Mamata Banerjee with an injured villager in Tamluk hospital. Picture by Pradip Sanyal

Nandigram, March 14: Villagers of Nandigram opposed to land acquisition knew in their heart that sooner or later a crackdown was coming.

Last Sunday, when chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee announced from the Brigade Parade Grounds that “anarchy” would not be tolerated in Nandigram forever, the villagers got the first wind of the action to be taken.

On Monday, chief secretary A.K. Deb chaired a meeting with home secretary Prasad Ranjan Roy and senior police officials and it was decided that police would move in within a day or two.

“Over the past fortnight, we were guarding the approaches to Nandigram from the Khejuri side, where we knew the CPM was mobilising its workers to enter the interior villages. After Monday, we realised that we have to prepare ourselves for a bigger struggle,” said Abu Taher, Trinamul Congress leader and convener of the Bhoomi Uchchhed Pratirodh Committee.

From Monday night, vigil was stepped up. Pratirodh Committee leaders held a series of meetings in the 25 villages, including Dinabandhupur, Hajrakata, Garchakraberia, Kalicharanpur, Jalpai, Sonachura, Bhekutia, Maheshpur, Garupara and Adhikarypara, and asked villagers for support.

“We asked every household to supply at least one person to help us guard the borders of our villages,” said Taher.

With the help of petromax lights and three-cell torches, about 7,000 villagers armed with rods, spears, sticks, scythes and swords, stood guard through the night.

From Monday, the villagers went about digging up roads at several places and widened those that were dug up earlier at Sonachura and Maheshpur.

“We were determined not to allow any policemen to enter our villages. We have vowed not to give an inch of land to the government. We are farmers and we want to live like that,” said Sabuj Pradhan, another convener of the Pratirodh Committee.

The villagers also withdrew wooden planks they had placed on some of the trenches to walk or roll their bicycles over.

The Pratirodh Committee members roamed the villages through Monday and Tuesday, alerting villagers on loudspeakers.

“We did not want the police to take us by surprise. We asked villagers to be alert and resist entry of the police with whatever they can. We told them that this was our struggle for survival,” said Pradhan.

Khokan Mondal, 28, a farmer of Sonachura, said the villagers had become relaxed when the chief minister said no industry would be set up in Nandigram if farmers were unwilling to give up land. “We thought the chief minister was serious (about his assurance). Now we realise the government will take our land.”