Monitoring West Bengal -

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>CPM's web of deceit  </b>
The Pioneer Edit Desk
CBI exposes truth about Nandigram
It is unfortunate that the investigations into the violence of March 14, 2007 at Nandigram in West Bengal have now been brought under a cloud of controversy. The report on the March massacre at Nandigram submitted by the CBI to the Calcutta High Court is disturbing for it has put a question mark on the fairness of the police investigation, such as it was, ordered by the Left Front Government, as also on the establishment of peace -- as claimed by the Marxist regime -- in this district. If the facts of the CBI report are true, and there is no reason to doubt them, then it would appear that the CPI(M) is attempting a cover-up of the ghastly killing of 14 innocent people -- claimed to have been shot dead by the police but in all probability victims of Marxist cadre on the rampage -- by intimidating witnesses. The State Government should take note of these charges and act, for such intimidation is not tolerable. If it has any respect for the rule of law, the Government must intervene immediately to put an end to the reign of fear that prevails in the villages of Nandigram. A judicially founded inquiry cannot be affected by extraneous considerations nor must it give the appearance of being so affected. As for the events of March 14, it will be recalled that the police had claimed that these deaths occurred when they tried to enter Nandigram and were "attacked" by thousands of villagers. The CBI investigation has so far recorded the contention of the villagers that the police resorted to firing without giving them a chance to disperse. They have also denied that they resorted to violence against the police. The CBI's initial report submitted to the court provides only a glimpse of the true story of Nandigram. Its final report -- the agency has been given two more months by the court to conclude its investigations -- would reveal the full contours of Marxist barbarity. Although the report is meant for the court, public interest demands that it should not be kept under wraps.

That the CPI(M) would try to cover up the crimes committed by its cadre on March 14 -- as also in end-October and early-November -- was only to be expected. The State police, which has been thoroughly politicised by the Left Front Government and is no more than an extension counter of the ruling party, could not have acted otherwise. If it had conducted a fair inquiry into the events leading up to March 14, then the Government would have been severely embarrassed and the CPI(M) exposed. Hence, a web of lies and deceit was spun to foist the impression that casualties were not as high as was claimed by the victims and the media. Those lies now lie in tatters: The CBI inquiry shows many more people were wounded than was admitted by the Government. For all we know, more than 14 people died that day.
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[Guest]

<b>Eight more graves found near Nandigram</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->New Delhi: Nearly a fortnight human remains were found in graves in Khejuri-Talatula near Nandigram, the CRPF on Thursday found eight more graves in the CPM stronghold.

Officials fear three of these structures might contain human remains. News agency PTI quotes CRPF sources as saying the three graves found at Mansinghber on Thursday evening could be of women as rags of what appeared to be a saree, bits of bangles and a necklace were found from there.

The agency reports a 25-member CRPF team cordoned off the area where the graves were found. An agency correspondent, who went to the spot on Thursday, saw burnt wood and portions of bicycle tyres lying around the shallow graves.

Locals in Mansighber alleged bodies of CPM supporters killed while making bombs at a house on October 28 were burnt at the spot and buried.
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[Guest]

<b>Buddha visits Nandigram, offers aid package</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>He appealed to opposition Trinamool Congress-backed Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee (BUPC), spearheading an anti-farmland acquisition campaign, to wind itself up.</b>

....
The tone and tenor of Bhattacharjee's speech at the public meeting, as also that of his senior party colleague Biman Bose, was one of reconciliation as he once again spoke of his government's decision not to acquire land for a chemical hub and said a comprehensive package would be prepared for the area's economic development.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I don't think he is talking any reconciliation but sounds like a warning.

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Guns blaze again in Nandigram, 10 hurt </b>
Pioneer.com
Saugar Sengupta | Kolkata
After three months' of uneasy quiet, Nandigram once again erupted to gun battle on Monday night between the CPI(M) cadre and the opposition Bhumi Ucchhed Pratirodh Committee members, leaving 10 people hurt, one of them seriously, in East Midnapore, the district administration confirmed.

The violence started after police arrested 34 CPI(M) supporters from Takapura area on charges of last year's violence following deposition from the Bhumi Ucchhed Pratirodh Committee men, sources said adding the two sides exchanged gunshots and hurled bombs through out the night punching a big hole in the security forces' claims of "optimum sanitation" (off arms).

"The CPI(M) cadres hurled bombs at our men after their men were arrested by their own police" Bhumi Ucchhed Pratirodh Committee leader Abu Taher said.

While nine of the injured were being treated at the Nandigram primary health centre one person was admitted to Tamluk district hospital with serious injuries.

This was the first gun fight after peace returned to the area in December.
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[Guest]

<b>Nandigram firing: Application in SC for placing CBI report</b>
Link
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Mar 26, 2008

<b>New Delhi, Mar 26 (PTI) An application was today filed in the Supreme Court seeking placing of CBI report before it relating to the probe into the last year's Nandigram firing incident in West Bengal in which 14 persons were killed. </b>

The application filed by advocate Kedar Nath Yadav, on whose petition the Calcutta High Court had ordered the CBI probe, sought action based on the report of the investigating agency against individuals or public authority, who were behind the March 14 2007 firing.

The advocate said the report was filed by the agency before the High Court on February 15 and has not been made available to the contesting parties.

The application said to restore the faith of people in judiciary it was necessary to produce the CBI report before the apex court so that necessary directions could be passed for the investigating agency.

The apex court on December 13 last had restrained CBI from initiating criminal proceedings in court against police officials for the Nandigram firing till further order. The state Government has challenged the High Court order indicting it for "unjustified" firing on innocent people in Nandigram and direction for paying a uniform compensation of Rs five lakh to each of the 14 persons killed and Rs two lakh and Rs one lakh to those raped and injured in the firing.

The CBI on February 15 had submitted its second report to the High Court. The preliminary report was submitted on December 17 last year.

Immediately after the police action on March 14 last year, the High Court had asked the CBI to enquire as to what prompted the police to open fire when thousands of villagers had gathered to protest against attempts by the police to enter Nandigram.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

The cases should be shifted about of commie ruled West bengal. Otherwise there will no justice done to the victims of communist violence.

[Guest]

<b>It's official: No Nano from Singur</b>
Street Benji of Bengal is winner for one day and people of Bengal will be loser. Now BDies either have to go back to Bhuka Nanga desh or move to other states. Only people of Bengal will suffer.
Well keep electing commies and street Benji to ruin your life.

[Guest]

Talking about Karma - what you sow is what you reap.

With the Left sowed the anti-industrilasation for so long that they are getting what they reap.

I dont think any sane corporation will now invest big in bengal for the next 3-5 yrs.

[Guest]

<b>Mob fury hits Buddha, official escapes lynching</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->He’d already tasted humiliation of defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. At Bali island on Sunday afternoon, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee witnessed mob fury against his own administration.

Marooned by Cyclone Aila a week ago and left fuming by a government that has failed to provide food, water and shelter, hundreds of villagers tried to lynch Block Development Officer Amiya Bhusan Chakraborty barely a few meters from the CM’s security ring.

Buddha watched helplessly as some villagers and some policemen rescued the officer from the mob.   

The irate villagers of Gosaba, one of the worst affected in the Sunderbans, targeted Chakraborty after a newspaper quoted him saying that the block had sustained only “partial damage”, implying that it does not require much attention.

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Commies should have put union leaders or JNU student union on action, In rest of India, RSS takes charge during natural disaster.

[Guest]

<b>Mob burns a station, two trains; order against halt withdrawn</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Angry villagers on Monday torched six rail bogies and a station near here protesting against the cancellation of stoppage of a train following which Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee withdrew the order against the halt and set up a departmental inquiry.

Thousands of villagers, perturbed over withdrawal of stoppage of the Rajgir-New Delhi Shramjivi Express at Khusrupur, ransacked and torched the station and six bogies of two trains, and uprooted tracks under Danapur division, about 32 kms from here.

They stormed the station building, situated on Patna-Rajgir section of the East Central Railway, as soon as<b> it was announced over the public address system that the stoppage of the Shramjivi express had been withdrawn, ECR chief public relations officer A K Chandra said.</b>

<b>The mob set fire to the 3226 down Danapur-Jainagar Intercity Express and the 543 Rajgir-Danapur passenger trains at Baikatpur village near the station, he said. Four general chair car coaches and an airconditioned chair car compartment of Danapur-Jainagar Intercity express were burnt</b>, he said.

The mob also set afire a generator bogie of the Rajgir-Danapur passenger train, which arrived there a short while after the intercity reached.

<b>Clarifying that her ministry had issued no such order, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said in Kolkata that the halt of the train at the station will continue like in the past and ordered a departmental inquiry on the decision to withdraw the stoppage</b>. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Remove stoppage from Bihar and but keep for Kolkotta.

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Buddha faces mob fury again, this time at Hingalganj</b>
pioneer.com
PTI | Hingalganj
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was heckled and jeered by inmates of a relief camp for the second time in three days on Monday when he visited the cyclone-hit North 24-Parganas district while a local CPI(M) MLA was smeared with mud.

"<b>You are an inefficient Chief Minister. You deserve a garland of shoes. What have you done for the development of the Sunderbans in the last five years</b>?" the hungry cyclone victims shouted at Bhattacharjee at the end of his visit to a relief camp set up at AVS Madan Mohan Vidyapith in Hingalganj. Hingalganj is a stronghold of Trinamool Congress.

The inmates kept complaining in raised voice that inadequate relief had been sent by the State Government and staged a demonstration before the Chief Minister.

<b>A visibly peeved Bhattacharjee was heard saying, "I will furnish all details of (what the Government has done for the Sunderbans people)."</b>

As the crowd kept shouting at the Chief Minister, securitymen threw a cordon around him and escorted him safely.
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[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Centre plays politics as violence intensifies</b>
pioneer.com
PNS | New Delhi
<b>Politics has intensified over the escalating Maoist violence in West Bengal, with the Left and the UPA Governments at loggerheads on tackling it</b>. While the Union Government has advised West Bengal to fully use its own forces to handle the violence, Left leaders Sitaram Yechury and Brinda Karat have slammed the Congress-TMC combine for ‘patronising’ the attacks. Meanwhile, the <b>Centre on Wednesday dispatched the Command Battalions for Resolute Action (COBRA), a specialised anti-Naxalite force to deal with the situation in the State.</b>

The Centre has decided to hand the newly-raised COBRA its first assignment by sending four units of the force comprising about 120 personnel to the trouble-torn areas in West Midnapore district and its adjoining areas, a top Home Ministry official said.

The force will begin operations only after a thorough study of the area where the Naxals reportedly have started putting land mines, the official said. The Centre had already dispatched about 1,600 troops of Central paramilitary forces to the spot.

Home Minister P Chidambaram told reporters in Delhi that he had spoken to the Chief Minister and asked him to move the State’s forces to these troubled areas with clear instructions to tackle the situation.

The Minister said there was an impression that while one part of the Government was willing to take action against the Maoists, another was worried about the fallout.

“The impression is that one side of the Government is willing to take action, the other side is worried about the consequences. Now, it is the judgement the Chief Minister must make. They must move the (security) forces to the affected areas and must reclaim that area which is now dominated by the Maoists,” he said.

<b>Agitating tribals of West Midnapore and adjoining areas have been protesting police “atrocities” on them in the wake of the landmine blast at Salboni which was believed to target the Chief Minister and two former Union Ministers.</b>

Meanwhile, the Congress lashed out at the Left Front Government in West Bengal over violence in Lalgarh and said that it should resign if it was unable to run the State in accordance with the Constitution.

Blaming the Left Front for escalation of violence in Lalgarh, Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said, “If the Left Front Government is unable to run the affairs of West Bengal in accordance with the constitutional mandate, it should seriously consider stepping down. The Government of West Bengal cannot abdicate its responsibility of running the State. You cannot have a situation where certain regions of a State can be colloquially called liberated states within the State.”

Tewari also rejected Left Front allegations that Trinamool Congress and Congress were behind the tribal violence in Lalgarh in East Midnapore district of the State. “I reject it with the contempt it deserves,” he said, adding that Congress was a non-violent party which did not support any kind of violence.

Accusing the Left Front Government of indulging in a rule by the cadre instead of rule of law, Tewari said, “When you sow the wind, you reap the whirlwind.”

Squarely holding the Left responsible for the violence, he added, “What is happening in Lalgarh is a result of Left’s misrule and wrong policies. It is a result of continued subversion of democracy which the Left Government has institutionalised in the last 32 years. Left leadership should seriously introspect.”

Asked whether Congress supported the Maoist action in Lalgarh, Tewari said they were “absolutely wrong and reprehensible,” but maintained that such a situation would not have arisen had the Left Front Government acted in a proper manner.

He pointed out that law and order was a State subject and the Left Front Government cannot abdicate its responsibility.

To a query as to why the Congress had not criticised the Left when it was offering critical support to the Government for over four years in the previous Government, the spokesman said the party had indeed pointed to the drawbacks on several occasions.

A beleaguered Left hit back at its critics, saying the Congress and TMC were patronising the attackers. Yechury said, “The so-called rainbow coalition (extreme right to extreme left) that got elected against the Left Front has given them this opportunity to spread their violence.”

He added, “Shockingly, these depredations have had the direct support of important sections of the opposition political parties in Bengal.”

Brinda Karat pulled up Trinamool leader Mamata Banerjee on the issue and said the TMC chief had “not uttered a single word of condemnation over the Lalgarh violence.”

On the State Government’s efforts to check the violence, Brinda stated, <b>“We are ready to talk to any tribal group which does not believe in violence.” She pointed out that the State Government was “treading cautiously as Maoists are using innocent tribals as human shields.”</b> <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

[Guest]

<b>Flash News</b>


Big Bomb Blast in Lalgarh.

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Back to the past in West Bengal</b>
pioneer.com
Swapan Dasgupta
As a schoolboy in a Calcutta devastated by competing variants of Marxism-Leninism and other exotic viruses, I recall a poster that made its appearance sometime in 1970. Conceived as a parody of Dwijendralal Roy’s well-known play Chandragupta, it had Alexander remarking to his trusted general: “Satya Seleukos ki bichitra ei desh: deeney ora Nakshal, raatey Congress. (Truly Seleukos this is a bewildering place. <b>They are Naxalites by day and Congress at night.)”</b>

Those were fearful and confusing times. On the face of it, the Naxalites were in the midst of their campaign of annihilation of “class enemies”,<b> the CPI(M) was battling the Congress and the Naxalites, and the Congress was in the throes of political churning and reinventing itself as a youth brigade (this predated Sanjay Gandhi) against the Left. On the ground, however, no one was very sure which local militia was with whom and at whose behest. The lines of political identity were very blurred-something Siddhartha Shankar Ray adroitly exploited to finally restore order after 1972, but at a huge cost.</b>

Watching Congress and Trinamool Congress on the one side and CPI(M) stalwarts on the other trade insults and charges over the handling of the insurrection in the Lalgarh area of West Midnapore district is very distressing. It brings to mind an observation of<b> Karl Marx that history repeats itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce. West Bengal is reliving the mean politics of the 1970s which devastated the State to such an extent that it hasn’t yet recovered from the blow after 40 years.</b>

The comparisons with the past are eerie. In the 1970s, thanks to the involvement of large numbers of students from middle-class families, the predominantly Left-wing intelligentsia of West Bengal painted the Naxalite movement as an expression of idealistic anger against a decaying system. It was generally assumed that the Naxalites meant well, even if their methods were a bit extreme. Public intellectuals such as<b> Mrinal Sen, Ranajit Guha and Samar Sen were widely seen to be sympathetic to those who proclaimed “China’s Chairman is our Chairman, China’s path is our path.” </b>

This atmosphere of indulgence enabled the Naxalites to get away with outrageous acts of murder and vandalism.<b> The routine desecration of statues of national figures, including Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi, and the murder of ageing vice-chancellors and traffic policemen, were looked upon either as revolutionary grandstanding or youthful excesses</b>. Even Charu Mazumdar’s demented assertion that the knife was a better way to kill a class enemy than firing with a gun resonated as a major theoretical debate.

Today’s Maoists are immeasurably more professional than yesterday’s Naxalites. The quality of their arms and ammunition is comparable (and occasionally better) than those used by the security forces. <b>They have an apparently inexhaustible source of funds raised from ‘taxes’ levied on businesses in ‘liberated areas’</b>. In military terms they are far more focussed and have deliberately confined their activities to forested and relatively inaccessible parts. Unlike the 1970s when they banked on a spontaneous outbreak of the “spring thunder”, the CPI (Maoist) of today is clear about its objective of undermining the Indian state by the creation of liberated areas where its writ prevails. It also seeks alliances with other secessionist movements and even Islamist groups.

The challenge of Maoist extremism has been recognised by all those committed to the preservation of a democratic India. Yet, this has not prevented an outpouring of sympathy for the so-called ‘cause’ the Maoists profess. Human rights activists have emerged as the overground arm of the banned Maoists and various student bodies are operating as thinly-disguised front bodies. The Maoists even scored a propaganda coup of sorts through their campaign to free Binayak Sen, a doctor who operated as a facilitator for a Politburo member of the CPI (Maoist). The Maoist-inspired campaign against the tribal-led Salwa Judum resistance movement has appealed to those who want a stick to beat the BJP with.

It is this cover of liberal sympathy — witness the likes of Aparna Sen and Sumit Sarkar calling for “restraint” by the administration — which is serving the Maoists well in Lalgrah. The opposition to CPI(M) high-handedness in Nandigram was hugely successful and contributed to the Left Front’s defeat in West Bengal in the parliamentary poll. <b>It was the post-poll retreat of the Left that created the vacuum which the Maoists have filled in Lalgarh — with some help from the Trinamool Congress</b>.

<b>The Maoists have done what the CPI(M) has perfected in many parts of rural Bengal: Uprooting all those opposed to them by force. Yet, there is one major difference. The CPI(M) sought monopoly political control; the Maoists seeks a parallel state, a springboard for encroachments into the rest of West Bengal and Jharkhand</b>.

The ‘liberation’ of Lalgarh is an assault on Indian sovereignty. Its national cost is unacceptable. The Centre cannot afford to prevaricate.

It is one thing to oppose the CPI(M) politically as the Congress and Trinamool Congress have been doing. However, it is an act of extreme short-sightedness to use the State Government’s disarray to prevent sustained military action against the Maoists. Worse is to cite the plight of tribals to allow the well-armed Maoists to consolidate their hold. Orissa is a case study of the futility of a kid glove approach.

India is paying a heavy price for the narrow partisanship that has marred anti-Maoist operations in Chhattisgarh. If the process is repeated in Lalgarh the Maoist dream of a contiguous chunk of ‘liberated’ area in the heart of India will become a reality. <b>The political approach to fighting Left-wing extremism means the surgical detachment of excising a cancer</b>. This is as true for Bastar and Dandakaranya as it is for West Midnapore.
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[Guest]

<b>Security forces liberate 22 villages in Lalgarh</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Security forces conducting the operation to liberate Lalgarh have cleared 22 of 42 villages in the area of Maoist-backed tribal agitators and were further consolidating their positions, officials said on Monday.

The troops comprising the CRPF, BSF, IRB, State Armed Police and the Eastern Frontier Rifles men were in full control of the national highway connecting the district headquarters with Lalgarh, a senior police officer said.

"Twenty of the 42 villages under the jurisdiction of the Lalgarh police station have been cleared off agitators," he said. The police station, which remained out of bounds since November, was retaken on June 19.
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Why in first place they are able to occupy or control that part of world?

[Husky]

1. http://nomadmolouges.blogspot.com/2009/06/...vertime-to.html
<b>English media working overtime to portray a mass movement against CPM led WB Govt ineffectiveness as Maoist outrage!!</b>

2. http://nomadmolouges.blogspot.com/2009/06/...ou-see-any.html
<b>Berlin Wall and LalGarh Do you see any resemblance?</b>

3. http://nomadmolouges.blogspot.com/2009/06/...dway-those.html
<b>A lesson CPM is learning the hardway: Those who live by sword should be prepared to die by sword</b>

[Guest]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>From here on, a lonely ride</b>
pioneer.com
Kanchan Gupta
There was an interesting story in Tuesday morning’s newspapers. <b>Senior IAS officers — which means babus who are well networked with the New Delhi establishment — of West Bengal cadre are desperate to move out of Kolkata</b>. We are told that “at least eight principal secretaries in the State Government, including two additional chief secretaries, are looking to leave” for assignments in New Delhi. “If you work in Delhi, you can deliver because of better work culture,” Urban Development Secretary PK Pradhan has been quoted as saying, “Also, in Delhi, there isn’t much political interference... Here, things don’t move.”

The claim, of course, is no more than hogwash. Bureaucrats are adept at the art of serving political masters, irrespective of the latter’s allegiance and ideology. In any event, a bureaucrat’s job is to turn political directive into policy and implement it. Rare is the bureaucrat who has the courage to resist directives that are flawed, patently partisan or motivated by concerns other than those for the nation and its interests. Equally rare is the Minister who is comfortable with a ‘thinking’ bureaucrat. That’s the way it is.

The issue, however, is not of senior IAS officers of West Bengal cadre feeling “frustrated” or wanting to prove their worth in a “better work culture”. That’s bunkum. It’s to do with babus sensing, as they alone can with unerring accuracy, the demise of the CPI(M)-led Left Front Government in the 2011 Assembly election. Between now and the Left Front’s anticipated exit from Writers’ Building, the seat of power in<b> West Bengal, they would like to rid themselves of any perceived proximity with the Marxists and get into the good books of those who are expected to replace the decrepit Left regime — namely, the Trinamool Congress and the Congress.</b>

The best way to achieve both purposes would be to swing a job in the UPA Government, preferably with a Trinamool Congress or Congress Minister. Curiously, there appears to be no resistance from the West Bengal Government to this cynical job-seeking by its bureaucrats. Has Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee accepted that defeat is inevitable in the Assembly poll? Or is it that he has lost the spirit to put up a fight till the empire built by the Marxists over three decades is actually lost?

Obviously a sense of despondency has overtaken Mr Bhattacharjee and his comrades after this summer’s general election in which the Left’s tally has been reduced from an unnatural high of 35 to an unexpected low of 15, with ‘committed’ voters in both urban and rural areas abandoning the CPI(M) in hordes. The Maoist takeover of Lalgarh,<b> till recently a bastion of the CPI(M), and the need for Central forces to put down the rebellion after personnel of West Bengal Police, who owe their jobs to the ‘Party’, turned tail and fled, has only served to further accentuate the sense of defeat.</b>

The CPI(M)’s debacle in Nandigram and Singur could be linked to Mr Bhattacharjee’s industrial policy, but the party’s fall from grace in Lalgarh is about repudiation of its politics by its core constituency — the toiling masses. <b>Images of palatial buildings built by local CPI(M) leaders amid gut-wrenching poverty and squalor, deprivation and denial, being razed to the ground by those who till recently held aloft the Marxist banner and identified themselves with the ‘sarba haarar dal’ (party of have-nots) is unlikely to be erased from popular memory in the near future.</b> To the contrary, it can only fuel similar uprising in other impoverished districts of West Bengal where yesterday’s mass leaders are now in an awful minority and stick out like sore thumbs for their affluence and prosperity which has been glaringly denied to others.

Mr Bhattacharjee and his comrades are painfully aware of this reality. They are also aware that nothing seems to work any more under their tutelage. The civil administration, which has been systematically subverted over 32 years and whose mainstay, the bureaucracy, has been only too willing to be emasculated and treated as a doormat, is virtually non-existent in vast swathes of the State. The party’s own organisation, which was used to supplant the official machinery, is riddled with corruption; the little that remains of it has become too slothful to respond in any meaningful manner. This became only too evident in the aftermath of Cyclone Aila when relief material, including emergency food packets, despatched from Kolkata for the affected villagers of the Sunderbans remained undistributed for more than 72 hours. Mr Bhattacharjee discovered this to his horror when he visited the Sunderbans for what is referred to as an ‘on-the-spot survey’, but by then it was too late and the damage had been done.<b> Men, women and children who had to remain hungry and thirsty for three days and more because neither the Government nor the ‘Party’ delivered on time and with alacrity are unlikely to forgive and forget.</b>

And, as the CPI(M) struggles to cope with the emerging reality of its fast-slipping grip over the masses it once mesmerised with its promise of ‘revolutionary change’ and whose unflinching loyalty it could bank upon in the toughest of elections, its fair weather friends have begun to distance themselves like rats jumping from a sinking ship. The ‘intellectuals’ of Kolkata — writers, actors, film directors, theatre personalities, artists and journalists, collectively referred to as the ‘Nandan crowd’ — who have benefited enormously on account of the patronage extended by the CPI(M), most notably by Mr Bhattacharjee himself, have been the first to turn their coats. Nothing illustrates this better than Aparna Sen aligning with the Trinamool Congress. The colour of activism has suddenly turned green.

<b>But the ‘intellectuals’ are not alone in jumping the sinking Marxist ship</b>. Look at the ease with which the CPI, which was rehabilitated by the CPI(M) after its shameful collaboration with the Emergency regime, now blames the Marxists for the Left’s problems. Mr AB Bardhan was the loudest and the most strident in demanding that the Left break ranks with the Congress over the India-US civil nuclear cooperation deal. Even before ‘marriage counsellors’ could get into the act, he had declared ‘talaq’ with the Congress — not thrice but many times over. Indeed, it could be argued that the CPI forced the CPI(M)’s hands, making the Left tread the path of no return.

Yet, <b>Mr Bardhan is equally loud and strident now in blaming the Marxists and berating them for breaking the Left’s cushy alliance with the Congress</b>. These are truly bad times — dushshomoy, as Mr Bhattacharjee would call it— for the CPI(M). It will only get worse here on.
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[Guest]

<b>Vedic Village fire claims West Bengal's IT project</b><!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Kolkata: The West Bengal government on Monday scrapped its <b>third major industry project - the proposed Information Technology (IT) Township in Rajarhat - after Singur and Nandigram.</b>
The fire at the Vedic Village Resort near Kolkata two weeks back has consumed more than just the resort as the Bengal government scrapped the proposed 1600 acre IT Township being built in collaboration with the same developer, the Vedic Realty group.

Violence at Vedic Village Resort exposed alleged land grabs by the group. The government has already informed through a public notice IT majors Wipro and Infosys of the decision to scrap the project.

<b>"I think it is a very sad day for West Bengal that they are aborting this project. This project would have created a large number of jobs,"</b> says Mohandas Pai, Infosys HR head.

Following the violence Vedic Realty's Managing Director Raj Kishore Modi was arrested on charges of involving the land mafia in procuring land from farmers.

<b>West Bengal scraps Infosys, Wipro projects</b>

Arms were also recovered from the resort premises. The government immediately started scrutinising the 600 acres of land to be transferred by the developer as part of the deal.

"Each and every inch of land which will be transferred to the government... we will check whether it has a proper title, whether it has a legal owner," West Bengal IT Minister Debesh Das had told CNN-IBN a few days ago.

<b>But then finally following vociferous demands within the Communist Party of India-Marxist state leadership the government decided to go ahead and scrap the deal setting back the state's IT prospects a long way.</b>

Like in Nandigram and Singur, the scrapping of the Rajarhat IT Township is likely to remain as a thorn in the government's feet in its baby steps to industrialisation.

It also proves that like in the earlier occasions some decisions the government took to materialise the industrialisation vision weren't exactly prudent.
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These fools never disappoint. I hope jokers will stop complaining about poverty, jobs, quality of life and yada yada.

[Guest]

[url="http://www.dailypioneer.com/282398/Time-for-Hindus-to-leave-or-perish.html"]Time for Hindus to leave or perish?[/url]

Sixty-four years later, areas of West Bengal which have witnessed a tectonic shift in their demographic profile due to unrestrained illegal immigration from Bangladesh, are slowly turning into volatile ‘Noakhalis’. Last week we had a glimpse of the communal belligerence that is building up when the minority Hindus in Deganga faced the “organised fury of the Muslim mob” led by Haji Nurul Islam, a Trinamool Congress MP. Is it time again for Hindus to leave or perish ‘in the flames of fanaticism’? If yes, where will they flee to? Isn’t India their land too?

[Guest]

Saffron all the way from metro to suburb

January 13, 2011 4:57:14 AM

[url="http://www.dailypioneer.com/310305/Saffron-all-the-way-from-metro-to-suburb.html"] link[/url]

Sutapa Mukerjee | Howrah/Kolkata/Hooghly

Kolkata-Kashmir yatra launched by BJYM

About half a kilometre from Netaji’s statue at the famous Shyambazar crossing, Kolkata, the colour on Wednesday was Saffron. The occasion marked the flagging-off of the ‘Rashtriya Ekta Yatra’ launched by the BJP Janata Yuva Morcha.



In the presence of senior BJP leaders, thousands of BJP supporters gathered to lend their emotional support to national president of the BJYM, Anurag Thakur, before he set out on the two-week yatra that will cover 3037 km and culminate with hoisting of the Indian Tricolour on January 26 in Kashmir.



Present on the occasion were BJP chief Nitin Gadkari, general secretary Ananth Kumar; Chandan Mitra, MP (BJP) and prabhari of West Bengal, State party president Rahul Sinha and Smriti Irani.



A huge chrysanthemum garland with some flowers dyed in green and orange to capture the Tricolour shades, was put around all leaders. The 21-kg garland seemed to symbolise the ekta (unity) as it held all the leaders together. Later the garland was placed atop the rath.



The rath is an improvised Tata 709 bus, which has a special connectivity system, an air-conditioner, berths for sleeping and a sliding roof that makes enough space for the leaders to stand on a pedestal that is raised with the help of a hydraulic machine. Painted in saffron, it has a portrait of Syama Prasad Mookerjee besides other BJP leaders and a map of Kashmir with the Indian Flag.



The backdrop of the dais at Shyambazar flaunted portraits of Netaji, Swami Vivekananda and Syama Prasad Mookerjee. Bangla sentiments began to flow when the leaders hailed freedom fighters from Bengal who laid down their lives for the sake of the country. Rahul Sinha expounded on the chosen spot to flag off the yatra.



“This is the place where the body of Shri Syama Prasad Mookerjee was placed after it was brought back from prison in Kashmir and that’s why this is the best place to start the Rashtriya Ekta Yatra. The entire gathering resonated with chants of ‘Jahan huye balidaan Mookerjee, woh Kashmir hamara hai’ (The place where (Syama Prasad) Mookerjee sacrificed his life, that Kashmir belongs to us).



Smriti Irani, famous soap actor and BJP leader, urged everyone to take the name of mother Goddess Durga as is the custom in Bengal when someone leaves home. “Say, Durga Durga and bless Anurag, your son and brother in his endeavour,” she said.



When the yatra set off, Anurag Thakur stood atop the chariot holding the Tricolour. There were loud chants of “Vande Mataram” and “Bharat Mata ki jai”. Eager supporters repeated after the leaders, “Kashmir jayenge, Tiranga ferayenge” (We shall go to Kashmir, we shall hoist the flag).



All supporters did their bit in helping the morning look saffron. Saffron pullovers, woollen caps, mufflers or shawls dominated the scene. At 1.45 pm, the yatra headed towards the busy Mahatma Gandhi Road and Burra Bazaar, Kolkata’s oldest and largest business centre. Supporters flanked the streets as the Rath inched its way through the busy afternoon street. It stopped at a ‘Manch’ here where the local BJP leader and councillor garlanded Anurag. Flowers were showered, and once again, they were all orange marigolds which bloom in abundance during this time of the year!



From Burra Bazar to Howrah and Salkia, at each stop the welcoming was truly grand. At Salkia, a shining long talwar (scabbard), the kinds the royals carried during any special ceremony was handed to Anurag Thakur. Local bands played patriotic songs, and instead of wearing the usual flashy maroon and gold, the band members too donned saffron, keeping to the mood of the journey.



A little before dusk the Rath reached Belur and waited awhile outside the famous Belur Math - a temple built under Swami Vivekananda’s guidance for his guru Ramakrishna, Netaji and then Swamiji: the path taken by the Rath could not have been more in consonance with the day chosen - birthday of Vivekananda.



Soon after sunset, neon lights lit up the Rath while spot-lights from below lit up the leaders, as they ceaselessly greeted the crowd in each locality and humbly asked for their blessings. They reiterated the cause of the Yatra and hailed freedom fighters from Bengal. The path taken beyond Kolkata was along the River Hooghly. Neither the cold river breeze nor the dark hour proved any hurdle to the visiting locals. The roads were choc-a-bloc with people who had turned up to catch a glimpse of the Rath. Some turned up out of sheer curiosity, others as staunch followers of the BJP.



It took a good five hours for the Rath to reach Chinsurah which is a small town in Hoogly district, 50-odd kilometers from Kolkata. The procession tried to catch speed between little towns. At certain places the leaders atop the Rath had to plead with the people to make way as they were to hold a meeting at Burdwan.



With the Yatra, the BJP undoubtedly is determined to march ahead with a new sense of purpose. With the Congress-led UPA mired in plethora of corruption charges, the BJP now is all set to stir up nationalistic emotions. And the party has chosen its favoured mode of public contact, a pan-India Rath yatra, with a meaningful national agenda.