Chuars are reborn in Midnapur!
Peasants` uprising never depended on Elite, castehindu support
Palash Biswas
Contact: Palash C Biswas, C/O Mrs Arati Roy, Gosto Kanan, Sodepur, Kolkata- 700110, India. Phone: 91-033-25659551
Email: alashchandrabiswas@gmail.com">palashchandrabiswas@gmail.com
Success Galore But Still A Long Way To Go
Buddhadeb Bhattacharya
Like the Bengal of yesteryears West Bengal of today is always a crusader and rebellious. Bengal bled protesting and resisting the British colonial rule but did not surrender the Santhal rebellion, Sanyasi- Fakir revolt, Titumir’s revolt, Chuar uprising, Indigo revolt and Sepoy Mutiny (first war of independence) were all defeated. Yet the wheel of history could not be driven back. In the wake of Renaissance in the nineteenth century, the consciousness of Bengal and Bengalees grew sharper. The stream created by Rammohan, Vidyasagar, Michael Dirozio, with Rabindranath standing at the confluence, coalesced into the great sea of people.
Khudiram, Benoy, Badal, Dinesh and Masterda always illumined the soul and consciousness of the Bengalees. Bengal accepted Gandhiji, yet its heart was overwhelmed by Netaji’s heroic deeds. Independence came through famine, riots, partition, the revolt of workers and peasants and people’s uprising. Bengal suffered but did not bend its head.
http://www.ganashakti.com/old/2002/020624/feature5.htm
Buddhadev Bhattacharya is, no doubt, a man of letters and he knows well about the agrarian movements in Bengal and particularly the contribution of district Medinipur. Nandigram is not an isolated event in the history of Medinipur. Madinipur is quite habitual to repeat the history.But the ruling Left Front government, administrative and CPIM party machinery are desparate to gain the lost ground in Medinipur just denying the history and demography!
On 26 th June in 1767 the natives of Medinipur, Bankura and Jharkhand launched the famous Chuar Revolt! Bhadralok Bengalies called the natives of these areas CHUAR.
Now, buddhdev has to understand that the Chuars are reborn in Medinipur!
Peasnts` uprising in Bengal never depended on caste hindu support!
Mamata or no Mamata, media or no media, intelligentsia or no intelligensia, political parties or no political parties, the reborn Chuars of Medinipur are not going to be evicted whatever may come!
The antiland aquisition is not limited in Nandigram and Singur. Not limited in Bengal only. The heat is experienced elsewhere. Maoist insurgents attacked two goods trains and paralysed public transport in parts of central and eastern India on Tuesday at the start of a two-day strike against a controversial government industrial policy. The Maoists, who operate across 13 states, called the strike to protest against special economic zones (SEZs), low-tax enclaves created to boost industrial and export growth that have sparked protests from farmers who will lose their land. State-run iron ore mining operations in the region were also shut down, authorities said. Thousands of people in India have been killed since the Maoists began their insurgency in the late 1960s. On Tuesday, a goods train engine was blown up and another set ablaze in Jharkhand. Rebels also set ablaze five trucks that were transporting minerals, police said. In neighbouring Chhattisgarh, Maoist rebels hacked to death two villagers of a state-backed anti-Maoist group. They also blew up several electric poles in Chhattisgarh's heavily forested, restive Bastar region, disrupting the power supply in many places, officials said. West Bengal remained largely unaffected by the two-day economic blockade called by Maoists Tuesday barring in the insurgency-hit southern districts of Purulia, West Midnapore and Bankura. Shopkeepers downed shutters in the three districts and vehicles kept off the roads.
The Naxals tried to blow up a BSNL communication tower in the Malkangiri district early on Tuesday morning. Naxals reportedly also tried to trigger explosions at the Balimela Hydel power plant in the state, but couldn't succeed because of increased security arrangements at the plant.
The Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) has called an economic blockade Tuesday and Wednesday to protest "exploitation of natural resources by private and public firms". The rebels say the resources belong exclusively to the locals in the area.They are also opposed to the formation of special economic zones (SEZs).
Land-war clouds now threaten to gather over Mahishadal, 10km from Nandigram across the Haldi, with the Centre on Friday approving "in principle" a special economic zone there.Mahishadal and Nandigram — which is about 170km from Calcutta — are a 90km drive from each other but far closer by the river route.Villagers led by the Trinamul Congress and the SUC Iyesterday said they would fight any attempt to acquire land for the 2,500-acre SEZ in the East Midnapore block, about 120km from Calcutta.
On the other hand,Thirty inmates of the Asansol sub-jail went on a hunger strikeyesterday. These residents of Purusottampur demanded the withdrawal of criminal charges brought against them by the police and the administration. Ten villagers led by the Bhoomi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee are already fasting in front of the Iisco Steel Plant gate since day before yesterday evening. On 18 June, 102 Purusottampur residents were arrested for opposing land acquisition bid by the Iisco administration for the proposed modernisation and expansion of the plant. After the local ACJM Court denied them bail, the villagers have been shifted to the Asansol sub-jail.
Opposition parties seem to have adopted the wait and watch policy before announcing their stand on the acquisition of land for expansion of NH-34, even though the state PWD minister Mr Kshiti Goswamy claimed that all the major parties have given their consent for the acquisition.
An all party meet on land acquisition for the expansion of 452.7 kilometre stretch of NH-36 took place at Barasat in North 24-Parganas yesterday. Following the meeting, Mr Goswami said that all the political parties have agreed to the project and the land acquisition. Trinamul Congress representative and MLA, Mr Jyotipriya Mullick, however, contradicted Mr Goswami saying that party’s stand on the issue will be announced by Miss Mamata Banerjee.
Reliance Industries Ltd has finally overcome the Forward Bloc hurdle at the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to bag the job of renovating and rebuilding the 76-year-old Park Circus market for which it had emerged as the highest bidder in May. On Monday, at the meeting of the 141-member KMC House, CPI(M) Mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya managed to get the ambitious public-private partnership (PPP) deal cleared by 64 votes to 34, thereby, securing the support of the Forward Bloc, RSP and CPI — the Left Front partners who had been against the deal so far. The Trinamool Congress, Congress and BJP opposed the deal. Voting took place in the absence of 11 members of the Left Front and 32 of the Opposition.
These protests, however minor, would deepen the creases on the government’s forehead because Nandigram and Singur seem to be spawning new land agitations every week.Last week, in Asansol’s Purushottampur, villagers battled police to prevent the takeover of plots acquired 18 years ago for the IISCO Steel Plant’s modernisation.Under the government’s new SEZ policy, final approval can come only after land has been acquired — so the process must start soon.
Nandigram’s pangs over the return of refugees continued today. CPM supporters in various shelters refused to return without 19 of their comrades blacklisted by the Bhoomi Uchchhed Pratirodh Committee.The CPM had handed the police a list of refugees who would be returning but the Pratirodh Committee said 19 of those named had attacked the villagers during the March 14 police firing.
On the other hand as the Statesman reports:
The arrest of a CPI-M cadre, Debu Malik, in the murder case of Tapasi Malik (18) may add fuel to the Singur fire. Farmers, spearheading the movement to reoccupy their plots acquired for Tata Motor’s small car project at Singur, have decided to launch another agitation, demanding "capital punishment" for Malik, who was arrested by the Central Bureau Investigation .
"Debu was not the only one who murdered my daughter. We want immediate arrest and capital punishment for the others involved in the crime. We will fight till we get justice," said Mr Manoranjan Malik, Tapasi’s father. "I will not get back my daughter even if Debu gets capital punishment. But Debu and murderers like him deserve such a punishment," said Mrs Malina Malik.
Mamata stance
Trinamul Congress chief Miss Mamata Banerjee today said, the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government has "forfeited the moral right" to continue after the CBI arrested Debu Malik, a CPI-M activist. Ms Banerjee said the arrest vindicated Trinamul’s stand.
Firing report
The report of the administrative probe into the Nandigram firing would soon be made public, state chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb said at Writers’ Buildings today.The commissioner of the Burdwan division, Balbir Ram, had submitted the three-volume report to state home secretary Prasad Ranjan Ray on Friday. It said the police had to open fire in self-defence on March 14.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh-based Harkatul Jehad al Islami (Huji) has been spreading its network across rural Bengal by picking up jobless youths, taking them across the border and training them, police says. The revelation came after the arrest of three youths — Mohammed Ali Akbar, Ajijur and Sheikh Moktar — from different parts of North and South 24-Parganas over the weekend for their alleged links with Jalaluddin alias Babubhai, the Huji commander who was arrested in Lucknow on Saturday.
Alternative site not finalised: Buddhadeb
Sticking to its plan to set up a chemical hub in the state despite a move to establish the project in Nandigram being shelved, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee today said the alternative site for it had not yet been finalised.
"The government has taken no decision about the location of the chemical hub. It will take some time, particularly its size," Bhattacharjee told reporters here.
"Talks are on with the chemicals and fertilisers ministry and with the Indian Oil Corporation, the anchor investor for the chemical hub."
The police firing at Nandigram in East Midnapore district on March 14, which claimed 14 lives, forced the state government to declare that the chemical hub would not be set up there and that it would come up at an alternative site around Haldia in the same district.
About a report in a section of the press that a company had received in-principle approval for setting up an SEZ at Mahisadal in East Midnapore district, Bhattacharjee said he had no such information
To a question, he said that many companies would set up shop in the area downstream of the project but this had not yet been finalised.
Allies confused over Haldia chemical hub
Tanmay Chatterjee
KOLKATA, June 25: As the CPI-M central committee in Delhi is trying to find a solution to the ongoing resistance to acquisition of land in West Bengal, the party’s smaller partners are virtually groping in the dark to find a plausible explanation to key issues related to the proposed chemical hub in Haldia on which a report was prepared by the government on 18 May.
The report, drafted by commerce and industries minister Mr Nirupam Sen, was passed on to the Left Front partners for their opinion. To start with, the report mentions that in 2005 the Government of India introduced the concept of chemical hubs, calling them Mega-Chemical Industrial Estates (MCIEs) but last year, enlarged it and introduced the concept of Petroleum, Chemicals ad Petrochemicals Investment region (PCPIRs). Senior leaders in the RSP, CPI and Forward Bloc are confused because the state government has accepted the PCPIR policy which they feel is not too different from the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) that all Left parties are opposing.
Note the following :
a) The state government report says that the PCPIR policy envisages a chemical hub within a larger region, which is called investment region.
b) The proposed investment region should cover an area of a whopping 250 square km (62,500 acres) and it will include the manufacturing area (i.e. the chemical hub) and the surrounding non-industrial area. The most intriguing part of the report is that the proposed chemical hub will only cover 40 per cent of the total region - which comes to 25,000 acres.
What about the rest of the 37,500 acres ?
Mr Sen’s report says the Centre "will make large investment in infrastructure in the approved PCPIR in order to provide top-class infrastructure attractive to investors and such infrastructure creation will not be confined only to the manufacturing area (read the chemical hub) rather it will cover the entire investment region".
Interestingly, the CPI-M held its Politburo meeting in Kolkata on 13 September last year - a time when the party was burning the midnight oil over the Singur crisis. After the meeting CPI-M general secretary Mr Prakash Karat said: "In Haryana, Raigarh and other places thousands of acres are being acquired from farmers without due compensation or provision for alternative means of livelihood. Moreover, the present law on multi-product SEZs permits promoters to use 75 per cent of the land for real estate business and use only 25 per cent for manufacturing units".
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=1&theme=&usrsess=1&id=160702
Rehab cheer for projects
Statesman News Service
Having burnt its fingers in Nandigram and Singur, the state government appears to be taking a different, more generous, approach to compensation for land-losers in future projects.
This was made clear today as state municipal affairs and urban development minister Mr Ashok Bhattacharya announced a rehabilitation package that includes a number of new facilities for those due to be evicted to make way for a township project in Siliguri. The minister also announced they would follow the same rehabilitation package for the DLF project at Dankuni.
According to the new package, announced at Writers’ Buildings, those who give up their land for the township project will be given alternative plots or flats in addition to financial compensation for the land itself. They will only have to pay the cost of acquisition for the alternative plots.
In addition, below poverty line (BPL) families will be given two cottahs of land or a 380 square feet apartment free. Those who have plots that are smaller than 10 cottah but are not in the BPL category will have the option to purchase flats instead of alternative plots. A 380 sq ft flat will cost Rs 1.5 lakh, a 500 sq ft flat will cost 2.25 lakh and a 750 sq ft flat will cost Rs 3.75 lakh.
If a land-loser supports a handicapped child, an unmarried woman over 35 years of age or a widow, they will be entitled to a shop in the township. BPL land-losers over 65 years old will get a pension of Rs 750 per month. Two children from each family will be given financial help up to study as far as Class X and the higher education of one child would be entirely paid for by the government.
Zee News Videocon to foray into biotech with SEZ in Bengal
Business Standard, India - 4 hours ago
It will be the among five SEZs that Videocon has proposed to set up in West Bengal. The group had applied for a multi-product SEZ at Kalyanbill and ...
West Bengal seeks lesser land requirement for SEZs Zee News
WB seeks lesser land requirement for SEZs Economic Times
1767-1805: Chuar revolt
`CHUAR' which sparked off against oppression of British rule in large parts of Midnapur. Chuars, the downtrodden peasants made the land of Jangal Mahal cultivable for their livelihood. But all these lands were brought under the possession of Zamindars by British rulers which caused the revolt. This revolt continued for a long time. Rani Siromoni, a queen of Karngarh came forward to lead this revolt. She was arested and kept in jail at Calcutta for a long time. This is a historic event in the history of freedom movements in our country.
The second Chuar Rebellion of 1798-1799, later on the Kol Insurrection of 1831-1832 and the Ganga Narayan's uprising of 1832-1833most prominently showed this trend. In all these the adivasi communities especially the Bhumijs of the Jungle Mahal and adjacent areas of the Chotanagpur plateau region participated in large numbers.
Phase of Agrarian Movement (1765 -1845)
• "True agrarian movements have arisen whenever urban interests have encroached, in fact, or in seeming, upon vital rural interests."
• Hence agrarian movements take place whenever urban penetration occurs in the rural areas. It may be through the influence of urban values, (as for example, interdependence, individualism etc.) or through the acquisition of better lands in the rural area, imposition of land revenue, land tax and so on.
The major peasant uprisings of this phase are as following:
• 1. First Chuar Rebellion (1767.)
• 2. Dhalbhum Rebellion (1769 -1774)
• 3. Tilka Majhi's War (1780--1785)
• 4. Pahadia Revolt (1788 -1791)
• 5. First Tamar Rebellion (1795)
• 6. Second Chuar Rebellion (1798-1799)
• 7. Nayek Hangama (1806 -1826)
• 8. Second Tamar Rebellion (1820)
• 9. Kol Insurrection (1831 -1832)
• 10. Ganga Narayan's Movement (1832 -1833)
Phase of Consolidation (1845-1920)
These outsiders were mostly the zamindars, moneylenders, etc. created by the British rule, and they used to exploit the peasantry severally.
The major uprisings of the second phase are as under:
1. The Santhal Insurrection (1855)
2. The Sipoy Mutiny (1857)
3. Sardari Agitation or Mulkui Larai (1858-1895)
4. Kherwar Movement (1874)
5. The Birsa Munda Movement (1895-1900)
6. Tana Bhagat Movement (1914-1919)
This was most prominent in the Santhal Insurrection, Kherwar Movement and Birsa Munda Movement. The first two, being predominantly participated by the Santhals tried to establish the Santhal Raj while the Birsa Munda Movement went for the Munda Raj under the leadership of Birsa Munda.
SEZ bitter-sweet blueprint
JAYANTA ROY CHOWDHURY AND DEVADEEP PUROHIT
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070626/asp/frontpage/story_7975384.asp
June 25: An all-party parliamentary panel has drawn up a series of recommendations on special economic zones, lining up a threat as well as an opportunity before the government.
The proposals include a cap on the area of SEZs, rethink on large-scale tax exemptions, scrapping the law that allows forcible land acquisition and a ban on "in-principle" approvals.
If the proposals are accepted in toto, many projects may have to redraw their plans and the commerce ministry — a staunch advocate of SEZs — might feel that the "engines of growth" are being derailed.
For the proposed chemical hub in Haldia, which will need fresh acquisition of over 4,000 hectares, the state government will have to finely balance its acquisition plan and leave out irrigated double crop or multi-crop land.
According to the recommendations, only single-crop and rain-fed land can be used.
"The percentage of cultivable land should not exceed 20 per cent of the total area of a multi-product SEZ," recommended the standing committee. In case of other SEZs, the limit is 40 per cent.
While the Haldia project may just sail through by some juggling of cropping pattern data, Reliance Industries — planning 5,000-hectare-plus SEZs in Maha Mumbai and Haryana — will have to recast its plans. Real estate majors DLF and Omaxe will also have to go back to the drawing board.
The government might also take exception to the proposal to stop notifying new SEZs till legislative modifications are made.
The opportunity for government lies in the composition of the panel, headed by BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi.
All big parties with a stake in the SEZ policy are represented in the 31-member committee: the Trinamul Congress by Dinesh Trivedi, the CPM by Amitava Nandy and the Congress by Jai Parkash Aggarwal.
The team can also claim to represent the views of a wide cross-section as it took depositions from political parties, trade unions, farmers’ organisations and SEZ promoters.
The recommendations of such panels are not binding on the government but they are usually taken seriously. In this case, sources said, the panel approved the proposals in "near-unanimity".
If the government chooses to the use the report as a launch pad for discussions, it could prove easy to reach a consensus that will have wider political acceptability.
Another undeclared advantage is that the proposals virtually seek to make SEZs less attractive to investors. Such a sobering effect may eventually leave only long-term investors in the field, which will help SEZs stave off charges that they are real estate developers out to reap the benefit of tax exemptions.
The report is to be tabled in Parliament in the coming session.
History of Medinipur
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnapore
The economy of the undivided district, according to 1991 and 2001 census statistics, was overwhelmingly agrarian. As a district town, Midnapore functioned in an ancillary role for the rural district as an administrative and judicial centre. As such many businesses and services revolved around this role, which naturally, has been adversely affected by the division of the district. However, Midnapore still fills this role and has more physicians, lawyers, teachers, banks, and administrative offices than any other town in either East or West Midnapore district. The medical sector is particularly thriving with the addition of a Medical college and the Vidyasagar Institute of Health Application. Coaching centres that assist students enrolled in the regular and correspondence courses of Vidyasagar University are also common.
Poorer segments of this semi-rural society are involved in transportation, basic agriculture, small shops and manual labour for construction work.
During the era of the Muslim rulers of Bengal nawab Alivardi Khan's general Mir Jafar fought successfully against Mir Habib's lieutenant Sayyid Nur near Midnapore town in 1746. This was part of his campaign to regain Orissa and thwart the Maratha attacks on Bengal. Mir Habib came up from Balasore and was joined by the Marathas but Mir Jafar fled to Burdwan leaving Mir Habib to retake Midnapore with ease. Alivardi defeated Janoji Bhosle, a Maratha cheftain in a severely contested battle near Burdwan in 1747 and Janoji fled to Midnapore. The Marathas held on to Midnapore and Orissa until 1749 when it was reconquered by Alivardi. The Marathas continued to raid Midnapore which proved disastrous for the residents.
In 1756 Alivardi died and his successor was Siraj-ud-daulah. On June 20, 1757, he was betrayed by Mir Jafar to the East India Company under the command of Lord Robert Clive at Plassey. This consolidated the Company's hold on Bengal and Orissa (along with Midnapore). The district of Midnapore which included Dhalbhum or Ghatshila, now in Singhbhum, Jharkhand was annexed in 1760 along with Burdwan and Chittagong both handed over to the East India Company by Mir Qasim. The last free king of Dhalbhum was imprisoned in Midnapore town.
Some of the Malla kings of Mallabhum centred around Bankura district also held parts of northern Midnapore district, while the Raj rules of Narajole, Jhargram, Lalgarh, Jamboni, and Chandrakona held sway in their local areas. It is generally agreed that the Raj rulers came from Rajasthan to pay homage to Jagannath but stayed back to carve out their own territories.
Midnapore is famous for its contribution in the history of Indian freedom movement since it has produced a seemingly endless list of martyrs. During the British Raj the town became a centre of revolutionary activities starting from the Santal Revolt (1766-1767) and the Chuar Revolt (1799). The Zilla School, now known as Midnapur Collegiate School was the birthplace of many extremist activities. Teachers like Hemchandra Kanungo inspired and guided the pupils to participate in the Indian Freedom Movement. Three British District Magistrates were assassinated in succession by the revolutionaries Benoy Basu, Dinesh Gupta, and Badal Gupta. Dalhousie Square, a major location in Kolkata is named B. B. D. Bagh in their honour. Khudiram Bose and Satyendranath Basu were some of the young men that liad down their lives for the freedom of India. Kazi Nazrul Islam attended political meetings in Midnapore in the 20s. Even Raja Narendra Lal Khan, ruler of Narajole, who donated his palace on the outskirts of town, for the establishment of Midnapore's first college for women, had been implicated, (although it turned out to be false) for planting a bomb.
An illustration of Khudiram Bose a famous freedom fighterKhudiram Bose was born in the Habibpur in 1889 and studied at Midnapore Collegiate School up to the eight standard. He was first caught by a policeman for distributing seditious leaflets in Midnapore in 1906. He was an anarchist at heart and protested against the moderate policies of Surendranath Banerjea. Khudiram was sentenced to death for a failed attempt to kill Magistrate Kingsford. Satyendranath was executed on the 21st November 1908. Noted freedom-fighter and Bengal Province Congress Committee President, Birendranath Sasmal practiced at the Midnapore High Court for a few years.
Rishi Rajnarayan Basu, one-time tutor of Rabindranath Tagore Asia's first Nobel Prize winner, was headmaster of the Zila School in 1850. He founded a girls' school, a night school for workers, and a public library. The Rajnarayan Basu Pathagar (library) is still in existence near Golkuar Chowk.
Not only Hindu activists but Muslim statesman originated or spent time in Midnapore. Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy founder of the Awami League, a prominent political party in Bangladesh, and the sixth President of Pakistan hailed from a prominent family of Midnapore.
http://www.answers.com/topic/midnapore-1
Orissa High Court: Under threat
Cuttack,: Several leaflets of Maoist literature was found on Orissa High Court premises yesterday.
The leaflets are about the proposed two-day economic blockade, to start from June 26 by the CPI (Maoist) to oppose the formation of special economic zones (SEZs) and other development projects.The printed material in Oriya was smuggled into the court premises by "three unidentified persons", who had gained access to the High Court Bar Association hall, which remained open for lawyers even though Saturday was a holiday.
"Preliminary investigations reveal that at least 20 leaflets were left on one of the several tables inside the hall between 3pm and 3.30pm on Saturday," said Cuttack superintendent of police Saumendra Priyadarshi. "The leaflets contained statements of the Naxalites announcing their plans on the SEZ and other development projects," Priyadarshi added.
Interestingly, a local TV channel correspondent had reportedly informed the police about the Maoist leaflets lying on a table inside the hall between 3.30pm and 3.45pm, sources said.
A senior state intelligence officer, requesting anonymity, said: "Though a number of posters had been seized from the border areas of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Bengal and Orissa, this is the first time that the police have come across any statement of the rebel’s central committee announcing the blockade."
Meanwhile, with the SEZs and other development projects figuring on the red hit list across the country, the Centre has alerted states to gear up their machinery for the proposed two-day economic blockade to start from June 26.
No mercy on even the unborn
- Nandigram mother forced to give birth at home
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070626/asp/bengal/story_7975732.asp
Nandigram/Midnapore, June 25: An unborn child bore the brunt of the Nandigram battle over land last night.
Kamalini Das was stopped from going to hospital to deliver her baby, allegedly by Bhoomi Uchchhed Pratirodh Committee activists, because her husband is a CPM supporter.
In labour since Saturday, the 28-year-old resident of a Nandigram village gave birth to a girl around 11pm yesterday at home with the help of some neighbours who turned midwives for a night.
Residents of Simulkundu village near Tekhali, about 160km from Calcutta, where Kamalini lives, said Pratirodh Committee activists would not let them take her to a hospital or to the health centre in Maheshpur, a kilometre away.
Her husband Biswajit, who fled home in February and has been staying at the CPM camp at Sherkhanchowk in Khejuri, had been repeatedly sending feelers to the Pratirodh Committee leaders in Simulkundu, urging them to take Kamalini to hospital, but in vain.
"Whenever I contacted the Pratirodh Committee members, they told me to come and take my wife to hospital. But I knew it was a trick. Had I gone, they would have either killed me or held me hostage and fined me thousands of rupees," Biswajit said.
Yesterday morning, when Kamalini’s condition worsened, he contacted his mother-in-law, Basanti Das, in Tajpur, six kilometres away.
Basanti went to Kamalini’s home in the afternoon. She requested the Pratirodh Committee activists to let her take her daughter to hospital.
"But none of them came forward as my daughter has been boycotted by the Pratirodh Committee," Basanti said.
At the Sherkhanchowk camp, Biswajit approached CPM leaders. Rabin Giri, the party’s local committee member, contacted Nandigram police station.
Officer-in-charge Champak Chowdhury then set out for Kamalini’s house with a team of policemen. "The roads were dug up, so we had to leave our jeep on the main road and walk for about half a kilometre," the officer said.
By the time the police reached, Kamalini was in the process of giving birth.
"It was not possible to shift Kamalini out of her house then. I have instructed officers to take her to hospital a couple of days later," Chowdhury said.
The Pratirodh Committee accused the CPM of spreading rumours about its activists. "We had, in fact, gone with a cycle van to Kamalini’s house to take her to hospital. But it was not necessary as she had given birth by then," said Swadesh Das, a Pratirodh Committee leader in Simulkundu.
Buddhadeb optimistic about peace process
Monday, June 25, 2007
Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said his government has demonstrated enough patience on the Singur issue and is keen to see an amicable solution. "The Singur and Nandigram controversies have already sent a wrong signal to investors. But the government is determined not to let the situation go out of hand," the CM said.
Claiming that the peace process in Nandigram would definitely yield results, he said there is no doubt that the chemical hub in Haldia would be a reality. Once the downstream industries are set up, it would provide jobs to about 100,000 people. He hinted that this time his government might not consider setting up an SEZ for the proposed hub.
Speaking on the proposed health city project in South 24-Parganas, Bhattacharjee said that the Salim group’s project is still alive obviously hinting that the government plans to take it up once the controversy dies down. However, the group would first build a bridge linking Raichak and Kukrahati and connect NH-34 with parts of South 24-Parganas.
Bhattacharjee appears to be slightly relieved that a section of city-based Leftist intellectuals, who were bitterly critical of his government, had come around. "Many of them were initially confused and critical of us on the land acquisition issue. However, of late we have been largely successful in removing such confusion. In any case, we need to be doubly cautious when it comes to land acquisition in future," he said.
On the issue of occasional fireworks from CPM partners, the CM sounded philosophical. "Such things happen in a democracy and I always prefer to take such criticisms in good stride. But everyone should realise that the state cannot progress unless there is industrial growth for which we need to rope in investors. We cannot remain orthodox in the present day set-up. But we are also duty-bound to carry out social welfare programmes for the poor and strive to protect their interests," the CM added.
Club issues ‘Nandigram threat’ to widow
OUR CORRESPONDENT
The Telegraph report in April on Shephali’s plight
Krishnagar, June 24: Some youths in Nadia have threatened a "Nandigram-like" agitation