By IANS
Kolkata : Social activist Medha Patkar brushed aside a request of the West Bengal government not to visit trouble-torn Nandigram and Monday afternoon left for the ground zero with relief materials for violence victims.
“Everyone should be allowed in Nandigram if indeed peace has returned there. We are going to Nandigram with relief and would never tolerate occupation of Nandigram by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M),” said Patkar after meeting the state’s chief secretary and home secretary at the Writers’ Buildings.
The National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM) leader observed a 48-hour fast since Saturday to protest the brutality and violation of human rights in Nandigram allegedly by cadres of the ruling CPI-M.
Ironically, Patkar, also leader of the Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA), had fought many battles in other states with the CPI-M on her side till West Bengal’s Singur and Nandigram flared up over land acquisition protests and pitted her against the Left here.
She was assaulted and intercepted by CPI-M workers Friday when she was trying to reach Nandigram, about 150 km from here.
“The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has only reached Nandigram but please remember that they work under the state government,” Patkar said.
“We will go there and I appeal to all social workers of India to come and join us. If the police of West Bengal have any control over law and order, they would give us security but we are not begging for it. We are here not for fun since I have a movement going on in Gujarat also,” Patkar said.
“The CPI-M army should be immediately recalled from there (Nandigram),” said Patkar.
Earlier, she termed Nandigram a concentration camp.
While the CPI-M maintains that peace is returning to Nandigram, human rights activists and political opponents have said they should be allowed to visit the area with relief.
The death toll in Nandigram violence has risen to 34 since January when villagers in the area protested against proposed land acquisition for a special economic zone (SEZ), including a chemical hub – a plan that was later scrapped by the state in the face of stiff resistance.
However, a turf battle continued in Nandigram between the CPI-M and a villager’ group backed by the opposition Trinamool Congress in the run-up to the local body elections in May next year.