Citizens for Peace : Statement on Nandigram

Citizens for Peace has protested against the high-handedness of the CPM government and it's hooligans who have taken law into their own hands at Nandigram. The Nandigram (a rural area in the district of Purba Medinpur in West Bengal) SEZ controversy, arose over the West Bengal government's permission to the Salim Group of Indonesia to set up a SEZ to handle chemicals in the area. Many people were killed in a protest organized by villagers who do not want the chemical complex in their village, for which land has been acquired from them.The ruling Communist Party (Marxist) instead of resorting to the rule of law launched it's lumpen elements (brandishing guns!) against the villagers who were protesting peacefully. I can't believe this, I just can't! Is this what democracy is meant to be? This seems more like a tinpot dictator's (Buddadev Bhattacharya's [I got confused here, I confused the chief minister's name with that of director Buddadev Dasgupta]) ploy to suppress dissent, to me.

The Bombay-based Citizens for Peace has issued a statement on Nandigram condemning the government of West Bengal, which, obviously has acted in haste, and in a loathsome manner (Statement on Nandigram). Excerpts:

"Citizens for Peace demands that the Government of West Bengal immediately act against CPM cadres who surrounded Nandigram and are refusing to allow the press and others to enter, who have assaulted local villagers in the area, who openly flaunt their weapons. We urge the National Human Rights Commission to investigate and report on the human rights abuses in Nandigram. And we appeal to all sides for sanity and dialogue, so that all that’s at stake in Nandigram, and by extension in the country, can be debated and resolved."

Guess Narendra Modi and Buddhadev Bhattacharya have a lot in common. They both have unleashed state sponsored terrorism on the people they govern. This is what Buddhadev said in a recent statement (quote courtesy Harini Calamur's Blog):

"”I stick to that. Some people are trying to project that the violence was started by CPI-M workers. Last 11 months, the Bhoomi Uchched Pratirodh Committee, the Trinamool Congress and the Maoists were creating violence with arms. And last two-three days, CPI-M workers had paid them back in their own coin."

Nandigram Controversy |