Mamata-Suvendu face-off communally divides Nandigram By Pradipta Narayan Tapadar

If you denythe majority community its rights, you will have to face theconsequences, Tamluk district BJP general secretary Gour HariMaity told a visiting PTI reporter.A local former leader of the Congress Sabuj Pradhan,who recently joined the BJP, said spordic communal clashes aretaking place in the region for the last few weeks and thingscould get worse as the elections approach.TMCs East Midnapore chief Akhil Giri is confidentthat Nandigram will not lose its secular character.Suvendu and his coterie of leaders say there arearound 2.12 lakh Hindu and 70,000 Muslim voters in Nandigramassembly seat.

A blood-soaked Nandigrammade Mamata Banerjee what she is today and the place underpinsall that the combustible West Bengal leader wants to be now.

It was strife that pushed the little known agrarianlandscape, where characteristics of rural and urban WestBengal merge seamlessly, to national limelight. It is alooming strife again that threatens to break the fragile peaceof Nandigram as assembly elections approach.

The scene of one of the bloodiest and most traumaticmovements against land acquisition by a government forindustrialisation, Nandigram of today stands polarised alongcommunal lines.

It has come a long way since the turbulent 2007 whenthe slogan ''Tomar naam amar naam, Nandigram, Nandigram'' (yourname, my name, Nandigram, Nandigram!'' suffused the agitatedair of the place, reflecting a rare social and politicalconvergence of public opinion against ''forcible'' landacquisition by the then Left Front government for setting up aSpecial Economic Zone.

Today, the slogan ''Jai Shri Ram'' is etched firmly asgraffiti on the walls of Nandigram alongside the fading ''Tomarnaam amar naam, Nandigram, Nandigram''.

And the most important reason behind the heightenedcommunal polarisation is the decision of Suvendu Adhikari, apolitical heavyweight of the region and a former confidante ofthe TMC bolls, joining the BJP, and Mamata Banerjee declaringshe will contest the seat.

Banerjee's announcement on Monday has left the entireEast Midnapore district on edge.

Both Banerjee and Adhikari were heroes of theNandigram movement. The feisty TMC boss was its guidingspirit, while Adhikari was her general on the ground,oganising mass protests against the SEZ where Indonesia'sSalim group intended to set up a chemical hub.

Adhikari's father Sisir, currently a TMC Lok Sabhamember, was the convenor of the Bhumi Uchhed PratirodhCommittee (BUPC), which comprised people from disparatepolitical ideologies. The TMC, Congress, RSS and evendisgruntled members of the Left parties--all waged a unitedstruggle against the government.

With the Left and the Congress pushed to the marginsof West Bengal politics, a bitter and bloody political battlelooms over Nandigram between Banerjee's TMC and the BJP.

Political rallies of rival parties are being attackedand people injured.

With no industries since the BUPC uprising that leftan specified number of people dead, including 14 in a policefiring, Nandigram's primarily agricultural economy suppliesrice, vegetables and fresh fish to adjoining areas, skirted asit is by the Ganga and Haldi rivers.

Though the peace of Nandigram was shattered by theprotracted violence during 2007-11, leaving many dead inclashes between BUPC and CPI-M supporters, the area was neverpolarised along religious and communal lines, and the tusslewas purely political.

''Nandigram has changed a lot in the last six-sevenyears. Earlier, all communities used to live in peacetogether. There were differences and violence, but it wasbased on politics not religion.

''Now it stems from religion with majority Hindus onone side and Muslims on another. We never witnessed such asituation in the past,'' Rasool Kazi, a local resident, whoparticipated in the anti-land acquisition movement, told PTI.

Bamdev Mondal of Gokulpur village in Nandigram blamedthe TMC government for the communal divide.

''The TMC government went overboard with its policy of(Muslim) appeasement and that pitted one community against theother,'' Mondal said.

Mondal is also angry over the lack of development inthe area after the anti-land acquisition movement.

''Hindus and Muslims fought hand in hand but what didwe get? Except for a few new roads and to some extent thebenefits of the 100 days of work a year, we got nothing.

''Only a handful of leaders and members of a particuarcommunity got all the benefits. Now the people are angry andwill teach TMC a lesson,'' he said.

A TMC panchayat samiti member, who did not wish to benamed, alleged Muslims were getting preference even in studentscholarships.

''The CPI-M never discriminated between people on thebasis or religion. Tell me why Hindus should not go with theBJP. We cautioned the party leadership against thisdiscrimination but nothing came of it,'' he said.

Sheikh Sufiyan, a BUPC veteran, however, insisted suchclaims were part of the BJP's ''disinformation campaign''.

Nandigram assembly constituency has around 70 per centHindus, while Muslims account for the rest, and names giveaway the political preferences of the residents.

Local leaders of both the TMC and the BJP maintain theshoots of a communal divide became visible after the 2013panchayat polls when elected Muslim members were givenprominent roles in Zilla Parishads and the ruling party'sdistrict unit. The rift widened further after the 2018panchayat elections.

The disaffection prompted the Hindu right to assertitself with a massive Ram Navami rally in Nandigram in 2016.

Locals said many TMC workers and leaders actively participatedin it.

The results were quick for all to see. The BJP, withhardly any support base in the area dominated by the TMC,bagged over 1.96 lakh votes in the 2016 byelections to TamlukLok Sabha seat and finished third. In the 2019 Lok Sabhaelection, the BJP further consolidated it position, with itscandidate cinching over 5.34 lakh votes.

Dibyendu Adhikari, a younger brother of SuvenduAdhikari won both the elections. Dibyendu and the Adhikarifamily patriarch Sisir are both TMC Lok Sabha members but hadgiven Mamata Banerjee's Monday rally a miss.

''Nandigram is sitting on a tinderbox and only theTMC's appeasement politics is responsible for it. If you denythe majority community its rights, you will have to face theconsequences,'' Tamluk district BJP general secretary Gour HariMaity told a visiting PTI reporter.

A local former leader of the Congress Sabuj Pradhan,who recently joined the BJP, said spordic communal clashes aretaking place in the region for the last few weeks and thingscould get worse as the elections approach.

TMC's East Midnapore chief Akhil Giri is confidentthat Nandigram will not lose its secular character.

''Suvendu and his coterie of leaders say there arearound 2.12 lakh Hindu and 70,000 Muslim voters in Nandigramassembly seat. But we will defeat their communal designs.

Nandigram is the epitome of secularism and will always be,'' heasserted.