The writer is a senior journalist in Kolkata, and a friend of Somnath Batabyal. The writer has been following the Nandigram incident. This is an insider’s account of what happened.
Nandigram has been out of bounds for CPM and West Bengal police for the past several months – since the fateful day in January 2007 when the ‘popular’ uprising happened. This is something that severely challenged the arrogance of the CPM party as well as the state administration which is anyway the executive arm of the CPM party.
There had been several open threats from the party. Binoy Kongar, the leader of the CPM’s farmer lobby had threatened that he will make life hell for the people of Nandigram… by surrounding nandigram with CPM
panchayets (village councils). Though he was censured by the party top brass, there was no way of ignoring the undercurrent of animosity that existed in and around Nandigram.Mr. Prasad Ranjan Roy, Home Secretary in the West Bengal Government announced at Writers Building (seat of the WB Government) on 9th and again on 12th March 2007 that there would be police action in
Nandigram asap. The police top brass went into a huddle and the blueprint was prepared. The timing was surprising – West Bengal was in the middle of state level 10th & 12th standard exams. With close to
1.5 million candidates ( equal number of families) involved in the exams, all political parties behaves themselves in this period. One school of thought now claims that state intelligence estimated that the operation will be over within two hours. It’ll be a cakewalk, the party seems to have estimated.Almost 3000 policemen were mobilized for the operation, though officially the number was put at 700. Police from adjoining districts supplemented the local police. Local peacekeepers / mob chasers were
joined by companies of rapid action force and commandos. In addition to standard batons and .303 rifles, the police were equipped with semi automatic weapons and Insas assault rifles. Advanced mob dispersing
equipments like water cannons, multiple barrel tear gas launchers etc were not part of the equipment assembled by the police. There has not been any satisfactory answer from the police or the state
administration as to why the invading force was equipped with killer weapons rather than mob dispersing equipments.On 13th March the police contingent was briefed at Balaka Mancha, in Kolaghat. We’re going in at any cost, they were told. We will fire if necessary, they were told. The local police force, who have been at
the receiving end for the past few months felt ‘empowered’.
There was a tacit understanding that the CPM party cadres would follow the police into Nandigram for the mop up action. The police will break the resistance and establish state’s control and the CPM party would
re-occupy the villages. The political feud in and around Nandigram has been quite bloody in recent past. The local resistance is lead by Trinamul Congress of Mamata Banerjee under the banner of Jami Bachao
Committee, supported by Naxalites and Maoists guerrillas who have become a menace in the adjoining districts. They have not only resisted but also mounted frequent attacks on the local police stations, block development offices. Known CPM supporters have been driven away from the Nandigram area and even killed. CPM, driven out of villages into temporary ‘camps’ in adjoining villages, was waiting for a chance to regain lost ground. This police action was their perfect cover. Jami Bachao Committee, leading the local resistance, also knew this. They were also adequately prepared.On 13th March, at the time of the police briefing, the local police suggested that the CPM people should not be allowed to enter the villages. However, they were over ruled by their seniors. They know the territory and would be valuable guides – the seniors claimed.
On 14th March, the police marched into the villages in four columns. The action started around 10.30am. They faced stiff resistance in two areas – sonachura and adhikaripara. DIG NR Babu, with Additional SP
(East Midnapore) Debashish Boral and Additional SP (Howrah) Satyajit Banerjee lead the column thru Adhikaripara. IG-Western Zone Arun Gupta with SP (East Midnapore) G. Anil Srinivas lead the column thru
Sonachura. The local resistance kept the women and kids on the front to deter the police. The police claimed that they first requested the mob to disperse then lobbed tear gas shells and only then opened fire.
The locals denied. They said that the police announcement and the tear gas shelling was done as a matter of record, almost as an excuse to open fire. What we know that only 15 minutes lapsed between the first
announcement and the first round being fired.Media was blocked out of the action zone. CPM activists built a cordon around Nandigram to keep everybody out. The local CPM MP, Lakshman Seth and other MLAs were responsible for this cordon. Media people
were stopped at a distance of 17 km from Nandigram and were politely requested to come back in 3 days when the situation would be under control. Each car / bike reaching the cordon was stopped, people body
searched at times and movement allowed / restricted on the basis of identification. The blockade lasted the whole day while the police action continued and the world condemned.
By 12 noon there was official confirmation of two deaths. Soon the figure went upto 5 and then 14. Unofficial sources put the estimate at 22. So far 14 bodies have been recovered.By 12 noon the first visual reached a local TV channel and within seconds the world saw what CPM wanted to hide at any cost. We saw police firing on a crowd that consisted of women. We couldn’t see children. We saw men & women running for life. We saw two bodies falling down. We didn’t see any retaliation, as police claimed. Final count – 14 dead, 10 died of bullet injuries, 2 from ‘pipe gun’ injuries, 1 from bomb injuries and 1 from ’sharp cutting injuries’.
By late afternoon the horror of Nandigram was well documented. The government first attempted to make light of the matter. Then backtracked. The Governor, who also happens to be Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson issued a press note. He asked a pertinent question – why would Indians be fired upon by the Indian security forces ? He
described the incident as chilling. The Kolkata High Court on 15th March issued a suo moto order directing CBI to investigate. The Chief Minister made a statement in the Assembly – expressing regret but did not tender any apology.CBI reached Nandigram on 15th. They found many evidences and gaping holes in the police claims. The police had claimed that they had fired a total of 37 rounds including 10 rounds in the air. CBI said 10 people (out of 14) died of bullet injuries and between 30 to 35 people sustained bullet injuries. The police figures don’t add up. More importantly they found empty shells of .315 cartridges. The police do not use these cartridges, so who did ? And in a swooping raid in a brick kiln, they arrested 10 CPM activists with about 10 guns, about
800 rounds of live ammunition, CPM flags & pamphlets etc etc. CBI has submitted their report to the High Court. State CID has started their own investigation. More enquiries will follow.So where are we today ? The state government and the Chief Minister has suffered a serious set back politically. Had there been a strong opposition, the government could’ve toppled. Had it been a
non-communist government, the CM would have been changed. West Bengal’s image in India and world has taken a serious beating. TMC is rejuvenated and public is looking at them with renewed interest and
acceptance. All infrastructural projects – expressways, SEZ, townships - in the state have been practically shelved – the government is not going to risk any land acquisition at least in immediate future. No
development will take place in Nandigram – the chemical hub that was to have taken shape in Nandigram will come up somewhere else, maybe just across the river in Haldia. Hopefully, the inter-party killings
will stop. But CPM is not a party that gives up easily. So maybe there’s going to be a flare-up sometime soon.
This reads like a plan to go to a minor war, not what a state government does to its own people. Assault rifles? God, what next.
And if the government did not know what was going on, they should bloody well resign. Isn’t Buddha also the Home Minister?
Dear anon. Thanks for the post. A few questions: To what extent has the TC’s involvement been verified?
On a different note…what about reforms and industrialization?
I’m not talking about the fertile-land-grabbing-no-compensation-or-proper-rehab-plans reforms that involve developmental terrorism but properly planned ones (maybe like Gujarat’s?!havent done my research well)
It doesnt always gave to be industrialization Vs human rights. .God,we need an edit button here.
After reading the accounts, it seems that the Indian media was in fact doing a relatively good job or reporting (or trying to report) the events. They were quite aggressively trying to report what was going on despite the opposition from the state. Am I completely off the mark by actually not being that critical of mainstream media’s role in this as is expected. The information was out there, as we have seen from the rather massive archives here.
But I would be interested in finding out excactly what the media tried to do to avoid the blockades and how the authorities managed this. This is interesting because the classical mistake authoritarian governments usually make is to “restrict” information. The lesson of good propaganda and media management is that this usually has the opposite impact than intended: that is, it is better to supply disinformation than to control information.
So I suppose in this case the government and police goons haven’t learned the lessons of information (mis)management in which the best way to control the media is to provide them with glitzy footage, rub them on the back and “embed” them like Americans do. In fact, if there was an abundance of news coming in from Nandigram - in a strange way - would perhaps be much more frightening of a scenario.
We donot find any solution to the crime which has kept the cpm in power over 30 years at the cost of bengal. bengal govt has become a bunch of criminals to the extent that we feel ashemed to be called bengali. when all the states is progressing the bengal is progressing in reverse gear. i belong to nandigram and know the truth. i appreciate the article but where is the solution.
centre will take no action as the central ministry depends on support of leftist mps.
we need industrilization in west bengal which is crushed by cpm in past. now itis not a fight of people against industriliazation but the fight against he dada giri of cpm. a lot of criminals leading prosporous life at the money of common man and they are branded as cpm cadre. and the total set up is for the benefit of the people unsocial, crininals only.
if the setup is communist why not follow the chinese line progress. why not embress the decipline and work ethics of chinese communist. itis not communists but criminals in disguise of cpm who are rulling he state
i am a power plant specialist and can suggest the state govt in ways to prosper but they are only interested in keeping the state poor as that will give them opportunity to misguide people and live like a leach on blood of common man
As an ex policeman, I can tell you one thing. No policeman likes to fire on inoncent crowd. After all, we belong and live in the same society. It is unfair to compare us to some occupying force going to war. But we have to carry weapons. The weapons to be carried are decided by the state (with our bureacracy of course).Have you seen a water canon in action in India ever? No. because a water canon is one of the heaviest things around and needs to be pulled back immediately after it sprays or it would be attacked. And you need really good roads for it to be effective. Have you seen a water canon in action in any of the world footage where there are such poor or no roads? Also, why give us worldwar I .303 rifles (that are known to pierce seven persons in a row) and assault rifles to us and not change it with rubber bullet weapons. Only RAF in India has that and I tell you guys, RAF never comes in front when there is a mob control to be done. They just come to mop later.
And WHY DOESN’T ANYBODY TALK OF MAKING POLICE INDEPENDENT OF POLITICIANS GRIP LIKE IT IS IN ANY DEVELOPED COUNTRY. WHY IS IT NOT AN ISSUE IN ELECTIONS THAT POLICE BE CONTROLLED BY AN INDEPENDENT COMMISSION INSTEAD OF BY GOVERNMENT
Ah…because we live in a democracy, dear policeman and wouldn’t want to give you too many powers. The reason why we do not give such powers to the army. I have covered the police beat and have too many friends in the services to know about fake encounters, mop ups, interrogation techniques and the Delhi Gate Kashmiri fruit seller who becomes a terrorist every time you need suspects. This is not at all a personal assault. In the same vein, I have several police friends who are absolutely top class. Politicians can be removed. Police might be more difficult.
I have been doing a research project here with the Chandigarh police. I spend most of my days and nights with them, and do agree on a few points. For instance, I have noticed that any commands for Lathi Charges, Tear Gas attacks are always carried out, here at least, with a degree of dellibiration. The lathi charge and the tear gas only take place when the law and order situtation gets ‘out of hand’. What constitutes this out of hand-ness is usually decided by the sho, the igs and the ssps, whoever might be at the spot. Usually, if demonstrations are peaceful, and follow the ‘law of the land’ police do not resort to these tacts.
Another thing i have noticed, and this is something the cop has pointed out above, is that they do consider themselves as ‘human’, and ‘insaniyat’ is a crucial piece of rhetroric used with striking regularity. They do agree that no one likes firing on innocent people UNLESS they have been given orders to do so.
The water cannon is indeed and unwiedly instrument and is best used to clean up station walls, rather than crowd control. Do not try washing you car with it. It will crack the windows.
Som, I do not think that the question blooindian is raising here is not about fake encounters and interrogation techniques, though you are absolutely right about them. I think the blooindian is more concerned about orders that politicians give police in order to carry out their dirty deads. The police indeed needs to become free of political preassure of all kinds, not only from politicians but from ‘local leaders’ and pradhans. Will this lead to absurd ammounts of fascism and cruelty? I doubt it. There are many redressals mechanisms in place, and once political preassure is stopped then these can be exercised with more ease.
Being a good po-mo wanker, I must add that this is all utopian rhetoric and I should just go shoot myself.
What are you saying, Angad? Where do politicians come from? They come from within our midst, the middle classes sanctions these extra-judicial killings by policemen, we have long continued to do so. Remember the gangsters of Mumbai in the 90s, Daya Naik was the chief architect and was found to be raking in the cash for and on behalf of fangsters to shoot rival factions of. No one said a word then. I knew half the officers in Crime Branch, Mumbai was doing the same. I knew Rajbir Singh well. Believe me, no one took as much delight in killing as that chap did. I can name 50 cops here and you know that there is no insaaniyat. The point, however is that this killings were always sanctioned by the people and only when they kill the middle class on the streets of Connaught Place, do we get shocked. A friend of mine in Delhi Police once said to me “No police man will kill for the government pay and put their life at risk. There is more, always more.”
So no insaaniyat, only cash, and channelled through us.
I suppose you are right, and i feel that our differences of opinion come from the fact that cops perhaps say different things to journalists and people who are working with them. Both of our opinions are, therefore, not correct. However, yours gets more patta cause vir sanghvi has made exactly the same argument you have today in the Hindustan Times.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=d5df7d4d-f044-4681-b526-ac955b8dfcee
Forget what cops say, I definitely have seen them do. Thus the argument, whatever they say, does not match to what they do, thus the slippages. You know the problems of interview techniques and the slippages therein which can be supplemented by other techniques such as observation and gathering of data. This insaaniyat bullshit is for their family and friends.
Vir’s article is uncannily similar. I guess journos, lowly and highly, have similar opinions. How disturbing.
I do not find the similarity between your pieces uncanny at all. I feel that the issue is different - about what it is possible to say about what in any given time.
For instance, both you and I have fallen into a particularly similar trap, and hence the confusion. We both are using the off hand term ‘cops’ to account for home guards, constables, head constables, ASIs, SIs, Inspectors, SHO’s, DSP’s, SSP’s and IGs. The truth is, that I have never heard of any one above the rank of head constable talking about insaniyat, and even that is rare. Usually it is the constables.
On the issue about observation and opinion and slippage, I would argue that most of your opinions about cops right now are quite similar to vir sanghvis, because both of you have approached the problem as journalists, not field researchers. The cops knew that you were a journalist. Observation and gathering of data between journos, editors and someone who is doing a confidential report for the cops themselves is slightly different. However, and this merely reiterates a point i made two posts above, both of our accounts are necessarily innacurate.
All these protests and hot discussions! It saddens me when I think how everyone is after the one CM of Bengal who tried to make it at par with the rest of the country and give its people a better life. Ms Mamata Banrejee was successful after all in doing what she wanted. I really hope that she is chosen the next CM because the bengalis deserve only people like her. A CM shouting and screaming like a shrew. I hope she does what she earlier did as a railway minister when she is chosen a CM.
Bengalis deserve to be poor, living besides garbage dumps and figuring only in negative lights in the news and media, feeling happy with aparna sens art films. God gives people what they deserve. Good! very good.
Amita