It’s chaos and anarchy in Nandigram after CPI-M activists allegedly resorted to arson and looting in the area and violence spilled over to the rest of the state. What has gone wrong in West Bengal? Does CPI-M really have blood on its hands?
These were the questions that CNN-IBN National Affairs Editor Diptosh Majumdar dealt with when he engaged readers in an online chat on the Nandigram issue on IBNLive on Monday afternoon.
Full text of the discussion:
Ghosh:Will Nandigram trigger the end of West Bengal's seemingly endless romance with the Left?
Diptosh Majumdar: It should. If it doesn't, any sensible person like you or me will know there couldn't be a greater tragedy.
Minerva: If the chemical hub is not being constructed in Nandigram, then why is the unrest continuing? And why can't the CPM just leave the place and its people alone rather than acting like goons there?
Diptosh Majumdar: This is the way the CPI-M has ruled Bengal for three decades. It doesn't have any popularity; it only instills fear. It rules in the villages by bulling people into stamping the ballots for them. Nandigram is about pushing CPI-M supporters who had been outnumbered by other political groups in. CPI-M's ruthless, brutal, savage face has been exposed in the Nandigram massacre.
Rinku Ghosh:Given the Left's beginnings in West Bengal with land reforms, why has its SEZ policy run aground so badly? Being expert turf 'managers', didn't they foresee the people's power coming?
Diptosh Majumdar: It's not the SEZ policy. I don't think we can look for easy answers here. It's the price the CPI(M) is paying for allowing the growth of a Frankenstein called the CADRE. It's an anachronism in a democratic society.
Prashant:Is the SEZ policy more political than an economic issue?
Diptosh Majumdar: It's a fight between the ruthless establishment who wants only its supporters to benefit and the helpless rest of the village society. It's both but please, I am repeating, Nandigram is not about SEZ.
Amit:What is your point of view regarding Mamata Banerjee? Where was she when thousands of innocent villagers were forced to leave their homeland 11 months ago? Now why is she creating this chaos once again when the Government of West Bengal is trying to restore peace in the area? What type of game is she playing with the common people of West Bengal?
Diptosh Majumdar: West Bengal deserved a better alternative than Mamata. And this time, you cannot accuse her of making chaos. You and I are free to move anywhere in the country. Even Mamata is. Why should she be forced to sit in Tamluk and why should cadres block her way. This is a dangerous situation. The CPI-M is blocking freedom of movement, that's against the Constitution.
Rinku Ghosh:Do you honestly think that with the people's outcry against Nandigram in a TV age it is possible to effect a regime in Bengal 'electorally'?
Diptosh Majumdar: Difficult just now, but I personally believe after watching a ridiculous press conference of Prakash Karat, the CPI(M) General Secretary, that this is the beginning of the end.
S Chowdhury:I think it will be a tragedy if TMC comes to power in West Bengal after Left. They are the worst political party without any ideology. They just want to destroy West Bengal for power.
Diptosh Majumdar: It maybe, but no sane society can have a government for more than 30 years. Then you will have CPI(M) thugs ruling the way they are ruling Nandigram, with blood in their hands.
Prasenjit Banerjee:Why do you think Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is allowing such things to happen which is effectively ruining the already low image of West Bengal?
Diptosh Majumdar: I don't blame Buddha alone. I blame the party, including the intellectuals sitting here in Delhi who live in the ice age.
Ekalabya Patnaik:What should the CPI-M do to stop all that is happening in West Bengal today?
Diptosh Majumdar: Frankly speaking, I am saying this with full conviction, the CPI(M) should give up power after what it has done in Nandigram.
Dr Bhabatosh:Dear Diptosh, frankly I (and I believe nobody) know what actually has happened in Nandigram as it has been isolated from the media (and the rest of the world). With the little understanding of the situation, the simple question that disturbs my mind is how do I differentiate religious extremism from socio-economic-political extremism?
Diptosh Majumdar: I thought Narendra Modi was the biggest political villain of our time. After Nandigram, I seriously doubt that belief I had.
Subham:Sir, do you think the road to development and reform that the Left pursued for last three decades will be halted by the dirty politics over land?
Diptosh Majumdar: Why say dirty politics over land? It is dirty and bloody politics.
Rupak Banerjee:Is this time to compare Modi's Gujarat with Buddhadeb's West Bengal?
Diptosh Majumdar: I think it is.
Swasti S Bhowmick:With other Left Front partners like RSP/Forward Bloc and the CPI washing their hands off the Nandigram issue, will the front crack finally?
Diptosh Majumdar: Showing signs of it definitely, but the fact remains that these smaller parties have long lost their spines.
Rana:I there any difference between the massacres that have been organised by the Left in past starting from burning 29 tram cars in 1959 or say Marichjhapi massacre with the latest ones?
Diptosh Majumdar: This was different, this is far worse because it is a brutal massacre only to ensure political supremacy of a single party.
Abhishek: I lived in Kolkata between 1995-2000 and what struck me was the apathy of the upper middle class elite towards the numerous attacks on civil liberty and the rule of law by the cadres of the CPI-M. In a way, I think this section of the people have deserved what they have got -- a government headed by a party which is so very brazen in abusing human rights. Don't you think so?
Diptosh Majumdar: Agreed, but finally some of them are out on the streets. I was deeply moved when I saw my favourite poet the 73-year-old Sankho Ghosh on the streets on Sunday. He is a poet who has stood for everything good and righteous. So, the middle class is finally finding a voice.
Santosh: Hi Diptosh, do you think it is democracy prevailing in Nandigram when people are not being allowed to move freely? Why is Centre not interfering in such kind of a situation?
Diptosh Majumdar: I sometimes wonder what right Karat and Co have to question the nuclear deal and raise issues concerning sovereignty when they cannot guarantee basic human rights in a province under their control.
Ekalabya Patnaik: What were these so-called social activists (Ms Medha Patkar and her group of intellectuals) doing all these 11 months when thousands of people (mainly CPM supporters) were rendered homeless and they had to live in relief camps. Now that the people are trying to get back to their homes, these social activists are trying to make a lot of noise about the human rights?
Diptosh Majumdar: Ekalabya, the CP-M rules by pushing people out when they are not their supporters. For once, the opposite had happened in Nandigram. Worse had happened in Keshpur. In West Bengal, believe me, you are a human being only if you are a CPI(M) supporter.
Abhijit Roy: Has the CPM pushed the rewind button on West Bengal's industrial resurgence thanks to some shortsighted political strategy? Will there be some political tradeoff between the nuke deal and Nandigram?
Diptosh Majumdar: The Congress needs the Left in this Lok Sabha and may be even after the next general elections. Mamata is never a safe bet and may not be bring the number of seats the Left will get. So Manmohan and Sonia may find it politically more astute not to offend the Left too much. But the Left is on the back foot. I don't think, of course, that the Left can give up its stand on nuclear deal.
Philip Mathews: I think the CPI-M has lost its ideological supremacy long time back. They are behaving worse than fascists at this point of time. Kerala where I am from is decaying under their rule and they seem to have different policies for different states. They are definitely playing the communal card in Kerala and they I think would prefer a Stalinist-type rule.
Diptosh Majumdar: Nandigram is experiencing a worst form of Stalinism.
Muthuswamy:Hi, what is the difference between Godhra and Nandigram? I see no difference, CPI-M cadres carrying weapons! We have politicians alike, what is your opinion?
Diptosh Majumdar: It's quite similar. If complaints of gangrapes are true, there's not much that's different. Even respected Left historian Sumit Sarkar says that.
Arjun Janamatti: I believe the situation in Nandigram might lead to an Emergency in West Bengal.
Diptosh Majumdar: It won't happen. Since we didn't do it in Gujarat, this government will not have the courage to do so. I personally believe that a state with such a powerful parallel, armed force should be brought under President's rule.
Dr Bhabatosh:If the Left, the so-called conscience keepers, can threaten the govt on nuclear issue, should the govt now not rise against the Left and separate from them, sacrificing the greed for power?
Diptosh Majumdar: The hypocrisy of the Left is very badly exposed.
Raghu:Hi, now don't you think the CPI-M is being paid with the same coin, they oppose SEZs in rest of the country, but in West Bengal it's the opposite, and the Opposition is playing the role of the Communists?
PAGE_BREAK
Diptosh Majumdar: Interesting observation, but Nandigram is not about land acquisition. It's much more than that. It's about armed cadres versus their political opponents. Nandigram is about slaughtering every democratic ideal.
Abhijit Roy: You think that the CRPF was deliberately kept back so that they can now enter and maintain the status quo; which means that the CPM holds sway while those who have lost everything can't get back to whatever is left of their home and hearth? It seems that the Congress and the Centre and the CPM were acting together just like Gen Musharaff and Benazir.
Diptosh Majumdar: Agree completely with you. The CRPF is still being allowed only just inside Nandigram, not in the depths of the two blocks that constitute Nandigram. And they will move only after status quo has been imposed. The world will be told how serene Nandigram is.
Abhijit Roy: Don't you think that the Opposition in West Bengal should have gone to the UN Human Rights and focused international attention on the 'Killing Fields' of West Bengal?
Diptosh Majumdar: Nandigram, as one my colleagues was telling me, is a milestone. It has the N-word. Remember Naxalbari. Nandigram will stand for the dissipation of the traditional Left in West Bengal.
Arjun Janamatti: Diptosh after the Nandigram war, will the Left soften its stand on the nuclear deal with the USA or they still believe their violence is good but fight against terror by US is wrong?
Diptosh Majumdar: I think I have already answered this question. I think they will do their best to delink the two. Though I think that on both counts, the Left has shown how obsolete they are. The CPI(M)'s views on the US are born out of its intellectual laziness. They have used up three party congresses and more than a decade to grapple with the reality of a unipolar world. Similarly, the CPI(M) cadre is an anachronism.
Swasti:You say Trinamool does not have any political strategy. The Congress needs them at the Centre. What is the alternative we are looking at?
Diptosh Majumdar: Very difficult to say, but it's the beginning of a very long and destructive war between the CPI(M) and its opponents in West Bengal. The comfortable class created by the CPI(M) through its politics of dole in the Bengal countryside who 'organise' their safe vote in election after election will finally fall apart. Buddhadeb's policies have gone against them. Nandigram is the first milestone in that process of dismantling.
Sugato Hazra: Is it possible for the media—electronic media, at least a leading channel like yours—to boycott all CPM news for a couple of days? In case the news is important, just put it in ticker, show no picture no comment in protest against Nandigram?
Diptosh Majumdar: That, Sugato, would only end up helping the CPI(M). At this moment, everybody in the party, including Prakash Karat is running for cover.
Sukalyan:Don't you think in Rizwanur, ration dealer chaos and Nandigram-Singur, the media is just showing one side of the picture? When media is not neutral enough to show what is happening, then who will? Why one particular TV channel is allowed to go inside to take 'exclusive pictures of violence' where other channels were not allowed to enter? Why the media never created a havoc when every other day people of the ruling party were killed, police were murdered, house of the ruling party members were burnt leaving thousand of homeless on the refugee camp? Do you have any answer for these?
Diptosh Majumdar: Given you leanings, why don't you just explain what happened at Keshpur exactly six years ago. How the armed cadre put the rebellion down. Explain to me please aren't non-CPI(M) supporters human beings? Don't they enjoy a right to life and liberty?
Ekalabya Patnaik:The entire media (print and electronic) are very prompt to cite when the CPIM tries to defend its own people, but it (media) was silent all this time when the supporters of the CPI-M were pushed to the wall and were tortured. May I know why do the media have such double standards towards the same issue?
Diptosh Majumdar: When you rule a state for 30 years, you rule by crook. Please learn to accept that truth.
M Vijay Balaji:The media in Pakistan has the guts to fight against a military dictator and bring to light at least some news on ground situation while the Indian media is still struggling to enter Nandigram. How free is India?
Diptosh Majumdar: Agree with you. The CPI(M) cadres are not allowing the free media any entry.
Biranchi Narayan Acharya: The unfortunate Nandigram incident is a super team work by the fascist CPI (M) and the hysterically ambitious Mamata Banarjee and well supported (or rather fuelled by) other national and regional parties to gain opportunistic political mileage. The innocent people of Nandigram unfortunately living in a democratic country are finally experiencing situation worst than Pakistan's recent martial rule. Your comment please.
Diptosh Majumdar: Mamata is hysterically ambitious, no doubt, but she lacks the savagery of the CPI(M). I agree with you on all the other aspects.
Arjun Janamatti:Can anyone stop the Nandigram voilence and when will the government react strongly on the Left?
Diptosh Majumdar: If Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Prakash Karat had anything called conscience, they would have stopped this savage game with innocent lives long time back. Mr Karat's vocabulary has acquired a new abuse. It's a word called Maoist. He just now quoted the Prime Minister to describe Nandigram residents as Maoist. He is now looking for a clean certificate from a Prime Minister whom he described as man who's compromised the country's sovereignty on the nuclear deal.
Samik Sengupta:Hi Diptosh, what do you feel will be the long-term impact on the improving industrial scenario in the state, especially in Kolkata? Will companies now be interested in setting up their centres given the spate of bandhs, strikes and what not?
Diptosh Majumdar: I am all for West Bengal's industrial resurgence, but not at the cost of human lives. The long-term impact will definitely be bad, but then the Bengal administration should have thought of better ways to deal with a situation. Nandigram, I am repeating, has nothing to do with SEZs. The government has long decided to move away from Nandigram. This happened because the CPI(M) felt threatened that it was losing clout in the area
Ekalabya Patnaik:But the truth that I can see is the media is just trying to show one side of the coin where the CPI-M is slightly at fault, but the media turns a blind eye at whatever good the CPI-M is trying to do for the country? I still believe the CPIM has been able to rule for such a long time in West Bengal because of all the good work it has done in the past and will keep ruling West Bengal for all the good it is doing now.
Diptosh Majumdar: I agree with you that the CPI(M) will continue to rule Bengal. It has perfected the art of satisfying voters with industrial stagnation, by damaging the economy, by satisfying only its core supporters, by bullying the countryside residents into complete submission and by instilling fear through acts like the Nandigram brutality. It will win elections because it's a divided society. But just wait for a few years more to feel the difference. Nandigram is the beginning...
Arjun Janamatti: Diptosh, why isn't the BJP taking any advantage of this situation? Are they still sleeping or are they still celebrating the CM in Karnataka ?
Diptosh Majumdar: The BJP is a party which doesn't have roots in Bengal. You can't grow by selling Ram in East and the South. Somehow, the ordinary people do not connect with the epic hero.
Ramesh:How come you hold CPI-M brass responsible for this turmoil? What about let-always-prevail-a-chaos attitude of Ms Banerjee?
Diptosh Majumdar: This time, at least, she is right. On other occasions, she has been what one journalist once famously described her — the Queen of the Gutters. But the hypocrisy of the Left in Bengal and especially its ideological purists in Delhi has been exposed.
Prashant:What should be the Congress stand on Nandigram? We have seen the Left arm twisting it on the N-issue?
Diptosh Majumdar: Congress is impotent in West Bengal.
Surabhi:It's a known fact that Buddhadeb does not support the violence that the CPM is known for in Nandigram. Then why is it that he is unable to take a stronger stand, being the Chief Minister?
PAGE_BREAK
Diptosh Majumdar: Initially, I was innocent enough to think that way. Buddhadeb, I thought, allowed Nandigram to happen on March 14 because he was coerced into submission by his party. Now I believe he is equally involved. Nandigram's industrialization plan has been shelved long ago. What needed to be done this time was to teach the anti-CPI(M) forces a lesson.
Surinder:Should Mamata Bannerjee not be put behind bars for being the rabble rouser that she has become in a strife-torn state?
Diptosh Majumdar: Why so? She has done nothing wrong this time. Every sane person in Kolkata, Aparna Sen, Mahasweta Devi, Rituparno Ghosh are out on the streets. Why blame her? She has taken up the right cause for the defenceless.
Deepak:Hi Diptosh, don't you think Mamata should be behind bars. Somehow I feel she is the person to create all the fuss and she is taking all the untoward attention for this.
Diptosh Majumdar: I answered this question right now. Why I think she has done everything right this time.
Anjali:Now that the SEZ has been scrapped, what's the solution to the ongoing clash?
Diptosh Majumdar: Why is everybody getting it wrong? SEZ was scrapped long ago, on March 14 or thereabouts. This clash is about pushing CPI-M supporters inside Nandigram.
Rahul:The Governor of West Bengal came forward to say that Nandigram was turning into a war zone. Why, in the wake of this statement, should the Centre not think of imposing President's Rule in the state?
Diptosh Majumdar: President's rule will only get the CPI(M) unnecessary sympathy at this point of time. I don't think the party deserves that.
Deb: Do you think there should be President's Rule in WB now?
Diptosh Majumdar: Fit case, no doubt.
Ajit:Why has everybody suddenly got active on Nandigram issue? It all looks like political vendetta. And am I sure since elections are coming in many states, everybody is trying to gain political mileage. What's your take?
Diptosh Majumdar: Nandigram is a fit case for protest in this country.
Muhammad Sajid: I am from Kerala. You can openly tell that the poor farmers in Nandigram facing CPM fascism.
Diptosh Majumdar: Absolutely. They are facing brutality from CPI(M)'s armed cadres.
[email protected]: What makes you think what Aparna Sen and some other people are doing is right?
Diptosh Majumdar: Isn't it human to speak out in defence of the defenceless? Do you approve of armed cadres entering villages with the police remaining mute spectators and these armed cadres butchering people? We even have visuals showing how people are being brutally killed and their bodies are being clandestinely removed by party workers.
Arghya Pal:What is the main reason behind this war ?
Diptosh Majumdar: The CPI-M's greed to retain power by hook or by crook in Nandigram.
Raja:Nandigram being a mono-crop area and not so fertile with high unemployment, don't you think that the best option would have been setting up a chemical hub? More than 50 per cent of the working male who belong to Nandigram work elsewhere and Nandigram is a major supplier of domestic hands in Midnapore and Kharagpur. With the proximity of Haldia, wouldn't this be the best place to set-up an industry?
Diptosh Majumdar: I have been travelling to different parts of Indian countryside, Raja. And I am realizing that land acquisition has to be made voluntary. You cannot force people out of your land. If I went to you Raja and asked for your home tomorrow and told you that you vacate your premises and I'll make you the chowkidar of a factory, how would you react?
Sugato Hazra:Does it illustrate the state of Communist-led democracy practiced in West Bengal during the last three decades?
Diptosh Majumdar: Exactly. It's the failure of the media, I admit, not to have been able to expose the nature of the CPI(M) rule. Even the EC failed in the last election. They couldn't study the underlying fear
Premangshu: Diptosh, National Security Adviser MK Narayanan had spoken about the involvement of Maoists in Nandigram violence, what is your say on that? They have created bunkers. trained local goons. What about that? All are fare and when CPM takes control fighting them, that is bad !
Diptosh Majumdar: You are quoting Karat. At this point of time nobody should believe a word he says. The public distrust in him is too high. And the Centre which protects the Left is equally culpable.
Robert Clive:It is very difficult to believe that a state government with a brute majority in the legislature could not tackle siege of Nandigram for 11 months but did so 'efficiently' in the last one week. Either it was complete incompetence or deadly planning by the CPI-M. Comment.
Diptosh Majumdar: You seem to be quite aware of what is happening in Midnapore. If you are a party insider, won't you rather pose that question to a Lakshman Seth or a district leader like Suryakanto Mishra?
Nandan Dasgupta: If I've got it right Karat says that if police had been used, the Government would have been accused of using unnecessary force and in the same breath he says that now the administration can go in (which it could not earlier). So is he admitting that access was obtained by non-government forces? Is that an indictment or have I got something wrong somewhere? Has the media been given entry?
Diptosh Majumdar: The media has not been given entry yet, that explains everything.
SB: 'Cadreism' is the only option open to unemployed youth of Bengal. How much of an option does one have? No industires nothing. See the primary schools in Bengal. If you are a cadre, then only can you get the job of a school teacher . And what will these teachers teach to the generations? I take care of you and you take care of me and this is how it has evolved over the past three decades in Bengal. We should not blame others for this. We are to be blamed ourselves for this plague.
Diptosh Majumdar: Agreed. And we have let the problem fester for 30 years now.
Raman:Is it correct to say that "the Left-ist government in Bengal has lead the mass in the wrong path for long, and now its pouncing on them so hard that their popularity and innocent lives are the claimed dues."
Diptosh Majumdar: It came with a lot of hope and promise in 1977 but then 30 years is a long time. You systematically grow parallel institutions which become worse than Frankensteins.
Anjan_S: Can you please explain briefly what exactly is happening in Nandigram. What was the triggering point? When news channels say , CPI(M) is trying to regain N'gram, it seems like the folklores, where kings strike back to regain his empire. What do the people want and what does the state government want?
Diptosh Majumdar: See the government announced long time back that they are not going to have the chemical hub. But what happened after that was really bad for the CPI(M). The Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee acquired a lot of power and they were numerically more than CPI(M) supporters. This is a situation which the CPI(M) couldn't tolerate. That's why they attempted once to go in and take over on March 14. The final flush out operation by the cadres was done over the past five days. The police had to be spectators. For that's the way it is in West Bengal. You have to do what the CPI(M) tells you to do.
Raghuraman: Feudalism that's what it is, don't you think? The Left critises Modi, but what are they doing in Nandigram? Will this reflect in the next elections? And can this be used as a reason to fire the WB government, though its next thing to impossible?
Diptosh Majumdar: Not next elections maybe, but the process of the CPI(M) losing clout has started. They were doing well in Kolkata proper but after such incidents the urban people to begin with will leave CPI(M).
Nischel: Hi Dip, unfortunately the PM will give clean chit to Karat to remain in power?
Diptosh Majumdar: Unfortunately, yes. But do we expect any other form of behaviour from Dr Singh?
Sridhar: Dear Sir, I am really amazed to see medieval mentality prevailing in part of our country called West Bengal. Have we really developed in the true sense or urban richness is the only achievement?
Diptosh Majumdar: Agree with your concern. It's savagery. Barbaric is a word which has been used by the very respectable Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi
Anuj: Who do you think will benifit most from Nandigarm episode: Congress(I), BJP or Trinamul Congress?
Diptosh Majumdar: Trinamool should. The Congress will also benefit. If you look at the organization base of the Opposition parties in today's Bengal, Trinamool has some influence in south Bengal, Congress is powerful in Central and North Bengal, Murshidabad upwards.
Swarup: Do you see any end of cadre-raj after this gruesome incident?
Diptosh Majumdar: I see it worsening. I see it getting the licence to kill.
Dev: The CPI-M is playing political game. People of West Bengal are suffering it. Why is the Centre not taking any action? The Centre can sit on the nuclear deal issue forever, but for issues like this where people are the worst sufferer, isn't this time for Centre to wake up?
Diptosh Majumdar: The Centre will not do anything for the Left. The Congress is powerless. Take it from me, the Congress will not be able to use this as a bargaining chip with the CPI(M). The Left will shamelessly dictate terms even after this.
Sunando: What will be the fallout of the Nandigram issue on Lok Sabha General Elections (mostly in 2008) and Vidhan Sabha Elections in 2009?
Diptosh Majumdar:Not great maybe, but what may really happen that the CPI(M) may lose a lot in South Bengal and Kolkata proper say, the four parliamentary seats of Kolkata north-west, Kolkata north-east, Kolkata south and Jadavpur.
GK: Why shouldn't Tehelka investigate this matter and why should the Congress still choose to be an ally of Left?
Diptosh Majumdar: Why Tehelka alone? Every medium should investigate the matter.
Swasti S Bhowmick: With the Left-minded artistic fraternity in West Bengal changing tack, where does Buddhadeb go from here?
Diptosh Majumdar: Not all of them have changed tack and CPI(M) will now shower benefits on those who haven't criticised the party. Have you heard a word of criticism coming from Bengal's great novelist Sunil Gangopadhyay? Has he suddenly lost his voice? What about Mrinal Sen? Why is he quiet? Won't now the public say that they have been bought off?
Indradeep Das: What happened in Nandigram was not a war-like situation, but a brutal genocide the by the ruling party in Bengal.
Diptosh Majumdar: Agreed. Though I still need proof to label it a genocide, but unabashed killing of a large number of people by an armed party machinery.
Amit: Diptosh, what the party in power i.e. CPM, would achieve by letting the violence continue unabated in Nandigram. If we go by the current trends, they are even alienating their long time strong vote bank i.e. intellectual class of the state.
Diptosh Majumdar: After 30 years, you are too used to winning. You cannot simply give up your influence. That is what has happened to the party.
Arunita Roy:When CPM supporters get killed (28 of them in last 11 months), the intellectuals remain silent, the governor remains silent. When BUPC supporters get killed, it becomes 'genocide', 'Jalianwalabag', 'Gujarat' etc etc. Why this double standard?
Diptosh Majumdar: Arunita, congratulations at least you can count the number of CPI(M) supporters killed. You even have a figure. Nobody knows the number of non-CPI(M) political workers killed. Because you cannot keep a count. The number is too big.
Suryanarayan: Dear Diptosh, I have a very basic question. In this era of 24-hour news channels why is that we still do not know whats happening within Nandigram? The other more fundamental. I was reading the newspaper the other day and I came across a graphic which describes the canal and the positions of the CPI(M) and the BUPC and talks about who is attacking whom and which are the supply lines et. al. Is this what democracy has become which has a virtual free for all for capture of territories?
Diptosh Majumdar: Suryanarayan, the CPI(M) cadres are not letting us in. And in West Bengal, the police won't let us if cadres don't let us in. Even then we have got you exclusive footage.
Rajeev: People may say it's shocking to see these things happen in India specially in a place like West Bengal where it is supposed to be bhodroloog. I am not surprised as I have seen the Naxalite movement and how it was hijacked, just want to know from you how long will the ordinary man be held under this protest bandh and how will the poor man making a living if all of Bengal is closed for a few days. Mamata may have enough at home, the poor man does not. He may not live more than 3-4 days like this. What do you feel being on site there?
Diptosh Majumdar: Completely agree with you that bandhs are an overused, completely unjustified weapons but in this case, I find myself spontaneously sympathetic to the cause.
S Chowdhury:What is the situation in Kolkata now?
Diptosh Majumdar: Please see our channel, you'll get the latest.
Comments
0 comment