By IANS
Kolkata : Fresh violence erupted and three more people were killed in West Bengal’s Nandigram area Sunday as activists of the ruling Left Front and members of a group opposing land acquisition clashed again in a turf war in the area.
Although the government scrapped a proposed industrial complex in Nandigram seven months ago following villagers’ stiff opposition to take-over of their lands, the area continues to witness sporadic violence in the run-up to panchayat (local executive) election next year.
In the fresh round of violence, four people have died since Saturday in clashes between the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the rival Trinamool Congress-backed Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee (BUPC). Three were killed Sunday.
“Three people died in an explosion at a house in Sherkhanchak under Khejuri, adjoining Nandigram, late in the night (Sunday),” West Bengal Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Raj Kanojia told IANS.
However, Kolkata TV, a Bengali channel, claimed that five people were killed in the explosion, taking the overall toll since Saturday to six.
A 12-hour shutdown in East Midnapore, including in Nandigram, Sunday called by the Trinamool Congress to protest Saturday’s killing saw shops and commercial establishments shut.
The CPI-M claimed the three deaths occurred when the BUPC activists attacked a camp of CPI-M supporters at Sherkhanchak in Khejuri, adjoining Nandigram, with bombs in retaliation to Saturday’s death. But the BUPC challenged the version, claiming that the three died in an explosion while making bombs to attack them.
On Saturday, Kaum Kazi, an activist of the BUPC was killed at Takapura in Nandigram in firing allegedly by CPI-M men. The area in East Midnapore district, about 150 km from Kolkata, has seen regular clashes between the CPI-M and the BUPC.
The latest deaths take the official death toll since January to 27.
The West Bengal government scrapped a chemical hub and a special economic zone (SEZ) planned there in collaboration with the Salim group of Indonesia in the face of violent protests. On March 14, 14 people were killed and 100 injured in police firing while protesting land acquisition in Nandigram.
Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, who reached Nandigram Sunday, said: “This government led by Buddhadeb Bhattacharya is worse than the Narendra Modi government of Gujarat (where communal riots broke out in 2002).”
“The ruling party is murdering democracy,” Banerjee said, adding that the CPI-M men were attacking the Nandigram villagers from their bases in adjoining Khejuri with hired mercenaries.
On Saturday, she vowed to immobilise the state on Oct 31 if the “CPI-M-sponsored” violence in Nandigram did not end.
CPI-M veteran Jyoti Basu Friday said the West Bengal government will pay compensation to families of those who died in the March violence in Nandigram irrespective of whether they were killed in police firing or while making bombs.
The BUPC alleges that the violence spread because the administration has removed the police camps from the area.