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The events of March 14 2007 In Nandiaram(By Ankur Bhadauria)
The events of March 14 2007 The administration was directed to break the BUPC''s resistance
at Nandigram and a massive operation with at least 3,000 policemen was launched on March 14, 2007. A group of armed and trained CPI(M) cadres wore police uniforms and joined the forcesHowever, prior information of the impending action had leaked out to the BUPC who amassed a crowd of roughly 2,000 villagers at the entry points into Nandigram with women and children forming the front ranks. In the resulting mayhem, at least 14 people were killed. Immediately following the March 14 carnage voluntary teams of doctors visited the Nandigram health centre, the district hospital at Tamluk and later, the SSKM hospital and compiled a comprehensive report Few journalists were able to access the area, with their access being restricted by ''checkposts'' manned by CPI(M) party cadre two belonging to a news channel were briefly abducted Though such a turn of events was not entirely unexpected, the scale of the action left the state stunned. Trinamool Congress estimates put the toll at 50. PWD minister Kshiti Goswami of the RSP, a Left Front constituent, said 50 bodies were taken to hospital, but it was impossible to ascertain how many were actually dead.In response to this, The CPM party has also stated that 2,500 CPM members and supporters and their families were driven out of the area and displaced into relief camps as a result of unrest. It has accused the Jami Raksha Committee - a coalition of activists from various parties who oppose land acquisition - of armed attacks on relief camps which led to three deaths as well as a series of murders and a gangrape. Veteran Naxalite leader Kanu Sanyal opined that in the name of Bhumi Ucched Protirodh Committee, Trinamool has established a reign of terror in Nandigram. Fresh violence erupted in Nandigram on 29 April caused the West Bengal Human Rights Commission to step in.. A team of intellectuals and theatre personalities from Calcutta was attacked by CPM cadre on their return trip after disbursing relief material collected from the people in various parts of the state. The deaths in Nandigram have led to a great deal of controversy on the left in India. The federal police say they have recovered many bullets of a type not used by police but in widespread use in the underworld.
Published: November 22, 2007
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