CPI-M hits back at detractors over Nandigram

Under attack on the Nandigram issue, the Communist Party of India-Marxist on Wednesday hit back at its political detractors, accusing them of fuelling the crisis which allowed the Maoists to take the advantage of it.

"Where is the case of re-capture of Nandigram? For months the CPI-M supporters were hounded and ousted from Nandigram and were compelled to live in camps where they underwent untold sufferings. If they want to go to their area and meet their near and dear ones, would that be coined as re-capture?" CPI-M MP Mohammad Salim said during a debate in the Lok Sabha on Nandigram.

He accused the Bhartiya Janata Party of soft-pedalling on Maoists and claimed that the leader of the opposition in the Lok Sabha L K Advani had on one occasion said that if need be, the help of naxalites be solicited to oust the CPI-M from West Bengal.

He questioned the propaganda of the Trinamool Congress and Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Samity that Special Economic Zone in Nandigram would uproot all peasants as they would have to forfeit their lands for the same.

"Was there really any proposal to set up a SEZ in Nandigram or was it a proposal to set up a petrochemicals and petroleum investment region in the area? Did the West Bengal government send any proposal to the Centre on setting up an SEZ in Nandigram?" Salim asked.

Pointing out that there were larger questions arising out of the situation in Nandigram, the CPI-M MP argued that the naxalites were allowed entry to the area by certain vested interests. "So much so that landmines and assault rifles were seized from the area," he said.