Kolkata:
Two chargesheets filed by the CBI on the Nandigram police firings, which took place on March 14, 2007, have reopened the debate on an issue which was considered a turning point in West Bengal's polity, handing the Trinamool Congress an opportunity to pillory the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee government, which was ruling the state then.
The chargesheets, filed earlier this month at a Haldia court, have given the CPM ammunition to hit back at chief minister Mamta Banerjee. They, the CPM claims, nail Trinamool's lie that the firings were ordered by the then chief minister, who was accused of masterminding a genocide. The contents of the chargesheet have been accessed by NDTV.
The firings claimed the lives of 14 people. Eleven persons were killed at Bhangabera, and three at Malpara. The CBI chargesheets make it clear that police was forced to move into Nandigram to lift the over two month long blockade organized by the Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee, an organization floated to oppose the setting up of a SEZ in Nandigram.
When the police reached Bhangabera and Malpara on March 14, they ran into thousands of villagers, many of whom were equipped with lathis, stones and even firearms. The police lobbed teargas shells, rubber bullets and blanks at them before taking recourse to firing. An executive magistrate was present when the police action started at Bhangabera. No such official was available at Malpara.
The CPM has used the chargesheets to retaliate at the Trinamool Congress. "The allegation that the instruction was given by the chief minister to go for firing is baseless... that has been vindicated by the CBI chargesheet,'' says CPM's Surya Kanta Mishra.
The Trinamool, however, remains unfazed. "I don't know about the chargesheets. What I know was there was a genocide at Nandigram and the then chief minister had taken responsibility and also said they have been paid back in their own coin," said Trinamool MP Mukul Roy.