It’s a war in Nandigram, says Medha Patkar

She said the people did not want to protest against anyone but where forced to after the situation came to that extend that they will lose their land to a ‘Special Exploitation Zone (SEZ)’.

“The ruling party acted with a vengeance. Opposition should be given space,” Patkar said.

She urged the West Bengal government to send at least a team of Left Front leaders to Nandigram to get a first-hand knowledge about the ground situation there.

Rubbishing CPM criticism that Maoists were the force behind the protests, she said, “it is easy to brand anyone Maoist. Why they want to give credit to Maoists for this righteous struggle.”

Criticising the ‘recapturing’ of Nandigram by CPM cadre, the ‘Report on Nandigram Events’ prepared by Patkar and others claimed that it was ‘not an aberration or a mistake’.

“It was a planned action with full coordination between state administration and the party. The proof for this is overwhelming — arms, criminals and goons were assembled in a planned manner, police camps were removed,” the report claimed.