Background of the Battleground

Nandigram has become the battleground for clash of interests between the neo-liberal industrialization policy of the West Bengal state government and the large peasantry residing in the region, ever since the announcement of the implementation of the SEZ policy in the region. On 28 December 2006, the Chairman of HDA and the CPI-M MP from Tamluk, Laxman Seth, announced plans to set up a chemical hub in Nandigram under Government of India’s PCPIR (Petro-Chemical Petroleum Investment Region) Scheme. The project was further confirmed by the HDA on 2 January 2007 when a notice was circulated earmarking 27 mouzas of land in Nandigram for the chemical hub.

The villagers of Nandigram soon after formed the Bhoomi Uchced Protirodh Committee (Anti displacement front - BUPC)[1] to oppose the forced acquisition of land to set up the chemical hub. The battle lines were thereafter drawn between factions identified as those that backed the government’s SEZ plan, who were all supporters of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI-M, and those that opposed it, including both supporters of the CPI-M as well as other political parties.

At least seven people were killed and about 20 others injured in clashes between CPI-M and BUPC members on 7 January 2007. Among those killed was a 14-year-old boy. Many parts of Nandigram are inaccessible and there were reports of bodies lying around unattended on the fields, till late in the evening. Some reports hinted that bodies were thrown into the river Haldi that flows through the village.

After the firing, the BUPC in order to safeguard their land, livelihood and way of life, dug trenches and broke bridges to prevent the access of government agents into several villages in the area.[2] The villagers took over the administration of the area and all the roads to the villages were cut off. Nandigram was declared as a liberated zone from government interference.

Following these clashes and bloodshed, the West Bengal government announced it would shelve the plan to create an SEZ in Nandigram. However, without any clear indication that the idea had been shelved permanently and not simply until the controversy had died down, the blockade by the BUPC continued.

The administration was directed to break the BUPC resistance at Nandigram and a massive operation by the district police authority was launched on March 14, 2007. At least 3,000 heavily armed police personnel, along with cadres of the CPI-M party, forcibly entered the BUPC guarded villages to end the blockade. The villagers alleged that the police had fired indiscriminately on the peacefully assembled crowd without any provocation, and that the police and CPI-M cadres were the ones who resorted to force first.[3] In the resulting mayhem, at least 14 people were killed.

Though the official claim is that 14 people died in firing by the police that day, the villagers however, say that many more were killed, and allege that CPI-M supporters, wearing khakis and pretending to be policemen, were also among those who fired upon them. The police admit that forensic tests show that some of the ammunitions used had not been sanctioned to the police. The Calcutta High Court described the police firing as “wholly unconstitutional and cannot be justifiable under any provision of law” in its order of 15 March.[4]

On 19 March, the state government issued written notice of withdrawal of SEZ from Nandigram, but the BUPC had lost confidence in the state and district administration as no guilty was punished and no perpetrators were arrested even after being named by the victims. The inability of the district administration to contain the violence and bring justice to the victim, as well as hold any government official accountable for the March violence, has eroded the villagers’ faith in the administration. Chief Secretary, Amit Kiran Deb, agreed that there was an administrative lapse because “we could not create an atmosphere of confidence in the administration… We failed to persuade them to allow the police to enter. They saw the police as partisan and against them.”[5]

The state government failed to reassure the BUPC that the proposed SEZ plan had been put on hold. By then the BUPC had lost trust in the administration to take any step in their support. Sudhin Bijoli, a BUPC activist, explained: “The Chief Minister may have said that he would not force us to leave, but he was saying so many things and there was nothing in writing. How could we trust him?”[6]

Meanwhile, the BUPC kept up its blockade, and in retaliation to the violence wrecked on them attacked homes of CPI-M supporters, forcing many of them to leave the area.[7] The common villager was caught between the two sides, and many supporters from both the sides had to flee their homes and took refuge in the relief camps. The CPI-M claimed that about 3,500 of its members and supporters had been forced to flee in this period.

Police camps were established inside Nandigram at the periphery of the affected villages, but stood by idly justifying their inaction on the basis of the High Court order on 15 March. Incessant firing across the Bhangabera Bridge, with the CPI-M dominated Khejuri on one side, and the BUPC on the other, has continued ever since then.

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[1] The Bhoomi Uchced Protirodh Committee (BUPC) is formed by people across the villages of Nandigram, to represent the people’s concerns against the West Bengal state government’s move to acquire land for setting up an SEZ. The BUPC consists of sympathizers and/or members of different political parties like, TMC, BJP, SUCI, and CPI-M. [2] According to East Midnapore District Magistrate, Anoop Kumar Agrawal, an area containing a population of up to 60-70,000 people were inaccessible to police from March till October end. About 25 villages were affected in the stand off. [3] As cited in High Court of Calcutta in Association for Protection of Democratic Rights & ors. v. State of West Bengal & ors.(pg 23-24) Decided on 16 November 2007. [4] High Court of Calcutta in Association for Protection of Democratic Rights & ors. v. State of West Bengal & ors. Decided on 16 November 2007. [5] Interview with Amit Kiran Deb, Chief Secretary, West Bengal, in Kolkata, November 30, 2007. [6] Interview with Sudhin Bijoli, Nandigram, November 28, 2007. [7] At Bhoota Mor in Gorchakraberia, the team met families who had been attacked because they were CPI-M supporters. This was the first place where the police firing took place on 14^th March. Soon after, members of the BUPC, many of them supporters of the opposition Trinamool Congress attacked the settlement, forcing the CPI-M supporters to leave the village. On October 28, four houses of prominent CPI-M supporters were vandalized by BUPC members.