Buddha ordered firing in Nandigram: Forward Bloc

Ever since the police firing,there has been confusion in the political as well as in bureaucratic circles about who had ordered the police firing.

The CM was present in his office when the firing took place. Ghosh said in the meeting of the Left Front on March 15,2007,he had asked the CM who ordered the police firing. “The Chief Minister stood up and said that he had ordered the firing,” Ghosh claimed while addressing the media at Kolkata Press Club on Monday.

Significantly,the state Government,on several occasions,had denied any consultation between the CM and the police officers present on the spot before the firing was ordered. The administrative report placed by Divisional Commissioner Balbir Ram also pointed out that it was Inspector General of Police Arun Gupta who had ordered the firing. But after Ghosh’s remark,it’s clear that the police had received the go ahead for the firing from the CM.

A day after the firing,the then home secretary Prasad Ranjan Roy had made an official statement that the state administrative headquarters was in the dark till the firing order was issued. “Nandigram was a mistake and only the Left leaders can publicly acknowledge this,” Ghosh said referring to the CM’s statement in the Left Front meeting on March 15,2007.

In recent public gatherings in the run-up to the LS polls,the CM has said,“I had failed to gauge the ground situation in Nandigram. If I had known properly,I would not have sent the police to Nandigram.”

Reacting to Ghosh’s remarks,Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee said: “What Ashokbabu said today,we have been saying since the firing on March 14. The problem is that leaders like Ashokbabu change their versions frequently.”

Biman Bose,the state secretary of the CPI(M) and a politburo member,when asked about Ghosh’s disclosures,said: “As far as I know,no minister or secretary had given permission for police firing. The order for firing was issued by the police.”