Today

Kafila- ‘Soft Bhadralok Hindutva under ‘left’ garb’

Hindu- ‘BJP to move adjournment motion in LS on Nandigram’

Hindu- ‘Left against Nandigram issue to be raised in Parliament’

Hindu- ‘Left:Nandigram can’t be discussed in parliament’

TOI- ‘Red terror continues Nandigram’s bylanes’

TOI- ‘Buddha’s larger than party image takes a huge hit’

Hindu- ‘Nandigram scarred in battle of supremacy’

Hindu- Rs. 1 crore for Nandigram rehabilitation’

NDTV- ‘Tension continues in Nandigram’

Yesterday -

Sanhati (13th Nov)- ‘Bol ki lab azaad hain tere‘

Rediff- ‘Violence Rocks Nandigram’ (This contains links to several articles on Nandigram)

Hindu- ‘NHRC team to visit Nandigram’

MSN- ‘Special Report-Crisis in Nandigram’

Hindu- ‘CRPG on patrol, Nandigram peaceful’

NDTV- ‘Buddhadeb defends Nandigram takeover’

Sanhati- ‘Statement from concerned citizens’

Post on Kafila on the need for the Left Front partners to forge an alternative Left platform in the State…

…if the entire discontent against the CPM is not to be mobilized under a Trinamool Congress type opposition, then it is imperative that efforts be stepped up to present and alternative, democratic Left opposition.

But in the meantime, it is necessary to ask, what exactly is happening in Nandigram? The story that has been dished out over the past nine months - repeated with nauseating regularity by the illiterates in the televisual media - is that it is a CPM-Trinamool Congress turf war, is, to say the least, completely off the mark. More, it is deliberately misleading. It is a line that suits the CPM ruling circles no doubt, but it is also something that the news media, drunk on its globalization potion, likes to believe. It like to believe that if only there were no political parties, everything would be hunky dorey for the neo-liberal globalizers. It is only ‘politics’ which is holding back the rapid pace of India’s development. ‘Politics’ (which should, as far as the globalization-drunk media lingo is concerned, be read as ‘democracy’) is the the real road block. And here, Buddhadeb’s type of Left-wing capitalism was somethng they would have rather liked to see. It has unfortunately gone beyond all limits, even for the media to defend.

News Updates

8th Nov:

Hindu

- “Left Front discusses CRPF deployment”

Statesman

Even as CPI-M activists today wrested control of 13 villages at gunpoint in Nandigram today and displaced people sat on a dharna outside Nandigram police station, Ms Medha Patkar and some other human rights activists were allegedly assaulted by CPI-M supporters at Kapasberia on their way to Nandigram.

Read on…

Statesman

That the conflict in Nandigram is, for the CPI-M, in essence a battle to retain its hold on power whatever the price and a matter of prestige for its leaders, is well-demonstrated by the fact that places like Satengabari and Ranichak have also been drawn into the hostilities. When the trouble began in January, villages on the left of Tekhali Bridge were the only ones where resistance was strong as they fell under the purview of the land to be acquired for the proposed chemical hub. Villages on the right-hand side of the bridge had nothing to do with the agitation. Now, villages as far off as Satengabari and Ranichak, at least seven kilometres to the right of Tekhali Bridge, are also facing the heat from the other side of Talpati Canal. As recently as on 30 October, CPI-M activists attacked both villages and drove out inhabitants; houses were looted and set afire.
This is how the “war” spread ~ the CPI-M, after meeting resistance when they tried to enter the cluster of villages in the heart of the “war zone” through the main routes, tried to enter the trouble-torn area from alternative routes. They brooked no opposition in their “forward thrust”; intimidation, and if that didn’t work, devastation was part of the strategy to “capture recalcitrant villages”. But they faced residents ready to fight fire with fire. And the war spread…

Few reports and little information as usual. Here are the links to the news that came in yesterday and today. Click on the links to read the rest.

NDTV

A day after three people died in fresh clashes in Nandigram, the political battle on the issue has flared up.

The Trinamool will be taking to the streets across West Bengal today to protest the resurgence of violence in Nandigram. The state government has asked for central forces to be deployed at Nandigram.

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee blamed CPI(M) cadre for the violence, a charge the party denies.

But embarrassingly for them, State Home Secretary P R Roy confirmed on Tuesday that CPI(M) cadres were indeed involved in the violence.

”In areas like Satengabari and Ranichak, the CPI(M) probably gained some ground on Tuesday. There were no police pickets in those areas in the first place and now it has turned into something like a war zone. Lets see what we can do,” said Roy.

The statement is making the CPI(M) see red because in it the Home Secretary indicates two things - the CPI(M) is a party to the clashes at Nandigram and also that at least yesterday, was the aggressor. …