Retributions  

Writing in Tehelka, Shantanu Guha Ray explains the logic behind Operation Nandigram and affirms what I have argued previously.

It was not about Nandigram, really, not about one Lok Sabha seat or half a dozen in the Assembly. It was all about the realm. You lose a bastion like Nandigram and you could start a cascade of similar revolts, it could be the beginning of the end. At the party headquarters in Alimuddin Street in the heart of Kolkata, CPM leaders offer no end of explanations for Operation Nandigram, including that it was becoming a hub of Naxalites. But the real lie within the CPM itself — it fears that one loss could trigger a series, that once the myth of its invincibility is exploded, other areas would follow the Nandigram example. Nandagopal Bhattacharya, top CPI leader and West Bengal minister, agrees: “As a ruling party, it is important for the Left Front to look into the ground realities in Nandigram. We cannot let a stronghold slip away and let the Opposition rule. We currently hold all the four parliamentary seats in the (Midnapore) region and a significant number of Assembly seats. We need to improve, not lose out.”

Bose calls the Nandigram experience a desperate attempt by the Left Front to maintain its stronghold over the countryside. “But there were cracks in the Red Wall of Bengal that guarded the countryside and the CPM realised there’s trouble brewing in a number of areas.” There’s already been waves of anti-CPM ferment in the urban middle class following Rizwanur Rahman’s dubious murder; intimations of losing ground in the rural heartland must make party bosses nervous. Political analysts agree. Noted writer Samaresh Mazumdar feels the kinds of discontent opposition parties are generating in rural Bengal are not simple pushovers. In many places, these forces have gained more than a toehold. “Frankly, Mamata Banerjee has got a new lease of life in her fledgling political career because of Nandigram, a region where TMC has never been a dominant factor except a few seats here and there. And that it was suddenly pushing an agenda was clear to the Left Front though those outside Bengal felt BUPC was fighting for its land from industrial sharks. In fact, there are no land sharks in that region.”[link]

Nandigram is all about political survival. That is why the pathetic defense mounted by Brinda Karat in her interview with Karan Thapar. Who will pay any attention to Mrs Karat and her Stalinist husband if not for the numerical strength provided by the honorable Members of Parliament from Bengal?