Oct. 30: A clash of dates with the inauguration of the Calcutta Film Festival is standing in the way of Mamata Banerjee attending the first anniversary of the Nandigram recapture since she became chief minister, causing resentment among residents who lost their kin or suffered injuries in the alleged firing by CPM cadres on November 10, 2007.
“Mamata won’t be able to attend the November 10 rally in Nandigram as she will be busy in Calcutta,” said Sisir Adhikari, Trinamul minister and chief of the party’s East Midnapore unit.
Writers’ officials said the chief minister would be present at the inauguration of the week-long festival beginning on November 10 at Netaji Indoor Stadium.
Members of the Bhoomi Uchched Pratirodh Committee (BUPC), a Trinamul forum that Mamata had backed while leading the anti-land acquisition movement, said they were “sad” that the chief minister was unlikely to attend the event.
The committee organises a rally every year on November 10 to mark the CPM’s armed recapture of Nandigram. Two persons were killed and 15 had suffered injuries when alleged CPM cadres had fired at a Trinamul procession in Nandigram on November 10, 2007.
“We had expected that Mamatadi would come here on November 10 and announce a compensation package for the family members of those killed or injured during the CPM’s recapture of Nandigram.
But she told the Trinamul leaders through whom we had sent the invitation that she would not be able to attend the rally because she would be busy with the film festival. We are sad,” said Sabuj Pradhan, a BUPC convenor.
Bhavani Das, another BUPC convenor, said the family members of those killed in the March 14, 2007, police firing in Nandigram and those injured in it had already got compensation from the government.
“But no such package was announced for those affected by the CPM’s armed recapture of the area,” he said.
Following a high court order, the Left government had paid Rs 5 lakh to the family of each of the 14 people killed in the police firing and Rs 1 lakh to each of the injured.
Shayera Bibi, 39, the widow of Sheikh Rezaul, who was killed during the alleged CPM attack on November 10, said local Trinamul leaders had told the victims that Mamata “could announce a compensation package for us”. “We are shocked to know that she is not coming. For the past four years, I have to depend on my relatives to run my family of six. Had I got a chance to meet Mamata, I would have told her about the difficulties I am facing in bringing up my four daughters and one son. My husband was the sole bread-winner of the family,” she said.
Jadav Pal, who was injured in the firing, said: “It’s sad that the film festival is more important to Mamata than the affected people of Nandigram. We had been part of the anti-land acquisition movement that finally led to the CPM’s exit from power. It seems Mamata has forgotten that.”
On the night of November 10, 2007, Mamata had sent her resignation as Lok Sabha MP to the Prime Minister and rushed to Nandigram to stand by the bereaved families. The resignation had not been accepted.
Mamata had attended the November 10 rally for the last time in 2008. “She had come to Nandigram in 2009 to participate in the yearly rally held to mark the March 14 police firing. But since then, she has not attended any of the two events,” a Trinamul leader in East Midnapore said.
