BJP, TMC lock horns over legacy of Nandigram land agitation

Fourteen years after being pitchforked into West Bengal's political history following the death of 14 people in police firing in 2007, Nandigram is now witnessing a battle over the legacy of the land agitation which catapulted the Trinamool Congress (TMC) to power in 2011 Assembly elections. This time the key adversaries are Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the TMC candidate and her former protege Suvendu Adhikari, the BJP candidate in Nandigram.

The heat of the battle could be felt at a local TMC rally in the Sreepur area of Nandigram on Monday where party leader Abu Taher slammed Adhikari for claiming that he was the key leader of the agitation. He further alleged that Adhikari was afraid to tell the people of Nandigram that he ushered in development in the constituency as the voters would call his bluff.

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“If he (Adhikari) tries to take credit for the development of Nandigram, people will drive him away,” said Taher.

A day before hundreds of TMC workers blocked Adhikari’s convoy on the Sonachura-Bhangabera road while he was on his way to pay homage to the “martyrs” of the land agitation at a memorial in Nandigram. Calling Adhikari “Mir Jafar” the TMC workers said that he had no right to pay homage to the “martyrs” as he lost his credibility.

An enraged Adhikari later dubbed the chief minister as the “real traitor of Nandigram” alleging that she gave promotions to police officers who were made to testify about the police firing.’ Fourteen people died in Nandigram on March 14, 2007, in police firing during the land agitation. Adhikari had repeatedly said that he was “confident” of defeating Mamata.

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About 40 km from Sreepur, Daiyan Khan sat in the yard of his small house. He was not happy with Adhikari switching to the BJP ahead of the elections. “I find it unacceptable the way Suvendu joined the BJP ahead of the elections. He betrayed the people of Nandigram,” Khan told DH. He lost his younger son in the 2007 police firing.

One of his neighbours, who spoke under condition of anonymity said that those who took part in the land agitation in Nandigram never thought about who belonged to which religion, but the BJP was resorting to “divisive politics” and is tarnishing the legacy of the agitation.

Mamata and Adhikari are also waging a battle against each other on the “outsider versus son of the soil” issue. Adhikari dubbed his former leader as an “outsider to Nandigram” who only bothers about the people there when the elections approach. He claimed himself to be the “bhoomiputra” (son of the soil) of Nandigram. Without taking his name Mamata retaliated saying “those who came from Gujarat are now insiders and I am an outsider!”

“Suvendu is not even from Nandigram. He is from Contai. How can he be the son of the soil,” Taher told DH.

At several places in Nandigram there are BJP’s banners stating “Nandigram wants the bhoomiputra of Medinipur, not an outsider” indicating on which lines the battle is being fought. Nandigram will go to polls in the second phase on April 2.