually impossible to tabulate the dead and the injured. Mediapersons have been debarred from entering the battle zone. This correspondent had to return from Kolaghat-Mecheda road after CPI(M) cadre stopped the entry of "foreign vehicles."
Ms Mamata Banerjee told newspersons, "After shooting the innocent, the police and the Marxist cadre have been dumping their bodies in the river. They do not want me to find out how many have died." According to latest reports, Banerjee was stopped at Mecheda, Tamluk, en route to Nandigram, by CITU and SFI activists. Senior Congress leaders Subroto Mukherjee and Amitabha Chakroborty, who had rushed to Nandigram, were manhandled by CPI(M) cadre at Chandipur and had to be rescued by local Trinamool activists. Mukherjee's car was smashed by the Marxists.
Nandigram had been cut off from the rest of the country for the last 75 days with local people launching a sustained protest against the Government's move to acquire agricultural land for a Special Economic Zone. A clash between CPI(M) cadre and villagers had claimed seven lives in January. Last week, the administration decided to "restore normalcy" in Nandigram.

The Sentinel

Toll rises to 14 as trouble erupts in Nandigram* - Buddha defends police action, Opp walks out * Mamata hospitalized * Cong alleges genocide, demands Govt’s dismissal Nandigram (WB), March 15: Trouble erupted again today as angry villagers torched the BDO office here in protest against the police firing yesterday the toll of which mounted to 14. As soon as Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee reached Nandigram Hospital to meet the injured in the firing, nearly 2000 villagers, mainly supporters of Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh (Land Acquisition Resistence) Committee, who gathered outside began shouting slogans against the Left Front government. The villagers then turned their wrath on the BDO office adjacent to the hospital and set it on fire. The police made a lathi-charge and fired teargas shells one of which landed on the bonnet of car of the TC chief who was then inside the hospital. Mamata earlier entered Nandigram after being obstructed allegedly by CPI(M) supporters last night and this morning. Meanwhile, DGP A B Vohra told newsmen at Kolkata that the toll in yesterday's firing rose to 14 this morning. The situation at Nandigram, however, continued to be highly volatile with supporters of the CPI(M) putting up blockades at various places preventing mediapersons from proceeding to the troubled areas. A large number of security personnel were seen posted at various points on the roads leading to Nandigram block. Vohra said that the situation under control after re-inforcements were sent there. Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi visited the troubled area and met the injured admitted at the Tamluk Hospital where around 50 people were admitted following the police firing. (PTI)

Political parties steamroll Left for firingKolkata, March 15: The West Bengal Assembly today witnessed noisy scenes with Opposition Trinamool Congess and Congress members voicing protest against the police firing at Nandigram and demandng the dismissal of the Left Front government in the state. Trinamool Congress members carried placards demanding imposition of President's Rule, while Congress MLAs wore black ribbons in the house where Chief çŒbster Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was present. Members of the two Opposition parties streamed to the well and demonstrated before the podium of the Speaker, who began question hour amidst the din. Some Opposition members, including Trinamool Congress's Ashok Deb, tried to rush to the chief minister's seat, but they were restrained by the marshal and security personnel. The Opposition MLAs also threw a couple of eggs at the Chief Minister, but the missiles did not hit him as he was conrdoned off by the security staff. When the Chief Minister stood up to reply, the Opposition members shouted at the top of their voices. A couple of TC MLAs displayed sareee and bangles to Bhattacharjee, and some of them banged tables as total chaos prevailed. Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee was today hospitalized here when she complained of chest pain after allegedly being hit by a stone while she was on her way to the troubled area. “Mamata had to be admitted at Nandigram hospital after she complained of chest pain when she was hit by a stone on her way to Nandigram,” Anuradha Putatunda, a Trinamool Congress leader who was accompanying Mamata, told newspersons. She said that Mamata was given saline and oxygen immediately after her admission to the hospital, which she was visiting to meet the injured. Putatunda alleged that Mamata’s convoy was repeatedly blocked and attacked by CPI(M) supporters en route to Nandigram and at one place she was hit by a stone. Only recently Mamata had left a private nursing home where she was under treatment for nearly a month following her 25-day long hunger strike in December in protest against the acquisition of 1000 acre at Singur in Hoogly district for the Tata Motors' small car project. On the other hand, alleging genocide at Nandigram, Congress members walked out of the Assembly for a second time today, demanding immediate resignation of Chief Minister and dismissal of the Left Front government by the Centre. Genocide had taken place at Nandigram with even Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi expressing dismay and shock, Congress Chief Whip Manas Bhuinya said demanding resignation of the Chief Minister on moral grounds. He said that the Chief Minister had no moral right to stay in power even for a minute, demanding that the Centre apply Article 356 in West Bengal. In Chennai, terming police firing on farmers as a ‘shameful blot’ on the West Bengal government, AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa today demanded action against the police officers and personnel responsible for the incident. “None of them should be spared on the excuse that they were trying to establish Rule of Law. The West Bengal government should take all steps to make amends and mitigate the sufferings of the farmers, although it may take a long time to assuage the deeply-wounded farmers,” she said. (Agencies)

Govt: If people don’t want SEZ, it will not be set upKolkata, March 15: Amidst loud protests and walk-out by Opposition Trinamool Congress, Congress and SUCI, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee today justified the police firing at Nandigram in which 14 villagers were killed, while reiterating that the SEZ would not be set up there against the wishes of the people. In the House, bereft of the Opposition, the Chief Minister making a statement on Wednesday’s incident said that no government could accept absence of rule of law in any part of a state. For two and a half months, the administration could not function at Nandigram, he said. The Chief Minister said that his government decided that this situation could not go on and action by the police was initiated. Bhattacharjee welcomed the Calcutta High Court ordering a CBI probe into the police firing and said that he was contemplating a judicial inquiry. His government, he said, accepted the court order. Expressing shock at the death of 14 persons in the firing, the Chief Minister said if the people of Nandigram were against a chemical hub there, it would not come up there. In that circumstance, the SEZ and the chemical hub would be set up in some other place and no land acquisition notice would be made in Nandigram, he added. Bhattacharjee, in his statement, said 14 persons were killed and 71 injured, including 42 policemen, in the violence at Nandigram yesterday. He said that every death was shocking and the incident should not have happened. He had hoped, he said, that people would accept the police entering inacessible Nandigram when the Home Secretary had said so. (PTI)

Business Standard


West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today briefed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about the violence in Nandigram that claimed 14 lives and sent a report on the incident to the central government."I briefed the Prime Minister of what actually happened at Nandigram over telephone," Bhattacharjee told reporters at his chamber in the assembly.He said he had also spoken to Union Home minister Shivraj Patil and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee - a senior Congress leader from West Bengal.Bhattacharjee said the situation in Nandigram was slowly returning to normal and his government would not take any hasty step in the area.Violence erupted in Nandigram after the state government yesterday sent in police to restore order in villages where people had dug up and blocked roads to prevent the entry of the men in uniform after protests against the acquisition of land for industries.

Asserting that he would not budge from his stand on the setting up of a Tata Motors' plant in Singur, Bhattacharjee said, "There is no question of backing out (on the project)."Asked to comment on Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi's virtual indictment of his government for the violence in Nandigram, Bhattacharjee declined to comment.

Updated at 1600 hrs: Trouble erupted here again as angry villagers torched the BDO office in protest against the police firing in which the toll mounted to 14 today.As soon as Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee reached Nandigram hospital to meet the injured in yesterday's firing, nearly 2,000 villagers, mainly supporters of Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh (Land Acquisition Resistence) Committee, who had gathered outside, began shouting slogans against the Left Front government.The villagers then turned their wrath on the BDO office adjacent to the hospital and set it on fire.The police used lathis and fired teargas shells one of which landed on the bonnet of the car of the TC chief who was inside the hospital. Earlier, she had entered the village after being obstructed allegedly by CPI(M) supporters last night and this morning.Meanwhile, DGP A B Vohra told newsmen in Kolkata that the toll in yesterday's firing rose to 14 this morning.

Updated at 1020 hrs: Simmering tension continued to prevail here today in the wake of violence and police firing that claimed at least 11 lives even as security personnel patrolled affected villages to prevent further recurrence of trouble.Police said they were still searching for bodies in the troubled areas of Nandigram even as the opposition parties including Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee claimed the death toll was "much much higher".Banerjee, who could not proceed to Nandigram last night due to resistance by alleged CPI(M) activists, returned to Nandkumar and stayed there for the night before taking fresh move to march towards the affected areas of Nandigram this morning.The condition of some of the injured people admitted to different hospitals in East Midnapore district was critical and some of the injured have been rushed to Kolkata hospitals for treatment, police said.In a fresh flare of violence at Nandigram yesterday, police fired several rounds in "self defence" to ward off an armed attack by villagers as they tried to enter the villages after two months.

Deccan Chronicle


Advani wants MPs’ delegation sent

New Delhi, March 15: The main Opposition BJP wants the government to send an all-party delegation to Nandigram in West Bengal, the RJD, led by Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav, will be sending a delegation of his party MPs, while the Congress is yet to take a decision on the issue. he BJP-led NDA wants the Centre to send an all-party parliamentary delegation to the place, reminding how the then Vajpayee government had agreed to the suggestion of then Opposition leader Sonia Gandhi following the Godhra killings. f the Centre does not agree to the suggestion, an NDA delegation will visit the place on Saturday, Leader of the Opposition L.K. Advani said.
Mr Lalu Yadav told reporters that his party MPs delegation, to be led by Mr Vijay Krishna (Barh), will also go to Nandigram in the wake of police firing but did not give a date. He also wanted a discussion on the Chhattisgarh killing in Parliament. The Congress has not decided whether to send a UPA or Congress delegation to Nandigram. Its parliamentary affairs committee met on Thursday evening and discussed this issue. A decision could be taken on Friday. he BJP is trying to correlate Wednesday’s Nandigram killings to the Godhra killings that took place in 2002, but a senior Congress minister told reporters that they were totally different issues.
The BJP tried to build a case against the ruling Left Front in West Bengal with the help of the governor’s reaction. Addressing a press conference, Mr Advani demanded that the Centre invoke Article 355 of the Constitution to direct the West Bengal government to immediately stop the spiralling violence in Nandigram. Asked whether the BJP will welcome an all-party delegation to Chhattisgarh, where Naxals killed 55 security personnel in the party-ruled state’s Bijapur district, he said: “I would welcome any request for an all-party visit to Chhattisgarh to the place of the Naxal attack on a police outpost.”
He said the NDA will also meet President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on the Nandigram issue and wanted both Houses of Parliament to pass a resolution condemning Wednesday’s police action in Nandigram. The Congress rejected it outright. Mr Advani spoke to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking his intervention for a report from West Bengal governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi on the violence in the state.Meanwhile, the AICC distanced itself from its West Bengal unit’s demand of imposing President’s Rule in the state. Congress MPs from West Bengal met party chief Sonia Gandhi and made a strong plea that the AICC should take a serious view and also depute a high-level delegation to the state to see for itself the situation at Nandigram, according to parliamentary affairs minister P.R. Das Munshi.

Asian Age reporter attacked trying to enter village

Nandigram, March 15: Mediapersons were beaten up by CPI(M) supporters on Thursday when they tried to enter Sonachura. This correspondent, belonging to Asian Age, was molested while the police kept quiet. Asian Age is a sister concern of Deccan Chronicle.
The car of this correspondent was stopped while it was crossing Hanshchura by a group of police supporters. When tried to reason with as to why the correspondent wanted to enter the interiors, she and two other reporters were physically manhandled by the CPI(M) supporters. When the three sought the help of DIG (Midnapore range) N.R. Babu, they were rewarded with an aloof reply, “I do not have the time to speak with you.”
A group of CPI(M) supporters brandishing their party’s flags started hurling obscene expletives. One of them caught the collar of this correspondent. When she tried to remove his hand, he grabbed her hair and tugged at it. Another reporter was slapped while the other was pinned down to the ground and heavily booted. He suffered swelling on his forehead.

Police had no option: Buddha

Kolkata, March 15: A day after the killing of 14 farmers at Nandigram in East Medinipur, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee tried to justify the police action. Making a statement in the State Assembly, he claimed that the police had no option but to open fire on protesters. When a sombre-faced chief minister arrived in the House, he was greeted by hard-hitting slogans from Congress and Trinamul Congress members. An egg was reportedly thrown at him but it missed its target. The Opposition legislators walked out of the House while the chief minister made the statement. Meanwhile, 40 schoolchildren, aged between four and nine and students of the Ramakrishna Sarla KG School in Sonachura, went missing.

Singh: Save farmers, not the Doha Round

New Delhi, March 15: Former Prime Minister V.P. Singh, social activist Vandana Shiva, former Indian ambassador to Gatt S.P. Shukla, writer Arundhati Roy and Mr Prashant Bhushan are among the 50 eminent personalities, who urged the government to shed its “save Doha Round” bias in favour of “save small and marginal farmers.”
The leaders pointed out that the Centre has been organising a seminar on saving Doha and delivering development. “Now the Indian government is being used by the US and the EU to bulldoze opposition to the Doha process and clear the ground for its resumption and early conclusion. And the save Doha seminar was part of this bulldozing. The bias of the save Doha seminar in terms of who have sponsored it, who are invited and what will be discussed,” the eminent persons said.
They said, “Today, the food prices are going through the ceiling in India. The ruling party at the Centre recently lost elections in two states and it has been admitted at the highest levels of the party that increase in prices of food and essential commodities was a major factor contributing to the electoral defeat. Trade liberalisation translates into falling prices for farmers and rising prices for consumers, with the increasing polarisation of prices, generating super profits for agribusiness.” The US has been pressing that India should play a role and Indian government is only too willing to oblige.

WB governor meets victims

Nandigram, March 15: West Bengal governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi, who voiced his anguish over the killings in Nandigram, visited the injured at the Tamluk Hospital on Thursday. In Kolkata, the state government questioned Mr Gandhi’s authority to criticise the functioning of the government. Transport minister Subhas Chakraborty said, “I doubt if the governor has the constitutional authority to issue such public statement.” Mr Gandhi spoke to the victims and patiently heard their tales of woe.
He acknowledged that it was “tragic and uncontrolled anger was not an answer.” He also expressed grief over the lack of proper treatment to the injured. “I am disheartened with what I saw here. People are in a state of shock. They are not getting proper treatment. They should be immediately shifted to Kolkata,” he added. Agreeing that the magnitude of the carnage had moved him, Mr Gandhi said, “I would have come here at any cost whether any one was around or not.”
Mr Gandhi met all the 26 injured who are being treated at Tamluk Hospital, but showed special concern for two victims Anjali Das and Anubha Khanra — both residents of Sonachura. Both required an immediate CT scan for their head injuries. The governor asked the district magistrate Anup Agarwal to take necessary steps to help the victims, specially with requirements like CT sacn. The governor categorically asked the DM to ensure that no ambulances or vehicles carrying the injured from Nandigram were stopped. The governor was informed about unavailability of blood. The DM was also instructed to arrange for clothes for the victims who remained draped in their bloodstained clothes.

Sonia will visit city soon: PMK

Chennai, March 15: AICC president and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi will visit Tamil Nadu either in the last week of March or the first week of April to attend a felicitation function organised by the PMK, an ally of the Congress at the Centre. A PMK press release said Sonia would be felicitated for her support and effort to get the 27 per cent reservation bill passed in the Parliament.The PMK MPs team, led by union minister of health and family welfare Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, had met Ms Sonia Gandhi and handed over the letter written by party chief Dr Ramadoss inviting her for the felicitation function.

Economic Times

KOLKATA: The "unprecedented" police firing in Nandigram has created a deep crisis within West Bengal's ruling Left Front, CPI general secretary A B Bardhan said on Thursday. Describing Wednesday's police action as the "most tragic and unprecedented" incident during the 30-year rule of the Left Front in the state, Bardhan, who rushed here to attend CPI's state secretariat meeting, said there should be transparency and consultations with partners in the coalition on government action. The "brutal" police action was unusual and unacceptable. It was a "unilateral" step taken in a hurried manner, he said. The anguish expressed by Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi had come at an appropriate time, he said. The resistance at Nandigram, Bardhan said, was a result of the people's protest against the attempt by the state government to set up a chemical hub there. He said that, in a way, the chemical industry was being exported from developed countries like Japan and Germany to third world nations. "Why should they pollute our state?" he asked. "Although we are working within a bourgeois set-up, but as leftists we should put up some model for others," he said.

NEW DELHI: Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath today defended the SEZ policy of the Centre and said land acquisition, which led to violence in Nandigram, should be equitable and transparent. "The land acquisition for all industrial purposes should be equitable, transparent and inclusive of farmers," he told reporters. He said the incident in Nandigram was unfortunate, however, SEZ policy should not be held responsible for it. "Yesterday's incidents in West Bengal are unfortunate... we should not look at it as SEZ issue but one of land acquisition for industrial projects," he said, referring to the protests by activists against SEZs in Nandigram leading to police firing in which 11 people were killed and 75 injured. Asked whether yesterday's violence could slow down the fresh approvals on SEZs, Nath said in many pending cases there was no dispute and promoters have already tied-up land. The empowered Group of Ministers on SEZs headed by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukkerjee could not meet since January and there is a freeze on fresh approvals and notifications. Nath said when eGoM meets next it would look "distinctively" at the cases where land was not an issue and where acquisition was a problem. However, there is uncertanity over the next meeting of the GoM. In most of the pending 172 cases awaiting notification, the land has been tied up without any protests. In fact, five Chief Ministers and some Union Ministers have written to the eGoM to notify the pending cases. He said the Centre has asked the state governments to provide details of land acquisition. When the reply is received it would be placed before the eGoM for directions on future of SEZs.

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Thursday reached this trouble spot in East Midnapore district, where 11 people were killed in police firing, after she was prevented from coming here last night by some CPI(M) cadres who blocked her convoy.
CPI(M) cadres were picketing on the road this morning too, but Banerjee's convoy, escorted by the police, swept past them accompanied by a large contingent of mediapersons.
Banerjee, whose party is spearheading the agitation against acquisition of farmland for a proposed SEZ here by the Left Front government, entered Nandigram with members of the Krishi Jami Raksha Committee marching in a procession.
She said industry and agriculture were two different things and one should not be sacrificed for the other, while accusing Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee of creating "unrest" in the area in the name of industrialisation.
She alleged that agricultural land was being taken away from farmers without proper compensation being given to them.
The police which had not entered Nandigram since violence in early January left six dead, made a fresh bid to enter yesterday and were faced with fierce resistance from the Krishi Jami Raksha Committee (Save Farmland Committee).
In the firing which followed, 11 people were killed and 75 injured.
The villagers had dug up roads and damaged bridges to prevent police from entering Nandigram, which has witnessed recurring clashes between CPI-M and Committee members since January.

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee admitted at Nandigram hospital after being allegedly hit by a stone on her way to the troubled area.

NEW DELHI: Furore over the killing of farmers in Nandigram in West Bengal today created pandemonium in both Houses of Parliament, forcing their adjournment till noon. Trouble began in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha right from the word go as a determined Opposition demanded suspension of Question Hour and taking up of discussion on the issue. In the Lok Sabha, Leader of the Opposition L K Advani was allowed to speak by Deputy Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal who, however, disallowed suspension of the Question Hour. The Left members vociferously protested against Advani being allowed to speak with CPI(M) leader Basudeb Acharia asking the Chair under what rule was he allowing Advani. Amid slogan-shouting by BJP-Shiv Sena members that "Communists are murderers" and "Communist high-handedness will not be tolerated", Acharia questioned allowing the issue of law and order, which is a state subject, to be raised in Parliament. This added fuel to the Opposition fire with some Shiv Sena members demanding dismissal of the Left Front Government in West Bengal for the "cold-blooded murder of farmers".

The scene was no different in Rajya Sabha when Leader of the Opposition Jaswant Singh rose to speak on the issue. As soon as Jaswant Singh rose to speak, Brinda Karat (CPI-M) asked Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat under what rule the issue, a state subject, was being raised. This provoked an angry reaction from BJP members who raised slogans. Lone Trinamool Congress member Dinesh Trivedi sought suspension of the Question Hour to take up discussion on the issue. Congress members, however, raised slogans "we want Question Hour". Sensing the mood, Shekhawat adjourned the House till 1200 hours.

Taking cognizance of the situation at Nandigram in West Bengal, Calcutta High Court on Thursday directed the CBI to immediately send a team to the troubled area and inquire into the circumstances that led to the police firing which claimed 11 lives.
A division bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice S S Nijjar and Justice P C Ghosh passed the order on a petition by the National Alliance of People's Movement and some lawyers.
The court in its order directed a CBI team to immediately visit Nandigram and collect all evidence of firing by the security forces which resulted in deaths of so many people.
It directed the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government to file an affidavit detailing the circumstances under which the firing was ordered.
The court also directed that under no circumstances any evidence should be destroyed by any person and instructed the CBI to collect all evidence including the post-mortem conducted on the victims of the firing.
CBI advocate Ranjan Roy would also accompany the team in its visit to Nandigram.

Simmering tension continued to prevail here today in the wake of violence and police firing that claimed at least 11 lives even as security personnel patrolled affected villages to prevent further recurrence of trouble. Police said they were still searching for bodies in the troubled areas of Nandigram even as the opposition parties including Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee claimed the death toll was "much much higher". Banerjee, who could not proceed to Nandigram last night due to resistance by alleged CPI(M) activists, returned to Nandkumar and stayed there for the night before taking fresh move to march towards the affected areas of Nandigram this morning. The condition of some of the injured people admitted to different hospitals in East Midnapore district was critical and some of the injured have been rushed to Kolkata hospitals for treatment, police said. In a fresh flare of violence at Nandigram yesterday, police fired several rounds in "self defence" to ward off an armed attack by villagers as they tried to enter the villages after two months. The entire area turned into a battlefield and and violence continued for sometime. Meanwhile, the opposition Trinamool Congress, Congress and SUCI have separately called for 12-hour shutdown tomorrow to protest against the police action. The BJP has called for a 24-hour shutdown tomorrow. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had reviewed the situation in Nandigram at an urgent high-level meeting with the Chief Secretary, Home secretary and other senior government officials. He is expected make a statement on the Nandigram issue today. Govenor Gopal Krishan Gandhi in a statement had expressed "a sense of cold horror" at the Nandigram incident and had urged the state government to urgently mitigate the effects of yesterday's incident.

The Assam Tribune


NANDIGRAM (WB), March 14 – In a major flare-up of violence today in protest against the acquisition of land for industries, 11 people were killed and 75 others injured when police opened fire on a violent crowd that fought pit-ched battles with the men in uniform here. The police action came under attack from Opposition parties like Congress and Trinamool, which demanded President’s rule in West Bengal, while even allies of the ruling Left Front like CPI condemned it, saying it was “unheard of” in the past three decades of Communist rule. The violence erupted as police tried to enter several villages from which they had been barred for three months by farmers protesting against the acquisition of land for a SEZ to be set up by Indonesia’s Salim Group. The villagers had dug up roads and damaged bridges to prevent police from entering Nandigram in East Midnapore district, which has witnessed clashes between ruling CPI-M workers and members of a Trinamool Congress-backed farmers’ group in the past few weeks. Home Secretary PR Roy told reporters in Kolkata that 11 people were killed and 75 injured when police opened fire on a mob of about 5,000 villagers who tried to prevent their entry into villages. Among the injured were 12 policemen. Twenty people were arrested. Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil called up Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and enquired about the situation, Roy said.Meanwhile, the renewed violence echoed in Parliament today with BJP and Trinmool forcing adjournment of Rajya Sabha while the Opposition staged a walkout in Lok Sabha. A day after it was left embarrassed by the conduct of its members in the Lok Sabha, the Left was again on the receiving end with the BJP and Trinmool training their guns on it over the police firing on farmers who were protesting acquisition of land for industry.The members in the Upper House stormed the Well demanding a statement from the the Home Minister. However, they persisted with their protest even after Home Minister Shivraj Patil replied, informing the House that six persons have been killed in the violence.The agitated members shouted slogans like “stop killing of humanity” and “government of bullet and sticks will not be allowed to run”.

The Tribune

At least 12 poor farmers were gunned down today at Nandigram by the police, which, accompanied by CPM cadres, went berserk in an attempt to capture two anchals from the possession of the Krishia Bachaoo Committee.
Even as official sources in Midnapore announced the death of 12 people in police firing at Nandigram today, the Director General of Police claimed that only six people had so far been killed in violence there, creating more confusion about the actual situation.
Unofficial sources, however, put the death figure at 20. Those killed included mostly woman and children. Over 200 persons with bullet injuries had been admitted to different hospitals and health centres in and around East Midnapore, of which, the condition of as many as 50 was stated to be critical.
Angry over the police firing, opposition activists torched buses and blocked roads across West Bengal, while lawyers staged demonstrations against the incident.
Earlier, the trouble started around 8 a.m. when the police and the local CPM workers started entering Nandigram from two different directions. But the agitating farmers and their supporters, controlling the anchals as their citadels, resisted with lathis and other lethal weapons, while the womenfolk and the children began sit-in resistance. Some of them started singing while others started beating drums. The police fired several rounds of tear gas shells to disperse them but their attempt failed. Instead they were attacked with bricks and bombs.
The police then started firing indiscriminately injuring several people, including women. As the demonstrators people started fleeing, CPM workers, who were carrying firearms, could be seen entering Nandigram which they had surrounded from all sides since last night.
CPM cadres allegedly also attacked mediapersons, particularly from the electronic media, to stop the live-coverage of the incident.
Describing the incident as ''unfortunate'', Left Front Chairman Biman Basu said he had called a meeting of the Front constituents tomorrow.
Blaming the opposition for the violence, Basu said Nandigram remained outside the rule of the land for two-and-a half months and a stalemate was prevailing in the area.
''Nandigram is a part of West Bengal and the administration wanted to establish rule of the law in the area.
But a stalemate continued for long as the Trinamool Congress repeatedly refused to take part in all party meetings to restore peace and prevented repair work to take place,'' he said.
Basu alleged that Trinamool supporters kept under threat a large number of villagers and forced them to join the anti-establishment force.
He said the mob, led by Bhoomi Uchched Protirodh Committee, indiscriminately hurled bombs and fired shots at police. They also burnt a police vehicle, he said.
The Left Front Chairman alleged that one of the members of the Bhoomi Uchched Protirodh Committee had died when a bomb which he was about to throw, burst in his hands. Meanwhile, Pradesh Congress Working President Pradip Bhattacharjee said he had apprised party President Sonia Gandhi of the details of the incident.
A 12-hour Bangla Bandh had been called for March 16 by the Trinamool Congress. It will be supported by the Congress(l) and all other parties. The opposition parties demanded the Chief Minister's resignation and the imposition of President’s rule in the state.
However, confusion prevailed over the exact death toll after the incident as the actual figure was not readily available from the state home secretary Prasad Roy as well as the IG (law and order), Raj Kanoria. The state PWD minister Kshiti Goswami, however, put the death figure at 50, which the TMC leader, Partha Chatterjee also corroborated. Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee said several dead bodies had floated down the adjoining river. Banerjee, accompanied by several other leaders left for Nandigram in the afternoon. Before leaving the city, she demanded immediate resignation of the Chief Minister and the application of Article 356 in the state. She requested the state higher secondary council for re-scheduling the higher secondary examinations, scheduled for March 16.
The Coochbehar unit of the Forward Bloc, a major partner of the Left Front, demanded the Chief Minister’s resignation.