Territorial Warfare to Reign of Terror
Nandigram: Peasants' Demands for Democratic Rights and Political Choice An Independent Citizens' Report Kolkata 8th March, 2008 "...The CPI(M) has resorted to rampant sexual violence, using it as a weapon of power and intimidation to browbeat all the women of Nandigram who participated in large numbers in the movement against land acquisition. The women were courageous, spirited, articulate, and sharply analytical about their reasons for resisting the state policy. Violence against women ranged from verbal abuse and sexual threats. to sexual harassment under the pretext of conducting physical searches for concealed weapons, to gruesome acts of rape, gang rape and the shoving of rods/batons down women's vaginas. Women testified that their homes continued to be unsafe, as CPI(M) cadres were ordering women to send their men away, and keep their lamps lit at night to "welcome" the cadres. As a result, many women who had gone back to their homes promptly returned to the relief camp within a day, while others who had not left had stayed on in continued terror of more sexual violence. When this team visited Nandigram on November 24, 2007, the black flags had disappeared and had been replaced by thousands of flags of the CPI(M) and TMC, each marking and claiming territory, as well as some of the BJP, and the SUCI. The local people assert that the BUPC had originally been represented by black flags, signifying that "we did not stand for any single party. It was a people's struggle." Now, with the multiple party flags dominating the terrain, and the CPI(M) fast regaining all lost ground through force, they claim that there is no space for them. In the aftermath of the November attacks and the violent takeover by the CPI(M) militia, the people's resistance stands crushed. They are living in a state of terror, and are being forced to "reconvert" and support the CPI(M), or risk their lives and homes. The same people who had insisted spiritedly in March that they would die rather than be forced into giving up their land are now resigned to their fate: "How much suffering can we bear? Now if the CPI(M) demands our land we will give it up – yes, however meagre be the compensation. What choice do we have?"..." "...CONCLUSION The violence of "development", as evidenced in Nandigram, is forbidding. It has acquired a disturbing nature and magnitude and demands urgent attention. While Nandigram was marked by violence between the CPI(M) and a number of political parties such as the TMC, the BJP and the SUCI, investigations reveal that the CPI(M) owes greater responsibility for the violence in the region. As the ruling party for 30 years, it is answerable to the electorate for harnessing the state machinery to unleash violence and meet its own narrow political gains. Nandigram has raised critical questions: "What is the CPI(M)'s stand on violence against people? More specifically, what is its position on sexual violence as a weapon of coercion? The political culture of West Bengal has attained dangerous dimensions with the uninterrupted rule of one political party for over 30 years. It ranges from a politics of opportunism to a reign of terror that pervades all levels and every sphere of public life, and effectively destroys political choice. As an important political party of the largest democracy in the world, the CPI(M) has to take on the onus of radical self-critique and internal reform, as well as transform its political culture if it is committed to the values of people's democracy and freedom. Nandigram is a grim instance of state repression in the context of corporate globalization. The state has become synonymous with the CPI (M), and has relied more on the use of party cadre and armed militia rather than legal law enforcing agencies like the police as in Nandigram. By "justifying" the violence of the party cadre in the name of revenge, the chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, has effectively legitimized such violence. It is also evident that the state has been complicit in creating a situation of terror in Nandigram. It is condemnable that a government professing pro-people policies has betrayed the trust of its electorate by violating all democratic processes, and by attempting to forcibly appropriate land as well as impose policies without the people's consent. It is a matter of grave concern that the state has crushed all people's resistance, and through violent means, first through police violence and then in full complicity with armed party cadres and militia. Every constitutional norm for responsible governance - separation of state and ruling party; non-partisan governance; adherence to democratic processes; transparency in functioning - has been violated. The logic of such a process of liberalization is clearly anti-democratic and unconstitutional. Already implicated as it is in this course, can the state halt to reconsider its project for liberalization? Can it change course to deliver to its citizens a democratic blueprint for development, and implement it with transparency and impunity? Or will its rule of force be successful in coercing entire populations into abject submission? Nandigram is just the beginning." --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. 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