CPM and Trinamul flags next to each other

Nandigram, Jan. 4: CPM and Trinamul Congress flags fluttering side by side might port- ray a picture of peace in the war zone but a scratch of the veneer reveals simmering tension.

Many villagers still refuse to accept at face value Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s repeated assurances that no land will be acquired in Nandigram.

“Why should I believe the chief minister? If he was not keen on taking away our land, why did he send police and his party cadres to kill people? I don’t believe his claim that he didn’t know the police would open fire,” says Tapasi Das of Sonachura.

Her husband Ratan was one of the victims of the police firing on March 14.

Tapasi has got Rs 5 lakh as compensation from the government but her wounds are raw. “Our family had voted for the CPM for 30 years,” says the young widow.

Some of those who have not suffered personal tragedy in the land war are equally dismissive of the chief minister’s plea for peace.

“I don’t believe him any more. I saw women suffer sexual torture because they wanted to save their homes. CPM supporters still knock at our doors at night and threaten us. Peace resides only on the leaders’ lips,” says the elderly Amirun Bewa at Garchakraberia’s Hossainpur.

Many villagers see “differences” between the chief minister and the local CPM leadership. “Buddhababu says our land won’t be taken away but Lakshman (Seth, the Tamluk MP and Haldia Development Authority chairman) insists that industries would be set up here. Whom should we believe?” asks Sheikh Abdul Rauf of Rajaramchowk, a former CPI supporter.

“Who controls Lakshman? Is it not Buddha?” asks Hajarakata’s Samiran Bewa.

Trinamul leaders are trying to exploit this fear and distrust to keep the embers burning till the rural polls, due in May.

Mamata Banerjee told a rally yesterday the government would “renew its bid to grab land” after the polls.

Local CPM leaders admit they have not been able to win the people over, though they have recaptured lost territory.

“We are lagging behind.... We have to go door to door to foil the campaign to keep the fear of land acquisition alive,” says Ashok Bera, the CPM zonal committee secretary.

Many fear the renewal of violence as the polls draw near. Section of both camps — the Opposition and the CPM — want the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) to stay on for the sake of the fragile peace.

If Sabina Bibi of Hossainpur is scared of CPM revenge attacks after the force leaves, Kalima Bibi of Subhanichak wants peace for all. Kalima’s father is a local CPM leader.

Soumitra Chakraborty, the headmaster of the Rajaramchowk Siksha Niketan who could not attend his school until the CPM recaptured the area, feels the “CRPF camp on the campus is much needed”.

One of his colleagues cautions that “Nandigram would erupt again like a volcano once the central force goes”.

Villagers trust the force, says the headmaster.

A CRPF officer at the camp explains: “Because we respond to distress calls without regard to who is complaining.”

Bera suggests the CPM has realised that it is futile complaining about the CRPF presence. “The CRPF had initially misunderstood our people and acted at the prodding of the Pratirodh Committee but it can work here as long as the government wants. We have to do our job.”