Kolkata, May 9 (IANS) Nandigram in East Midnapore district of West Bengal will have a peaceful panchayat poll Sunday, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has asserted.
“Nandigram will have a free and fair poll. I assure there will be no violence during the poll. Instead people there will be in a festive mood,” Bhattacharjee told reporters at a press meet Friday.
“The situation is not as bad there as publicised by the opposition party. Nothing serious has happened over the past three-four days. There is a legacy of bitterness, but the attitude of people has radically changed. Now the majority supports us and we are confident of winning the poll,” he said.
“Minor opinion differences are still there. But the communication between Nandigram and the government has developed so well that we are being able to root out the conflicts easily.
“All the homeless have returned. Only a couple of cases of murder and conflict have been detected,” said Bhattacharjee.
“But the media and opposition party are focussing the issues as major ones. For example, one of the homeless was reported missing and anticipated as murdered by the CPI-M (Communist Party of India-Marxist) activists by the media. The next day he came back unharmed and said he had lost his way,” he added.
Commenting on the decision of city-based intellectuals under the banner of Swajan to go and monitor polls at Nandigram, Bhattacharjee said: “They have the right to do what they think right. But let me tell people that these intellectuals are not concerned about Nandigram but their own publicity.”
He said: “We aim at uplifting the 3,700 villages across the state.”
“But there is no alternative to industrialisation. Now even villagers understand that. In the case of Nandigram, we hurried up a bit and it led to a disaster. Now we won’t proceed an inch without public consent,” he added.
Panchayat polls in the state are scheduled May 11-18.