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Effective action needed: Gopal Gandhi

KOLKATA: West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi said on Friday that peace was the need of the hour in Nandigram. “For that peace to come… effective action will have to be taken in terms of action initiated against those responsible for the March 14 events in due process.”

In a press release, Mr. Gandhi said the most accurate description for Nandigram was the one given by the state Home Secretary that it had become a war zone. “No Government or society can allow a war zone to exist without immediate and effective action.”

The Governor said he was fully aware that many villagers of Nandigram, who were perceived as sympathisers of the ruling establishment, had to seek shelter at Khejuri earlier this year.

“I am also aware of the apprehension that some Maoists, their numbers being unverified, are believed to have entered the area.”

Those who had fled to Khejuri must come back with full confidence and dignity, Mr. Gandhi said.

No quarter must be given to the cult of violence associated with Maoists. “But the manner in which the ‘recapture’ of Nandigram villages is being attempted is totally unlawful and unacceptable,” he added.

“I find it equally unacceptable that while Nandigram has been ingressed with ease by armed people, on the one hand, political and non-political persons trying to reach it have been violently obstructed. Some of them were bearing relief articles for the homeless. The treatment meted to [social activist] Smt. Medha Patkar and other associates of hers last evening was against all norms of civilised political behaviour.”

The Governor said he had asked the administration to remove new unauthorised blocks at entry points in some areas so that the isolation of Nandigram from the rest of the State ended.

“I have made it clear that unless these steps are taken within hours and the syndrome of ‘capture and recapture’ is ended, the beginnings for a resumed dialogue through the package announced by the Chief Secretary last night will not get off the ground and the peace talks process will remain grounded.”

Despite the lateness of the hour, he welcomed the pragmatic optimism express by elder statesman Jyoti Basu, the Governor said.

PTI reports:

“The people expect impartial statements from the Governor,” CPI(M) Central Committee member Shyamal Chakraborty said on Friday, reacting to Mr. Gandhi’s press release.

He claimed that the Trinamool Congress and the Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee had, for the last 11 months, indulged “in atrocities, looting, arson and killings and rendered 3,500 people homeless. But the Governor remained silent on it. This is unfortunate.”

Trinamool Congress welcomed the Governor’s statement and declared that he had said “the right thing at the right time.”

“The way the CPI(M) cadres, with the help of the police, have captured villages in Nandigram and unleashed atrocities cannot be accepted,” its chief Mamata Banerjee said.

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