In Nandigram, CPM stares at crisis of credibility

A 50 feet x 30 feet patch in an open paddy field, covered by tarpaulin sheets is now home to about 200 CPM party cadres. They were driven out of their homes by bands of armed villagers who have formed a resistance committee against acquisition of land for the proposed SEZ.

Ranjana Pramanik of Gangra village, with her one-and-a-half-year-old son Subharanjan has been a staunch party member, like Ghanashyam Patra who’s at the camp with her. They both narrate how they managed to flee their homes in time to save their lives.

In a village where there were just two houses against the CPM, suddenly there was a reversal of allegiance. Known party supporters had joined the resistance forum formed in conjuction with different outfits, the Trinamool Congress, the Congress, the BJP, the Jamat-E-Ulema Hind and some Naxal factions.

Together they formed the Bhumi Ucched Sangram Protirodh Samity ( Resistance Committee against Eviction from Land). And they took on those who would not side with them.

“They asked me to pay a penalty of Rs 10,000 and join the forum,” says Ghanashyam Patra. “How could I agree to it being a member of the CPM,” he wonders.

Scores of others in the camp, including senior CPM zonal committee members like Badal Mondal admit: “It’s been a serious debacle for the party. We failed to convince people about the SEZ plans and in the process there is a heavy erosion among the rank and file.”

But why did the party fail to convince?

There is one significant difference between Singur and Nandigram as far as the nature of the agitation is concerned. While conversion of fertile farmland was the key issue of agitation in Singur, in Nandigram the bone of contention is eviction and compensation.

There is no dispute whatsoever, that the land in Nandigram is nowhere near Singur in terms of fertility. The single crop paddy is largely rain-fed. For the rest of the year, the farmers produce items that are best suited for the salinity of the area — kesari dal and vegetables.

If the clash of interest in Singur was between land owners and unrecorded share croppers and daily wage earners, in Nandigram it is between what many describes as “land mahajans,” meaning big land owners (jotedars) and “karfas”, or illegal land occupiers.

“Karfas” are those who at a point of time were forcibly established on the land of “mahajans,” say Block Land Records officials in Nandigram. This forcible occupation was engineered largely by the CPM during the land reforms movement in Bengal in the early ‘80s.

According to one estimate, there is a high concentration of “karfas” in the proposed 10,000-odd acres which is needed to be acquired in Nandigram’s 27 mouzas. Nandigram Block – I, which is the scene of the present turmoil has a total of 99 mouzas and comprises 12,800 hecatres.

Official sources say some 40 per cent of the settlers in the proposed 10,000 acres in 27 mouzas are illegal. These are the people who do not have any valid papers to claim compensation should the land be taken over for the Special Economic Zone. Many such cases are locked in court cases for decades.

Having realised that these people will resist the party tried to assuage their feelings. In one public meeting for instance, in Nandigram, end December Lakshman Seth promisd to take care of their problems.

But coming as it is from the political platform it did not convince the community. The assurance must have come from the administrative levels and in official form, says Ujjwal Maity, president of the Resistance Committee.

Added to this is the question of non-distribution of pattas or title deeds, which the CPM machinery at the local level is accused of holding back in order to ensure loyalty.

Nandigram Block Development Officer Ashok Sarkar says that in Nandigram a total of 13,000 pattas have been distributed but a large number is yet to be distributed.