CPM claims all’s well in Nandigram

The CPI(M) on Monday claimed that West Bengal was the only state in the country from where Maoists, who were trying to carve out “liberated zones”, had been evicted. The party also used Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi’s visit to Nandigram to project that all was well in the area. “There are so many states like Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh, where vast areas are under the control of the Maoists. No administration functions here. West Bengal is the only state from where they have been evicted,” CPI(M) Politburo member Sitaram Yechury said. Replying to questions on Nandigram, Yechury said the Politburo was taking stock of the situation on the basis of a report submitted by the party’s West Bengal Committee on the matter. To a question about the Governor’s visit, he said it was good that the Governor had first-hand experience of the situation there. “The fact that he played cricket with children there shows normalcy has returned. Where is the fear psychosis being reported by the media,” he asked. Asked in a lighter vein about the Governor getting out on the first ball, Yechury remarked, “Those who do not know (how to play), should not try it.” On Taslima Nasreen deleting certain portions of her biography, Yechury said, “She did not seek our opinion when she wrote it at the first place.”