A woman and her child at the CPM’s Khejuri relief camp. (File picture)

Nandigram, May 24: Up at the crack of dawn, Sushmita Samanta hurried through her chores this morning. She wanted to be in time to catch the “live telecast” of the all-party meeting that could decide her fate.

The mother of two from Sonachura village — the site of the March 14 police firing — now lives at the Bhangabera camp, where word had spread that Doordarshan would be showing the meeting live.

“I walked miles to watch it. People had thronged the marketplace and the surrounding areas, as most of Nandigram does not have electricity. When they realised there was no live telecast, they started surfing the news channels for updates,” Sushmita said.

But soon the frenzy fizzled out. “Everyone had hoped that a decision would be reached by the end of the meet. But the little ray of hope we had of returning to a normal life seems to be diminishing,” she rued.

The scene was the same on both sides of the Talpatti canal — on the north stands Nandigram and on the south, Khejuri. Hundreds crowded around television sets in shops or at police stations.

“The movement to save farmland has been going on for a long time and we are all sick of it. More so, with Buddhadebbabu’s assurance that no land would be acquired in Nandigram for industrialisation,” said Sudarshan Mondal, a resident of Gokulnagar.

“However, with bombs and bullets being fired on a regular basis from the other side of the canal (Khejuri), we are not in a position to breathe easy. We had hoped that some solution would be reached at today’s meet.”

When TV channels flashed Mamata Banerjee’s walkout from the meeting, a hush descended on the marketplace, where Sushmita was standing in a nearly 3,000-strong crowd.

Unsure of when the next round of talks would be held, the villagers saw this as the end of the road. Some poured scorn on the “selfish” politicians.

“No one seemed to budge from their stand and were only interested in political mileage before the panchayat elections. No one cares about what we are facing on the ground,” said Brindaban Paik.

He had hoped to be home before the rains came pounding on his children’s little heads.

“The monsoon is just round the corner, where will we go with our children? During the carnage and its aftermath, our houses were looted and brought down. I had thought of restoring it if I could go back to my village in Sonachura. I am devastated with today’s result,” he said.

Local leaders from both the CPM and the Trinamul Congress-led Bhumi Uchchhed Protirodh Committee said they had been sceptical of the very idea of holding such a meet.

“It was necessary to have a team of locals attend the meeting. We don’t expect the political big guns to do anything for us and we don’t depend on them any more. We will try to restore normality on our own and try to get the people who are living in camps to sort out the differences,” said Chandan Panda, a member of the committee.