As violence and police firing rocked Nandigram today, the CPI(M) went into damage-control mode with leaders describing the entire episode as a “political battle” and defending the police by saying they were forced to act due to organised protests by “outsiders”.“There were organised protests by people who do not belong to that place,” CPI (M) politbureau member Sitaram Yechury said. The police had to retaliate after they were fired upon by some people when they were trying to lift a blockade in the area. Hitting out at the Trinamool for creating the situation that led to today’s firing, Yechury claimed they were helped by Maoist groups. He did not rule out the involvement of Congress workers, either.“This is a political battle and has nothing to do with land acquisition and SEZs..armed gangs are moving around and we plan to take up the issue politically,” said Yechury. The party’s response was a 24-hour bandh in the area from 5 pm and a people’s mobilisation programme to generate awareness on the issue.Maintaining that firing began from the other side, Yechury pointed out that today’s incidents came after the issue had already been settled — that there would be no land acquisition unless people were willing. Brinda Karat said: “We won’t take a single bigha in Nandigram if the peasants don’t want it.”Meanwhile, the BJP has demanded a judicial or Parliamentary inquiry into the incident with party president Rajnath Singh holding Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and his government responsible. “It is a matter of grave concern that in the last three months Nandigram has seen two major incidents of violence, due to the high handedness of the CM. The situation seems to be going out of control,” Singh said today.
