Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07KOLKATA92
2007-03-19 13:32:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Consulate Kolkata
Cable title:  

WEST BENGAL FACES FALLOUT FROM NANDIGRAM VIOLENCE

Tags:  PHUM PGOV ECON SOCI ASEC IN 
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FM AMCONSUL KOLKATA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1461
INFO RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI IMMEDIATE 1372
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI PRIORITY 0600
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI PRIORITY 0594
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 0376
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 0379
RUEHGO/AMEMBASSY RANGOON 0242
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 0303
RHMFIUU/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEIDN/DNI WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA 1804
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KOLKATA 000092 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV ECON SOCI ASEC IN
SUBJECT: WEST BENGAL FACES FALLOUT FROM NANDIGRAM VIOLENCE

REF: A) KOLKATA 088 B) CALCUTTA 0011 C) CALCUTTA 0017 D) 06 CALCUTTA 0578

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KOLKATA 000092

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV ECON SOCI ASEC IN
SUBJECT: WEST BENGAL FACES FALLOUT FROM NANDIGRAM VIOLENCE

REF: A) KOLKATA 088 B) CALCUTTA 0011 C) CALCUTTA 0017 D) 06 CALCUTTA 0578


1. (SBU) Summary: The rural West Bengal district of Nandigram
remains tense but quiet following the March 14 violence between
police, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM) activists and
local villagers, which resulted in at least 14 deaths and 71
injuries (REF. A). Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and
CPM officials have not apologized for the deaths but have
conceded that the police were too aggressive in quelling the
protests against land acquisition for a Special Economic Zone
(SEZ). The GOWB leadership now says that land in Nandigram will
not be acquired for an SEZ. A team from the national Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has started its inquiry into the
incident and initial reports reveal the participation of CPM
members in the killings. CM Bhattacharjee has faced criticism
from many sources, with outsiders such as Bharatiya Janata Party
(BJP) leader L. K. Advani and social activist Medha Patkar
traveling to the area to express solidarity with the villagers.
However, Bhattacharjee told visiting National Intelligence
Council (NIC) Vice Chairman Dr. David Gordon and National
Intelligence Officer for South Asia (NIO-SA) Ambassador Nancy
Powell that the greatest challenge he faces is from the Left
Front coalition members, the Forward Bloc, the Revolutionary
Socialist Party (RSP) and the Communist Party of India (CPI),
who have demanded a larger role in policy planning. On March
18, the CM and his party accepted the coalition members' demands
and promised to accept their input on future policies. The
Nandigram violence has created a crisis of confidence in CM
Bhattacharjee and his efforts for rapid industrialization in
West Bengal and has brought into full relief the complex layers
of political intrigue in the state as each group or interest
seeks to extract its advantage: the marginalized opposition
hopes to use the issue to achieve relevance, Muslim groups see a
catalyst to create a new "Muslim League," and even Left Front
members now demand their pound of flesh from the CPM. End
Summary.


2. (U) West Bengal continues to face the political fallout from
the deaths of 14 people on March 14 in the rural district of
Nandigram, located approximately 150 km southwest of Kolkata.
The deaths resulted from violent clashes between the police
(supported by CPM activists) and local villagers opposed to
their land being acquired for an SEZ. On March 16, West Bengal
and Kolkata came to a standstill when opposition parties,
Trinamul Congress, Congress Party, BJP, Socialist Unity Center
for India (SUCI) and Maoist faction CPI-(Marxist-Leninist),
called for a general strike or "bandh" to protest the killings.
Strike enforcers torched a bus in Kolkata and police stations
in other parts of the state but no serious injuries were
reported.


3. (SBU) CM Bhattacharjee admitted that the authorities did not
anticipate the level of violence that would result from the
police's efforts to enter Nandigram, but he did not apologize
for deaths, expressing only regret for the incident. WB Home
Secretary Prasad Ranjan Ray, speaking to NIO-SA Ambassador

SIPDIS
Powell and NIC Vice Chairman Dr. Gordon on the day of the
general strike, conceded that the police had over-reacted and
attributed it to poor training. He said that protestors
confronted the police with women and children in the front
ranks. The men in the back ranks used homemade bombs and
simple, single-shot country guns and initially the police
responded with tear gas and batons but as the violence
escalated, the police began shooting. The authorities have
backed down from further confrontation and have pulled the
police back from the contentious areas. In addition, the CM
promised that Nandigram would not be part of any future SEZ
plans.


4. (SBU) A CBI team arrived on Friday, March 16 and its initial
investigations indicate that the death toll may be higher than
14 people and point to the participation of CPM activists in the
killings. While investigating in one village near the clash,
CBI officials arrested ten suspected CPM members with weapons,
ammunitions and police helmets. According to reports, there was
also a blood trail, indicating the possibility that additional
unidentified bodies were removed from the area and hidden or
disposed. BBC reporter Subir Bhaumick (protect) told Ambassador
Powell and Dr. Gordon during their March 15-18 visit to Kolkata
that the CPM cadres were armed and participated in the attacks
on the protesting villagers and likely contributed to the
escalation of the violence. Footage of victims of the attack,

KOLKATA 00000092 002 OF 003


labeled, "Nandigram Mass Killing" is available at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-G5NCSqvSM.


5. (U) The violence in West Bengal attracted the attention of
many outsiders, including BJP leaders L.K. Advani, Sushma
Swaraj, Janata Dal (United) leader George Fernandes and a
10-member national opposition coalition National Democratic
Alliance (NDA) team. Advani and the NDA leaders traveled to WB
on March 17 to condemn the CPM, a political rival at the
national level, on their home turf. Advani demanded that the
GOI impose central rule on the state. However, dropping into a
state with a limited BJP presence and giving remarks in Hindi to
a mostly Bengali-speaking rural community, the NDA leaders'
presence did not generate a significant response from the
villagers. Social activist Medha Patkar also returned to the
state after early forays in December and February following
violence in Singur, where clashes occurred over plans for a new
Tata car factory in that rural area just west of Kolkata (REF.
D). Patkar's on-again, off-again presence in the state has also
not resulted in a significant impact.


6. (U) Local opposition groups such as the Trinamul Congress,
Congress and fringe Maoist factions have been attempting to
capitalize on the land issue as well. However, Trinamul leader
Mamata Banjerjee is widely seen as erratic and unable to mount a
coherent opposition to the CPM-led GOWB. The other parties are
too small and their organization too limited to effectively
confront the GOWB.


7. (SBU) Muslim organization Jamiat-e-Ulema Hind (JUH),led by
General Secretary Siddiqullah Chowdhury, has also jumped into
the fray, claiming that the development plan for Nandigram is an
effort to disenfranchise the sizeable Muslim minority.
Chowdhury had earlier told ConGen that following the round of
violence in Nandigram in January, JUH was intent on forming a
new Muslim political party (REFS B & C). BBC reporter Bhaumick
told Ambassador Powell and Dr. Gordon that the JUH is hoping to
form a new "Muslim League" along with the newly formed Muslim
Assam United Democratic Front (AUDF) and will try to pull votes
from the mainstream secular parties. Lending credence to
Bhaumick's comments, a March 18 report in the "Panchjanya
Weekly" noted that in the northeastern state of Tripura, also
run by the CPM, state JUH leader Assad Madin held a public
meeting to demand a new Muslim political party. In attendance
at the Tripura meeting was AUDF leader Badruddin Amjal and party
president Hafeez Rashee Ahmed Choudhury. (Note: AUDF was
formed in December 2005 prior to the Assam state assembly
elections because state Muslim Congress leaders felt the
Congress Party was ignoring Muslim concerns in Assam.) On March
19, approximately 10,000 JUH supporters attempted to charge the
West Bengal state secretariat, the "Writers Building," but were
beaten back by the police.


8. (SBU) However, CM Bhattacharjee seemed less worried about
external threats and more focused on internal conflict with his
Left Front allies: the Forward Bloc, RSP and CPI. On March 16,
when asked by NIO-SA Ambassador Powell what was his greatest
concern for the state's future development, Bhattacharjee
responded that it was in dealing with the other Left Front
parties. The CM noted that even though the CPM maintains a
dominant majority in the state assembly in its own right, the
many decades of collective struggle meant that the other Left
parties cannot be easily dismissed and that his policies would
have to be accepted by the other parties. BBC Reporter Bhaumick
told ConGen later that evening that the Left Front gave an
ultimatum to the CM and the CPM that unless the Left parties had
more input on policies, they would withdraw their ministers from
the government. The following day, the press reported that the
CPM and Bhattacharjee had conceded to most of the Left parties'
demands: 1) Fix responsibility - Bhattacharjee conceded some
responsibility for the tragedy but would wait for the CBI
report; 2) Withdraw police from Nandigram - police are being
pulled out in phases; 3) The Left Front should condemn the
carnage - CPM will express regret but offer no condemnation; 4)
No land will be acquired in Nandigram for an SEZ - the CPM will
not acquire land in the area; 5) Finally and critically, only
the cabinet core committee or front committee should make major
policy decisions - the CPM accepted only that it would consult
the cabinet and front committees.


9. (SBU) Comment: The Nandigram conflagration has become a

KOLKATA 00000092 003 OF 003


veritable "Bonfire of the Vanities," with the many political
players all maneuvering for advantage. Even outside national
leaders like the BJP's L.K. Advani have come to pick-over the
carnage. It is too early to tell if the JUH will be successful
in using Nandigram as the catalyst to create a separate Muslim
party and one in conjunction with the AUDF that could capture
the Muslim voters in the eastern region. However, the greatest
immediate fallout appears to be within the CPM's Left Front,
with CM Bhattacharjee's effort at rapid industrial development
now likely to suffer a serious setback and the Leftist
ideologues gaining an upper hand in internal policy disputes.
Bhattacharjee's position within the coalition and among
sympathetic supporters, such as the academics, intellectuals and
other Leftist sympathizers has been weakened, and many have
called for him to step down. Bhattacharjee is unlikely to
resign but he will certainly be constrained by the damage from
the Nandigram violence and the state will continue to experience
residual effects, with demonstrations and protests as opposition
parties seek to further inflame resentment against the CPM
government in order to expand their limited political influence.
JARDINE