COMMUNISTS DEFIANT ON NANDIGRAM HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KOLKATA 000351

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR DRL, SCA/INS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL KWMN IN
SUBJECT: COMMUNISTS DEFIANT ON NANDIGRAM HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES

REF: A) KOLKATA 345 B) KOLKATA 88

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1. (SBU) Summary: During November 6-11, Communist Party of
India-Marxist (CPM) activists violently assaulted villages under
the control of the opposition Bhumi Ucched Protirodh Committee
(BUPC) in West Bengal's rural Nandigram area. CPM cadres,
locally called "Harmad Bahini" (Portuguese pirates),assaulted
the local political opposition, torched homes, raped women and
killed an unspecified number of people. Human rights groups
and the media are still assessing the extent of the killing and
damage. An unapologetic Chief Minister Bhuddadeb Bhattacharjee
defended the CPM's carnage, saying the opposition was "paid back
in their own coin," as CPM leaders lashed out at the WB
Governor, the media, and anyone else who criticized their brutal
tactics. The Calcutta High Court released its ruling on the
earlier March 14 killings in Nandigram, finding the GOWB's
actions unconstitutional and unjustified. It has ordered the
CBI to begin filing charges and to submit a report in 30 days.
The CPM, by attacking its critics, is circling the wagons to
weather the storm, as its UPA coalition partners remain reticent
in condemning the human rights abuses. End Summary.


Red Terror


2. (SBU) As reported in Reftel A, from November 6-11, CPM
activists assaulted villages in the Nandigram under the control
of opposition BUPC and seized control through a campaign of
violence, rape and intimidation. Until November 12, CPM cadres
not only blocked all entry points to Nandigram, but also the
national highways passing through the area. While armed CPM
workers and hired criminals brutally attacked villagers
supporting the BUPC, the police stood by under official orders
not to interfere. The media, leaders of the political
opposition and others not supporting the CPM were not allowed to
enter the "war zone." With five deaths confirmed, the BUPC has
alleged that a more bodies have been hidden and dumped by CPM
cadres. Human rights activists allowed into Nandigram after
November 13, estimate about 43 deaths in the carnage. One
pregnant woman was among the 6 rape victims reported so far.
The first officially confirmed case of gang-rape by armed CPM
cadres in Nandigram on November 6 was recounted to the media by
the victim, Sabita Patra. She said that after she was raped,
she saw her two teenage daughters raped as well and then
abducted by CPM cadres. She has named the attackers in her
complaint to the police. An estimated 1,000 homes were burned
or destroyed during the CPM's recapture of Nandigram. Human
rights activist Medha Patkar likened Nandigram to a
concentration camp, where apathy, inaction and both direct and
indirect support of the police to CPM hooligans indicated a
breakdown of state machinery.


3. (SBU) On November 16, East Midnapore district officials
entered Nandigram for the first time in 10 months to take stock
of the devastation. A National Human Rights Commission team
also visited the area.. Initially, about 10,000 BUPC supporters
were rendered homeless by the CPM attack. Media reports
indicate that since November 13 some had begun returning to
their homes. The GOWB claimed that all the ousted BUPC villagers
were returning home, but media estimates are that around 2,000
BUPC supporters remain in relief camps, because they are afraid
of a CPM backlash if they return to Nandigram. Local CPM
workers reportedly ordered BUPC supporters to pay a "fine" of Rs
2,000 (USD $50) to Rs 10,000 (USD $250) if they intended to
return to Nandigram. They are also being required to fly the
CPM's red flag at their homes and join all CPM processions to
show their support for the party.


Chief Minister Bhattacharjee Defends His Party


4. (SBU) In the immediate aftermath of the violence WB Chief
Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee defended the recapture of
Nandigram, saying that the opposition were "paid back in their
own coin." He explained the CPM action by stating that "our
[the CPM's] people" were desperate to return to Nandigram after
remaining away from their homes for 11 months. Bhattacharjee
went on to accuse the GOI of delaying the deployment of the
Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) to Nandigram, which left his
party with "no option" but to support the CPM supporters' return
to the area. He also indicated that the situation was to some
extent a result of the failure of the WB police to enter

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Nandigram. Bhattacharjee asserted that the CPM's actions in
Nandigram were morally and legally justifiable as the BUPC
activists had resorted to violence when they drove out CPM
supporters in January. On November 14, he emphasized that he
still represented the interests of his party while Chief
Minister of the state, saying "I cannot and should not disown my
political character and identity."


Central Police, State Control


5. (SBU) When the CRPF arrived in the state on November 11,
they were unable to deploy to Nandigram as they were blocked
from entering for over a day by the CPM (Note: Because the
area was not officially declared "disturbed," the CRPF were
required to function under GOWB direction. End Note). On
November 18, in a move apparently aimed at limiting the CRPF's
independence, the GOWB directed them to shift their five camps
from Nandigram, Gokulnagar and Rajaram Chowk, and Khodambari-I
and II to Temgua, Pankhai, Jellingham, Teropeksha and Khejuri
Mahila Vidyapith. This means shifting of CRPF personnel from
trouble-prone areas to pockets that have been CPM strongholds
for the past 10 months. The state police chief instructed the
CRPF to work in areas assigned by East Midnapore district police
superintendent SS Panda (instead of the area of operation
assigned to it by the administration.) However, after the press
reported the order to shift CRPF, the GOWB denied any such move.


The Court Weighs In


6. (SBU) On November 16, the Calcutta High Court held that the
police firing that killed 14 and injured 162 Nandigram villagers
on March 14 (Reftel B) was wholly unconstitutional and
unjustifiable. The 172-page judgment rejected the GOWB's
version of events and criticized the indiscriminate police
firing on innocent villagers. The court also rejected the
government's claim that the villagers were armed, writing that
the intention of the police seemed to be "to crush the
demonstration rather than to control or disperse an unlawful
assembly," and that there was not enough provocation to justify
firing. The court gave liberty to the Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI) to file cases against the accused (including
the police),and to start criminal proceedings. The court said
it was legally justified in asking the CBI to conduct a
preliminary investigation on the basis of media reports and
based upon the statement issued by the WB Governor Gopalkrishna
Gandhi expressing "cold horror" at the killings. (Note: The
GOWB had challenged the authority of the court to order a CBI
inquiry on the basis of the governor's statement, but the court
said it was within its jurisdiction to seek a CBI probe without
taking the consent of the state government. End Note). The
court ordered the CBI to investigate the March 14 incident and
submit its report within a month. Further, the court directed
the government to pay a compensation of Rs 5 lakh (USD $11,000)
to the families of those killed, Rs 2 lakhs (USD $4400) to those
raped, and Rs 1 lakh (USD $2200) each to 162 people injured on
March 14. The GOWB may appeal the decision to the Indian
Supreme Court.


CPM vs. the Rest


7. (SBU) On November 17 at a CPM party meeting where senior
leaders addressed their supporters, the CPM leaders accused
Governor Gandhi of hypocrisy for his remarks against the recent
violence in Nandigram and asked him to quit his office and join
the Trinamul Congress since he was not impartial. Party leaders
also accused the Calcutta High Court of conspiring against the
CPM and threatened Kolkata's protesting intellectuals (many
from the Left) and press. Even Left Front partners were not
spared - they were publicly reminded that the Left Front can be
stronger only if the CPM becomes stronger. Some leaders hinted
at a "foreign hand" in the Nandigram problem, a not so subtle
reference to the United States. The CPM leaders also argued
that the Nandigram incident was a state subject and could not be
discussed formally in the Indian Parliament.


8. (SBU) Comment: It is clear from Chief Minister
Bhattacharjee's unapologetic endorsement of the Nandigram
violence that the CPM, in typical fashion, is circling the

KOLKATA 00000351 003.2 OF 003


wagons until the storm passes. This is also an attempt to
please party hardliners and to unify the CPM rank and file in
the run-up to the CPM's party congress (where major policies are
formulated and senior party officials nominated) in March 2008.
It demonstrates the default response of the CPM when faced with
criticism and challenges to its authority - verbal attacks and
paranoia. The peaceful, non-political march of as many as
100,000 citizens of W. Bengal is being interpreted by some as
signs of the CPM's grip on the state weakening, but with the CPM
receiving little condemnation from its UPA coalition partners,
it appears that no one is willing to squarely confront the
party's human rights atrocities.
JUNGE