Real E State

Real E State

Palash Biswas

Indian HOLOCAUST My father`s life and time- One hundred Thirty Four

"The Communist Party of India (Marxist) is the revolutionary vanguard of the working class of India. Its aim is socialism and communism through the establishment of the state of dictatorship of the proletariat. In all its activities the Party is guided by the philosophy and principles of Marxism-Leninism which shows to the toiling masses the correct way to the ending of exploitation of man by man, their complete emancipation. " – CPIM website[1]

Singur and Nandigram
by Akhila Raman
April 05, 2007
Be it Right or Left, it is becoming increasingly clear that many Governments across the world are eager to get in bed with the corporations. The message is clear in West Bengal: Economic development will be pursued at any human cost. Protesters will be brutally dealt with and killed if required. Critics will be vilified. Facts will be fudged to justify brutal actions. The Ugly Might of the State has descended in an unholy manner on the farmers in Singur and Nandigram. How can CPIM reconcile its conflicting history of admirable land reforms in West Bengal with the recent brutal repression of farmers in its desperate bid of industrialization?
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=66&ItemID=12509

Left 'lands' in trouble in Kerala

Naveen Nair
CNN-IBN
LAND-ING IN TROUBLE: As adivasis gear up for the battle ahead, Aralam is all set to become the next flash-point in the struggle.

Kannur (Kerala): The dust of Nandigram has not settled yet and there’s trouble brewing for the Left government in Kerala over land aquisition. The state government which had bought land in the Aralam farm to help landless tribals now plans to evict them and the adivasis are now up in arms.
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/after-nandigram-row-over-kerala-land/37866-3.html


Sovereignty
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Sovereignty is the exclusive right to exercise supreme political (e.g. legislative, judicial, and/or executive) authority over a geographic region, group of people, or oneself. A sovereign is the supreme lawmaking authority, subject to no other. Thus the legal maxim, There is no law without a sovereign.

Is India a Sovereign State ?

It is no Welfare State. It is not State at all. India has become the epicentre of Brahminical Zionist Power Game Epicentreand the Shylock wants his pound from the Heart of Rural India.

The State has become the Real Estate!

No one is worried for the development of the state and welfare of the People in General. Post Modern Manusmriti byproduct is the Promoter Raj. India is Open from all directions for the MNCs and Carbide, Colas and Salim, Dows are most welcome to develop the Real estate India! Thus,CPM, which was at the helm of opposing the SEZ rules, did not react to the far-reaching changes made by the EGoM on Thursday but CPI condemned them.

The source or justification of sovereignty ("by God" or "by people") must be distinguished from its exercise by branches of government. In democratic states, sovereignty is held by the people. This is known as popular sovereignty; it may be exercised directly, as in a popular assembly, or, more commonly, indirectly through the election of representatives to government. This is known as a representative democracy, a system of government currently used in most western nations and former colonies. Popular sovereignty also exists in other forms, such as in constitutional monarchies, usually identical in political reality as in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth realms. Systems of representative democracy can also be mixed with other methods of government, for instance the use of referendums in many countries.

In another model, national sovereignty is of an eternal origin, such as nature, or a god, legitimating the divine right of kings in absolute monarchies or a theocracy.

A more formal distinction is whether the law is held to be sovereign, which constitutes a true state of law: the letter of the law (if constitutionally correct) is applicable and enforceable, even when against the political will of the nation, as long as not formally changed following the constitutional procedure. Strictly speaking, any deviation from this principle constitutes a revolution or a coup d'état, regardless of the intentions.

In constitutional and international law, the concept of sovereignty also pertains to a government possessing full control over its own affairs within a territorial or geographical area or limit, and in certain context to various organs (such as courts of law) possessing legal jurisdiction in their own chief, rather than by mandate or under supervision. Determining whether a specific entity is sovereign is not an exact science, but often a matter of diplomatic dispute.

What kind of a Nation state we are?

Denying state role in SEZ land buy irks CPM!CPI was also not happy with the promise of job for one member of each displaced family and felt it "makes a mockery of the rehabilitation process".

Call it the Nandigram effect!

CPIM is perhaps unhappy because Political compulsions have ensured that states have to stay away from compulsory land acquisition for special economic zones (SEZ)! But the move is likely to face protests from pro-SEZ states which do not face protests by angry rural populace. Since land is a state subject, the Centre’s decision is unlikely to be relished by state governments.

What about Forward Block?

The All India Forward Bloc, a Left party giving outside support to the UPA Government, today criticised the Centre saying that it had given the go ahead to SEZs with "slight modifications".

Expressing opposition to SEZs, its general secretary Debabrata Biswas, MP, accused the UPA Government of taking a "unilateral decision" and demanded that the SEZ Act be reviewed in Parliament and its implementation be deferred till then. The memorandum submitted to the Centre by the four Left parties was not taken into consideration by the Empowered Group of Ministers in its latest decision on SEZs, he said.

The EGoM recommendations on the SEZ was "misleading", Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee claimed today and demanded scrapping of SEZs. "EGoM recommendations on SEZ is aimed at misleading the people on the eve of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls," Banerjee, whose party is opposing acquisition of farm land for industry, including at Singur and Nandigram in West Bengal, told reporters. Referring to the approval of 83 SEZs in the country, the TC supremo said that the Centre "should not to play with fire and should scrap all SEZs".

Nearly six crore people had been affected due to creation of SEZs in the country so far, she claimed.


Meanwhile Fresh violence at Nandigram!

Nandigram: Fresh violence erupted here on Thursday as CPI-M and Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee supporters exchanged fire and hurled bombs at Paharganj, an area between Nandigram Block-I and Khejuri.
East Midnapore Superintendent of Police G A Srinivas told PTI that both sides used country made guns and bombs for an hour since noon at Paharganj. None was injured.
The police intervened and restored order, he said, but tension was running high.

Amidst criticism of his handling of protests against acquisition of land for industry, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has made it clear that industrialisation had come to stay in the state and it would be "suicidal" to beat a retreat from it.


"People need to understand that industrialisation is irreversible and the transition from agriculture to industry is an inevitable course," he told a meeting to observe the 50th anniversary of the communist government in Kerala.


"If anybody says we should remain stuck to agriculture, it would be a suicidal path and society cannot progress in this way." Criticising opposition parties for the campaign against the acquisition of farm land, he said: "Reactionary forces are ganging up against our resolve to industrialise the state which is passing through a transitional phase." Noting that a "debate was now on in our state" over industrialisation, Bhattacharjee said there was a combination on one side of parties like the BJP, Congress, Trinamool Congress, Naxalites, some NGOs "and some unwelcome guests".


"A Jami Bachao Committee (Save Farm land Committee) has been formed but is this body aware that our government has distributed 83 per cent of 1.35 crore acres of cultivable land to the landless?" Bhattacharjee asked.


"Do we have to learn from them about land reforms which we implemented for the first time in India in West Bengal? "It was our election pledge to consolidate the achievements in agriculture and improve productivity," he said.

West Bengal would have some problems in setting up SEZs on the Centre's latest guidelines that states should not go for compulsory land acquisition and limiting them to 5000 hectare, veteran CPI-M leader Jyoti Basu said on Friday.

"We have got the report. We will have some problems. I cannot say anything now," Basu, whose party is unhappy over the Centre's decision to fix the upper limit on land given to SEZs at 5000 hectares, ignoring its suggestions on a cap at 2000 hectares, said. With a meeting of the Left Front slated for tomorrow, the 93-year-old CPI-M patriarch told reporters that the practicability of the Centre's guidelines would be discussed.

Asked to comment on the decision that one member of a displaced family would be employed in the project under the new relief and rehabilitation policy of the Centre, Basu expressed doubt of the practicability of implementing such a decision.

"It is a very good proposal, but we have doubts how practicable it is to implement. We have discussed it today."

Asked about the fate of Indonesian Salim Group's Chemical SEZ in West Bengal following the March 14 police firing in Nandigram, he said it would be slightly delayed. "We have already decided to campaign on the need for industrialisation for three months. Some misinformed people are now convinced."

Basu was speaking after a meeting of the party's state secretariat which discussed the Centre's decision.

Besides, Basu, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee and CPI-M state secretary Biman Bose were present.


The party said it would intensify its struggle against such decisions on SEZs alongwith other Left parties and groups.

Why?

Is it the job of a state to promote Real Estate?

The only consolation to states is that they now have the option to fix a lower cap for land acquisition while 5,000 hectares is the maximum limit. The move would prevent companies from forming joint ventures with the state government entities like industrial corporations, banking on land acquisition by the state government concerned.

Though land is a state subject, officials feel Centre’s diktat barring land acquisition for SEZs is unlikely to meet resistance as central clearances are necessary to win tax sops available under the SEZ policy.

In fact, some states are very wary of land acquisition after the Nandigram episode and the move may even be seen as a blessing in disguise, an official said.

The move will impact SEZs in states like Maharashtra, Haryana, West Bengal and Gujarat where some of the large zones were proposed to be set up. According to the decision taken on Thursday, private developers would have to deal with land owners directly.

In their first reaction to the decisions taken by the Centre, some of the states indicated willingness to contain the sizes of SEZs. According to Haryana government officials, the state will soon cut the size of SEZs in its state to comply with the new rule.

Similar indications have been given by Maharshtra government where the Reliance MahaMumbai SEZ generated controversy.

CPM is not going to be pleased with developers being given the right to acquire land while states would be playing second fiddle. If it is Neo Liberalism and an Open market why don`t you follow the simplest way of Market Phenomenon? Why don`t you accept the Intereactions in between the buyer and the saler?

Why don`t you agree for job for every effected family? Is the Communist ruled state not denying the minimum liability to rehabilitate the effected underclass families to develop Real Estate for the Brahminical Ruling Classes in the best interest of zionist fascist corporate US Imperialism. It is reminiscent of the transitional time just after partition while Nehru and Bidhan Chandra Roy denied the liability of rehabilatition of the Dalit refugees coming from East Bengal terming it an EXodus of Havenots from Hungry Zones of 1943 Famines! Well, the class represented by Jyoti Basu, Buddhadev, Sunil Gango, Gautam ghosh, Mrinal sen, Atin Bando and the so called cultural ICONS was well accomodated in Bengal. In fact they captured statepower and hold it! They would have sidelined if India and bengal were Undivided. After all Bengali Brahmins were not scattered all over india as helpless refugees. More over, Pranab Mukherjee, another Kuleen Brahmin, ensured the eviction of partition victim dalits from India enacting New Citizenship act and declaring all of Them ILLEGAL Migrants. CPIM co-operated with BJP and Congress in this anti dalit Campaign!

Nandigarm is not the the first instance of persecution of dalits and minorities in West Bengal! Remeber Naxalbari! Remember marichjahpi!

It is hard to believe thethe ruling classes do the duty for business houses and corporates without any interest!

Just see awhy?

BHUBANESWAR: Worried over the administration's inability to quell resistance at the Posco project site in Jagatsinghpur, chief minister Naveen Patnaik here on Wednesday gave strict instructions to top officials to make "all out efforts" to expedite execution of the mega steel project.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/India_Business/Orissa_to_push_Posco_project/articleshow/1862718.cms

During the recently-concluded central committee meeting, the issue was discussed at length and in the absence of any consensus it was decided that the states should have some role.

"Land acquisition cannot be left to the mercy of developers," a CPM leader said. However, CPI national secretary D Raja said the EGoM should have waited for the report from parliamentary standing committee which is seized of the matter rather than making such changes.

With one of its major demands that 50% of the SEZ land be used for processing having been met by the EGoM, CPM sources said the party would not make an issue about the cap on the number of SEZs and their size. Two days ago, the party had said multi-product SEZs should not have more than 2,000 hectares. However, sources said CPM would oppose the tax benefits to SEZ developers and demand that they do not get the benefit.

"Reversing the mindset of the farmers is proving to be difficult as their attachment to land, especially in West Bengal, is more," Abhirup Sarkar, a Kolkata-based economist, said in January after the first clash of Nandigram.

Bibek Deb Roy of the PHD Chamber of Commerce observed in a seminar that the outflow of Indian investment has been more than the inflow of foreign direct investment. While he stressed that effective action of the Government was called for in strengthening infrastructure, particularly power and roads, the problem of lack of skills and administrative reforms have also to be addressed, if we are to achieve GDP growth rate of 8+ per cent.

They know the Rural India, its culture, its legacy, the economy and production system. Instead of investigating the ways to address Neoliberal Globalisation Abhirup sarkar, Vivek Debroy to Amarty Sen, all economists of India work for the Real Estate promoters. These are the gentlemen who have got the most significant role in policy making and all of them belong to the Brahminical Ruling Class. Asok Mitra may be an exception. The greatest tragedy is that a world bank slave Economist is the Prime Minister of India!

SEZ rules: Some relieved, others furious

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: While four SEZs have an uncertain fate thanks to the new ceiling imposed on the size of the zones, there are 83 others whose developers would be heaving a sigh of relief after waiting for nearly three months without any clarity on their future. The list of the zones which will be notified as soon as the board of approvals meets includes some big names including the likes of Infosys, Wockhardt Pharma and Asdcendas of Singapore.

Infosys will have a twin bonanza since two of its proposals — in Mysore and Pune — are expected to be notified and can become operational.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/India_Business/SEZ_rules_Some_relieved_others_furious/articleshow/1862714.cms

MPCC puts its anti-SEZ mission on backburner
Shubhangi Khapre

The Centre’s positive nod to Special Economic Zones (SEZs) projects with cap of 5,000 hectare land has provided the much-needed breather to the Democratic Front (DF) government, which was facing the heat from its own state Congress. The Centre’s decision came 48 hours after the All India Congress Committee (AICC) urged the Maharashtra Congress to put on back burner its three-member committee’s interim report that made adverse comments against the Deshmukh government.
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1089232

Landmark eyes alliance for stores

TIMES NEWS NETWORK
NRI retailer Landmark group, aiming a $1 bn turnover by 2010, is in talks with foreign players to set up large format stores in India.

'Strong rupee may hit projections of IT companies'

T SURENDAR /TIMES NEWS NETWORK
For FY08, if equity analysts are to be believed, Infosys is expected to offer a guidance for lower sales and profit growth targets.

The sovereignty of the nation state is under pressure from all sides, undermined from below by "nationalistic" forces in the form of ethnic or other groups asserting their desire for autonomy and pressured from above through participation in treaties, international organizations, and other transnational structures necessary for dealing with urgent global problems but that also impinge on a nation's independent decision-making power. Forces of economic globalization both in trade and capital, also exert pressure, driven forward by the collective actions of transnational business, investors, and the governments of the major trading powers, but still immune to control or even direction by the publics most affected. Structurally, the state is at the same time both too large and too small to solve modem problems.

Christians across the world marked the beginning of Easter celebrations with the ritual feet washing ceremony symbolising the last supper of Jesus Christ.The day before his crucifixion when he washed the feet of his 12 apostles, traditional ceremonies took place in Bethleham.The tradition is referenced a number of times in both the Old and New Testaments.
Film-maker Goutam Ghosh, who later crossed the fence to defend the party and the CM, is reported to have commented: "Although the Chief Minister has been citing the example of China as his model, he isn't aware that the Chinese government does not allow private firms to own land." Sources in the CPI(M) say that the Left Front government does not follow any model. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, in an interview to Frontline ("From agriculture to industry", February 9), made it clear that "India should not follow any country or any model" in its special economic zone (SEZ) policy. However, not everyone among Kolkata's intelligentsia feels that the CPI(M) has abandoned its ideals. Noted author Sunil Gangopadhyay and actor Soumitro Chatterjee, while expressing grief at the deaths, said they did not feel that the government was treading the wrong path in pursuing industrialisation. Others point out that the Chief Minister had stated that there was no question of land acquisition in Nandigram, and ask: What then was the basis for such a violent resistance to the entry of the police?

IN this exclusive interview with Frontline, Biman Bose, Communist Party of India (Marxist) Polit Bureau member and West Bengal State secretary and Left Front chairman, gives his party's perception on the Nandigram incident. He makes it clear that the attempt to create a "liberated area" in Nandigram may conceal a deeper conspiracy. He affirms that Nandigram does not mark the end of West Bengal's industrialisation drive.
Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had said repeatedly that no land would be acquired in Nandigram and that the police were sent in to enforce the rule of law in the region, not to facilitate land acquisition. So what led to the tragic situation?

April 6, 2007, 7:13AM
Chlorine truck bomber kills 27 in Ramadi

Bengal leads hunger list, poor land-man ratio blamed

ROHIT KHANNA

KOLKATA, APR 3: West Bengal tops the hunger list of India, with at least 71.6 lakh suffering from food shortage and over 8.8 lakh of these not getting two square meals a day, all through the year.
According to the latest report of National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), at least 10.6% of the rural population and 0.7% of the urban population in West Bengal do not get adequate food in some months of the year.
http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=160023


BAGHDAD — A suicide bomber driving a truck loaded with TNT and toxic chlorine gas crashed into a police checkpoint in western Ramadi on Friday, killing at least 27 people and wounding dozens, police in the Anbar provincial capital said.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4693222.html
"Bands of CPM goons aided by platoons of Eastern Frontier Rifles and Commando forces were entering every village and paras [mahallas]. They brought the men out of home, they took no prisoners, no witnesses, they shot them, bayoneted them, ripped apart their stomachs and then laid them down the canal to the sea and confluence. They then brought out the young girls, gathered them in open space, raped them multiple times till the girls collapsed, they then tore their limbs, in some cases cut them to pieces and let them down the Haldi river and/or Talpati canal. They made sure that there were no witnesses. And even if there were some, they know that the young girls in traditional Medinipur would never come out to say what really happened and who will believe. Nobody will corroborate and those who will speak out will be killed and tortured again. CPM and police then wrapped the entire village with their red banners showing that the area was secured and their writ will run. Those who fled the villages were mostly apprehended on the outskirts or on the boundaries and no one knows what happened to those poor souls. We could hear these facts only from those who could crawl the whole way out through fields and forests. Even that is difficult now as the fields are all dried up and the crops have already been reaped. Anyone running is easily visible.
http://grandpoohbah.blogspot.com/2007/03/nandigram.html

And see the power equation!

Karat lashes out at judiciary again

Thiruvananthapuram, April 6: Continuing his criticism against the judiciary, CPM general secretary Prakash Karat wanted courts to refrain from encroaching into the spheres of the legislature and executive.Referring to recent Supreme Court orders on issues relating to the OBC quota, self-financing colleges and the decision to reopen the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution, he said the democratic will of the people for social justice should not be undermined.
http://www.chennaionline.com/colnews/newsitem.asp?NEWSID=%7B11EBB9A5-0A55-42F4-AD80-890859717AEB%7D&CATEGORYNAME=NATL


UP: NDTV opinion polls predict hung assembly

Quote
“ I will be the Prime Minister ”

- Mayawati, President, BSP


NDTV Correspondent
Friday, April 6, 2007 (Lucknow)
According to NDTV's opinion poll, conducted by GFK- MODE, Mayawati's BSP will have an edge over Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party in the upcoming UP elections.The opinion poll that was conducted across UP in 133 constituencies found that the state is headed for a hung assembly.
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20070007868
UPA-Left meet on OBC quota stay

NDTV Correspondent
Friday, April 6, 2007 (New Delhi)
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has convened a meeting of the UPA and Left parties on Friday evening.During the meet, the leaders will discuss the Centre's response to the Supreme Court's stay on OBC quotas in central universities.Most political parties have opposed the court's stay and asked the government to take immediate steps to vacate it.Singh is likely to try and build a broad consensus on various critical issues before the government moves the apex court against the stay.Among them is the crucial question of whether a new caste census is required.

Allahabad HC stays order on minorities

NDTV Correspondent
Friday, April 6, 2007 (Allahabad)
The Allahabad High Court has stayed its earlier order that said Muslims in Uttar Pradesh can no longer be treated as a minority community.The order came on a review petition filed by the UP government, challenging the verdict delivered by Justice S N Srivastava on Thursday.

TN announces quota for Muslims, Christians
Thursday, April 5, 2007 (Chennai)
Unfazed by the Supreme Court's disapproval of quotas in the country beyond a stipulated limit, the Tamil Nadu Government on Thursday announced exclusive reservation for Muslims and Christians in government services and educational institutions. Tamil Nadu already has 69 per cent reservation for backward classes, which is among the highest in the country. But this is subject to legal scrutiny.

Keen to fulfill an election promise, the ruling DMK has accepted the recommendations of the Janardhanam Commission to provide for exclusive reservation for Muslims and Christians. But it comes with a catch and a rider. The catch is that it will be within the existing 69 per cent quota. And the rider is that it will hinge on the SC's decision on Tamil Nadu's 69 per cent quota.

OBC quota: SC order impacts IIT aspirants


Rati Ramadas
Friday, April 6, 2007 (New Delhi)
The IIT entrance exam may be just a few days away but with the Supreme Court staying the OBC quota implementation this year, hundreds of students banking on these seats are suddenly caught off guard.

Rahul Kumar was banking on the reservation for OBC students for an IIT seat. Rahul moved from Darbhanga to Delhi where he could get better coaching.
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20070007917

Anti-Muslim CD haunts BJP, FIR against Rajnath, Tandon

Thursday, 05 April , 2007, 21:54

The BJP's controversial CD came to haunt the party as FIRs were filed against party chief Rajnath Singh and others on the orders of the Election Commission for circulating "inflammatory campaign material" against Muslims ahead of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls.Following demands that the party be derecognised, the Commission also issued a notice to the BJP asking why action should not be taken against it under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order of 1968 for releasing the CD that contained rude remarks against Muslims and references to the Babri mosque and Godhra train burning.
http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14424598

BCCI meet: Dravid, Chappell own up responsibility for WC debacle

NEW DELHI, April 6: The first day of the two-day meeting of the Indian cricket board on Friday turned out to be a rather tame affair with coach Greg Chappell and captain Rahul Dravid owning up their responsibility in India's World Cup debacle. In the past few days, there had been allegations and counter-allegations and the usual blame game between all concerned with the team and the game in various capacities. Indian players, however, have yet to give their part of the story and it would be interesting to learn what they have to say, individually or collectively, about their poor performance that saw their early exit from the showpiece event last month.
http://worldcup.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1867154.cms

Sachin, Ganguly in captaincy race again

MUMBAI, April 5: The captaincy of the Indian cricket team may be a crown of thorns, but our cricketers covet it so much that they are prepared to go any length to ‘grab' that honour. Believed to be the second-most important job in India after the Prime Minister's, an Indian captain has this onerous task of not only winning matches but also trying to please millions of opinionated fans.So now we have a situation when two of his immediate predecessors are breathing down his neck. Sachin Tendulkar, who has already been captain twice and Sourav Ganguly, despite achieving so much success during his five-year tenure, want to lead the side again.



Forbes

The world's most corrupt countries

David A Andelman |

Corruption in nearly half the world's nations is not getting much better and, indeed, in many countries is intensifying--affecting virtually every aspect of life among peoples on every continent. While a year ago, some 72 out of 158 nations surveyed by the international watchdog group Transparency International were classified as "corrupt," now 74 of 163 countries fall into the same category. A few, most notably India, managed to bootstrap themselves (just barely) out of the truly corrupt group, while others, particularly Iran, dug themselves more firmly into that camp.
http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14424952

Iran detainees: Blair denies deal
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has denied there was any deal making with Iran to secure the release of 15 Royal Navy crew members. ...more

Greek cruise ship grounded
Rescuers safely evacuated 1,600 passengers and crew from a Greek cruise ship which began listing after striking rocks off the holiday island of Santor ...more



http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/apr/03rajeev.htm
Nandigram: Communism as fascism - II
- Rajeev Srinivasan

I was reminded of three different incidents when I
heard about Nandigram:

the Jallianwallah Bagh massacre
the Tiananmen Square massacre
the Odessa Steps sequence in the film Battleship
Potemkin by Sergein Eisenstein
The Jallianwallah Bagh parallel is obvious.

The Tiananmen Square analogy is also obvious: a naked
misuse of State power.

The Odessa Steps sequence requires a little
explanation. The film is a fictionalized account of
the mutiny on the Battleship Potemkin at the port of
Odessa, in the Ukraine, that is considered the seminal
event that triggered off the Russian Revolution.
Sailors on the ship revolted against the bad
conditions, including maggot-laden food they were
forced to consume, and this turned into a general
uprising. The population, fed up with the rule of the
Tsar, joined the agitation.

In Eisenstein's brilliantly imagined sequence, a
phalanx of heavily-armed Cossack soldiers marches down
the steps to the waterfront, robot-like, shooting down
helpless civilians like dogs. This sequence, with the
vivid editing technique of montage, is often named the
single most memorable scene in all cinema, and indeed
it is overwhelmingly powerful. Close-ups show a pram
bouncing down the steps with a baby in it after its
mother was shot down; a cracked and blood-spattered
pair of glasses fall next to its dying owner.

The good thing about the Potemkin incident is that the
injustice and the inhumanity finally got the oppressed
ones to take some action. I wonder if the
long-suffering Bengali will finally see that he too
has to take some action and rise up in revolt against
the oppressors.

Potemkin shows how the ruling classes' inhumanity
towards the common man leads to frighteningly barbaric
behaviour. Which, of course, is exactly what happened
in Nandigram too. The Communists demonstrated that
they are tyrants just like the Tsars. If they had any
sense of ethics, they would have immediately resigned,
taking the blame for this tremendous show of State
monstrosity.

Instead, the luminaries of the Communist Party
attempted to brazen it out. A famous comrade, who was
captured on film after the hijacking of the Indian
Airlines flight chivvying on the families of the
hostages to force the Centre to capitulate, was seen
after Nandigram forcefully asserting the State's
'right' to kill people! How very predictable: When
comrades rule, the rights of the 'people' go for a
toss.

This business of the State annexing the property of
the common man for the benefit of large industrial
groups is routine in Communist-ruled areas.