November 22, 2007...2:27 pm
Communalizing Nandigram
Violence erupted in Kolkata during a three-hour shutdown called by a minority group on Wednesday. Army had to be called out to stage flagmarch. An eight-hour night curfew was imposed in the violence-hit areas. The shutdown was called to demand cancellation of the visa of Bangladeshi writer Tasleema Nasreen and to protest the Nandigram violence. Apart from these, other issues raising temperatures are the alleged murder of Rizwanur in Kolkata, the demand for reservations for minorities in government services and the demand for use of Urdu as official language in the state.
How can you link these issues? Very clearly this is an attempt to communalise the Nandigram issue which must be thwarted at any cost. The onus is on the mainstream political opposition in the state. They should not allow vested interests to hijack the agitation against the Nandigram outrage, they would lose the moral edge that was granted to them due to the faulty handling of the Nandigram issue by the Communists. Nandigram is about political control, and about the out-of-control party cadres who control every aspect of existence in the rural areas. These vote banks are now struggling to be free. The thin line between govt and party seemed to have totally vanished in West Bengal. This has led to this volatile situation. Supporting the communal agendas will only hurt the nation and its already vulnerable secularism. The Rizwanur case recieved support from all castes and communities and if it is communalised it will not help the cause of fair trial and investigation. As far as Tasleema Nasreen goes she hasn’t done anything in the past few weeks and I fail to understand what prompted this outburst against her. Even if there was a genuine reason it could have waited till the Nandigram fire had cooled down a bit.
3 Comments
November 22, 2007 at 3:01 pm
I was quite surprised to hear about the sudden religious flavour of the Nandigram issue. You ask important questions: Why was the Nandigram-related bandh called by a minority community organization? And in what way is Taslima Nasreen related to the Nandigram issue? Although the CPI(M) govt is the big ugly villain here, I don’t think it was they who fomented the religious sentiments in this case — because they would stand to lose from it. There is someone else with a hand in this pudding.
Welcome @ Armchair Guy.I see your point. CPM stands to loose from it. Law and order is the state’s responsibility and they are supposed to take care of it.The situation has come to this point because of the policies followed by the Left over the years. This may be the handiwork of some other groups but CPM chose to turn a blind eye all these years when the seeds for this sort of mayhem were being sown.
November 22, 2007 at 3:36 pm
The trouble started when few ugly people of this group blocked the road for long hours to stop CM there.. this was good chance for few to build name thru voilence on the name of this issue.. They burnt so many vehicles, burnt few shops, stopped all traffic, many small kids got stuck, many injured..
It is depressing, Bharath.
November 23, 2007 at 5:30 am
Thanks for the clear post. It was purely a result of insinuation to jeopardise more the city where I live. It was obnoxious. But think of the impressions on the members of the minority when they heard of the reports how Rizwanur was treated before his death. Unfortunately, a mob-mentality did not see how we Calcuttans passionately supported the cause or did not consider the religious community of Nandigram victims when we protested against the atrocities.
Welcome @ Life’s Elsewhere. I absolutely agree with you. I read your post on this issue and appreciate your views.
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