KOLKATA: The police should inquire into reports that a large number of people have, over the past six weeks, been entering the Nandigram area of West Bengal's Purbo Medinipur district and trying to incite violence in the region, chairman of the Left Front committee, Biman Bose, said here on Monday.

He said these "outsiders" might be responsible for stoking fears among local villagers that they were on the verge of losing their land, which could be acquired for setting up a Special Economic Zone.

Group clashes

"These people are still moving about in the Nandigram area and held periodic discussions at a four-storied building at Sonachura village, the same building where social activist Medha Patkar addressed a meeting on December 3," Mr. Bose alleged.

At least six persons were killed in group clashes at Nandigram on Saturday and Sunday in the wake of rumours that the land acquisition process was imminent. The Government reiterated that no notice for acquiring land had been issued and only preliminary talks had been held on the proposed SEZ to be set up by the Indonesian conglomerate - the Salim Group.

Fresh violence

There was fresh violence in the area on Monday and police fired in the air to quell an attack by an armed mob that torched the local office of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) at Dinabhanupur. Central security forces have been deployed in the area.

An all-party meeting convened at the local thana aimed at restoring peace fell through after representatives of the Trinamool Congress and the Congress, who are constituents of the recently set up Bhumi Uched Pratirodh (Land Eviction Resistance) Committee, boycotted the talks.

Expressing concern over the developments at Nandiram, Mr. Bose who is also Secretary of the CPI (M) State committee, said there were reports of people from Gaya in Bihar, Orissa and even Kolkata holding clandestine meetings in the building at Sonachura which was owned by a big land-owner.

Probe sought

"The entire matter as well as what transpired in the meetings ought to be inquired into," Mr. Bose said. Among those who had converged there were senior academic researchers from Kolkata "who had been putting up at different places and meeting regularly," he added.

The recent violence at Nandigram and moves to cut off the area from the rest of the district by digging up roads and damaging connecting bridges were indicative of a "planned conspiracy," Mr. Bose said. "There is a need to unravel the mystery and the motives of those who had entered the area."

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail