SIX PEOPLE KILLED IN VIOLENCE IN RURAL WEST BENGAL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 CALCUTTA 000011

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

PACOM FOR POL/AD

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM ASEC CASC IN
SUBJECT: SIX PEOPLE KILLED IN VIOLENCE IN RURAL WEST BENGAL

REF: 06 CALCUTTA 00578


1. (SBU) Summary: In the evening and early morning of January
6-7, six people were killed in fighting around the West Bengal
sub-district of Nandigram. The violence occurred between local
villagers opposing the state government's plans to develop a
Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in the area and members of the
state-ruling Communist Party of India - Marxist (CPM). Tensions
had been high since January 3 when locals, with the backing of
small Leftist parties like the Communist Party of India (CPI)
and CPI (Maoist-Leninist),attacked police and government
officials in the belief that the officials were surveying land
in preparation for future development. The villagers
established road blocks and damaged bridges to prevent access to
the area. Police and paramilitary forces moved in over the
following two days but failed to prevent numerous CPM agitators
from gathering in neighboring villages and in mounting an armed
attack on Sonachura village Saturday evening, January 6.
According to reports, fighting with small arms, homemade bombs,
swords and knifes went on through the night resulting in deaths
and numerous injuries. Newspapers printed photographs of dogs
feeding on charred corpses and described the area as being like
a "war zone," with limbs and bodies strewn about. In response,
opposition parties Trinamul Congress (Trinamul) and the Congress
Party (Congress) announced general strikes or "bandhs" for
Monday January 8, which disrupted business activity and some
transportation. This violence follows fighting and
demonstrations in December 2006 over the GOWB's plans to develop
a TATA car factory in Singur district, another rural area not
far from Calcutta, and reflects the serious problem facing the
state government as it tries to implement its industrial policy
over the objections of some rural communities and political
opposition. End Summary.


2. (SBU) In the evening of Saturday January 6, violence
exploded in the rural West Bengal sub-district of Nandigram,
located 150 kilometers southwest of Calcutta. CPM cadre clashed
with local villagers supported by small leftist groups such as
the CPI, Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI),CPI-ML, Muslim
group Jamat-ul-Ulema-Hind as well as a local village
organization Krishi Jami Raksha (Save the Farmland Committee).
CPM activists gathered in villages in Nandigram throughout
Saturday to mount a response to earlier attacks by the Nandigram
residents against police, government officials and local CPM
leaders on Wednesday, January 3. The villagers had been upset
about the prospect of their land being acquired by the
CPM-controlled GOWB as part of a 250-acre SEZ for the Indonesian
corporation Salim Group. In addition to attacking visiting
government officials, the Nandigram villagers set the local CPM
office on fire, destroyed bridges and blockaded roads. Police
and paramilitary forces were deployed on January 3 and were
patrolling Nandigram over the following days. CPM Central
Committee Member Benoy Konar told the media prior to the CPM
attack on Sonachura village that, "We [CPM] will surround
Nandigram with our men and give them hell." Law enforcement was
noticeably absent when the CPM made its assault on Sonachura
village over a four hour period with homemade bombs, small arms,
swords and knives. Six villagers were killed, many others
injured or missing. Media compared Sonachura to a battlefield
strewn with bodies, dismembered limbs and the injured. The
"Hindustan Times" newspaper printed a photograph of dogs feeding
on a charred corpse. The police's failure to intervene was
attributed to not wanting to confront their political masters,
the CPM party functionaries.


3. (SBU) Opposition Trinamul and Congress parties were quick
exploit the violence and to call for a general strike, or
"bandh" in West Bengal. Trinamul called for a 12-hour bandh and
Congress a 24-hour bandh on Monday, January 8. Many offices in
Calcutta and throughout the state were closed and transportation
was disrupted. Trinamul and Congress supporters enforced the
strike with some violence. Two people were injured in
Calcutta's neighbor city of Howrah, when a bomb was thrown at a
bus. Four police were in injured in Nandigram, when they were
stoned by locals and trains were disrupted in the northern town
of Asansol, when train tracks were damaged. Police arrested 350
bandh enforcers and demonstrators in Calcutta. ConGen discussed
the recent violence with Calcutta Police Commissioner Prasun
Mukherjee, who believed that the disruptions and possible
violence would likely continue for the near future. Mukherjee

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was also concerned that Nandigram could become a communal
problem as many of the villagers were Muslim and Muslim groups
like Jamat-ul-Ulema-Hind were using the recent violence to
create the fear within the local Muslim community that the SEZ
land acquisition was an anti-Muslim effort and not simply an
issue of industrial development.


4. (SBU) The Nandigram incident follows earlier violence and
opposition agitation in December against GOWB land acquisition
for a TATA Motors car factory in Singur district (REFTEL).
Trinamul Leader Mamata Banerjee had conducted a 25-day hunger
strike to galvanize opposition to the TATA factory. After
Banerjee ended her hunger strike on December 28, hopes were high
among the general public and the business community that the
strikes and violence which ended 2006 would not mar the start of

2007. However, the latest round of opposition to the planned
SEZ in Nandigram and resultant fighting has already cast a pall
over the new year. During the bandh, ConGen met visiting HSBC
Bank Head of Global Resourcing Rob Murth after Murth's meeting
with Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. Murth said he told
the CM Bhattacharjee that the bandhs in West Bengal will force
HSBC to review its plans for future investment in the state.
HSBC already has one back office processing operation (BPO)
employing over 2,000 people and has signed an agreement to
construct a second office for another 3,000 people.


5. (SBU) Comment: This latest outbreak of violence in
Nandigram and the opposition parties' bandh is undermining the
GOWB and CM Bhattacharjee's efforts to portray West Bengal as
having overcome its history of destructive politics. 2007 is
not offering a new chapter for the state but rather a return to
an old story of strike and political violence. However, it
would be wrong to see this clash as a problem limited to West
Bengal. The fundamental cause of the violence is the persistent
tension over implementing a program of industrial development in
rural areas where land is seen as the lifeblood of the people.
This tension is not unique to West Bengal. Throughout India,
with its massive population and limited land, government
officials confront communities reluctant to part with their
properties and farms. Corporate and government leaders' plans
for economic development will go awry if they do not effectively
communicate with the poor rural masses and respond to their
fears. Rather than an isolated incident, Nandigram represents a
general concern regarding the full implications of India's
aspirations for economic growth that remains latent in its rural
and poor communities.
JARDINE