Indian Defence Review

The Phenomena of Outsourcing Law Enforcement and its Internal Security Implications.

Mahbub Rehman Khan’s family in Garhchakraberia village in Nandigram is proudly showcased by the CPI (M) cadres to discredit allegations of their party’s brutal assault on BUPC supporters. Khan’s father, a staunch supporter of Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee doubled up as a cashier for the anti-land acquisition militia, but escaped to a hideout when the CPI (M) mercenaries stormed Nandigram. “He was a cashier for BUPC. He would collect funds from shops for buying bullets,” he said. It is, of course, not clear yet why the law enforcement agencies in West Bengal allowed the BUPC to arm itself and enabled rudimentary training of its cadres by a tactical group of Maoists led by a senior guerilla leader by the name of Ranjit Lal, whose area of operation is the neighbouring state of Jharkhand. Whatever be the case, the fact is that the CPI (M) is shy of admitting that it considered an armed campaign by its cadres as the best possible way to end BUPC’s sway over Nandigram.

Such was the intensity of the simmering anger within the CPI (M) for having been ousted from its bastion of over three decades that the endgame couldnt have been anything but violent. Scraps of evidence recovered from the conflict zone show extensive preparations on both sides for the armed conflict.

“We are not defensive. CM has said they have been paid back in their own coin. Every action has a reaction. It is the theory of mathematics, physics. It is the theory of dialectical materialism. Every action has a reaction. If you kill me I will kill you,” said Lakshman Seth, MP, Haldia.  The 11 months long siege of Nandigram by the armed activist of the BUPC became intolerable both for the restive CPI(M) cadres and as well as the party’s leadership. Several members of the armed militia from both sides of political divide lost their lives in the conflict. But what impelled the CPI(M) leadership to launch operation Nandigram? “There was tremendous pressure on our supporters and cadres to join the BUPC movement. Some of our local cadres did indeed join the movement…When the government failed to intervene we took the matters in our hand. It was a tit for tat method of solving the problem,” said Mohammad Yasin, CPI (M) Zonal Committee, Nandigram.

The broken and burnt house of Mohammad Yasin is the reason for his anger against the Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee. His house was ransacked and destroyed by armed BUPC militia a week before CPI (M)’s armed attack on Nandigram. In fact, between January and November, 153 houses of CPI (M) party members were looted, vandalized, broken, or set on fire, by the BUPC activists. All of them could only return to sift through the remnants of their house, like Prashanto and Radharani, after the CPI (M) recaptured Nandigram. “They came with lathis and started breaking everything. We were so scared,” they said. Clearly, one of the reasons that the CPI (M) gives for the armed action is to enable hundreds of their cadres evicted by BUPC to return home.

Samerun Bibi and her husband Sheikh Abdul Razak, both local CPI (M) leaders, paid a heavy price. Their house was one of the first ones to be targetted by the anti-land acquisition protestors after the West Bengal government decided in December 2006 to set up a Petrochemical and Petroleum Investment Region (PCPIR), in Nandigram. On January 3, 2007 Samerun Bibi, who also happens to be the Panchayat Pradhan of Kalicharanpur in Nandigram called a meeting at the Gram Panchayat office. She wanted the Panchayat to discuss the arrangements to receive a scheduled visit of a central team to evaluate Nandigram’s excellent record in sanitation. A mob of anti-land acquisition protestors gathered at the Panchayat office, fueled by rumours that the Panchayat meeting will approve the proposed land acquisition in Nandigram. Kalicharanpur, unwittingly became the epicenter of the Nandigram conflict when on Januuary 3rd a group of protestors attacked the Gram Panchayat office. “The Trinamul Congress gave false information to the villagers, that their land will be taken away without any compensation, and that they will become poorer. By spreading such untruths they successfully won over the CPI (M) party’s supporters in Nandigram,” said Sheikh Abdul Razak, Sonachura CPI (M) Local Committee member. His wife, Samerun Bibi, said she feels “like crying whenever I look at my house. We have no place to stay and we are currently staying with our relatives.”

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Kalipada Mondal and his family were amongst the 3,000 CPI (M) party members who were driven out of their homes by the BUPC activists. Their houses were ransacked and burnt down by BUPC arsonists, cupboards and boxes were dragged out of the houses and set on fire. “There were 15 camps housing 3,000 people. Nandigram was liberated on the morning of 11th November and we entered in the evening,” said Kalipada Mondal, Sonachura Local Committee Member. All the CPI(M) members and local leaders who lived as refugees for 11 months, between January and November, after BUPC seized control of Nandigram were told three days before the CPI (M) mercenaries launched the attack on Nandigram on November 6 that the party is making arrangements for their homecoming. “All of us who had run away from our homes were told to assemble in Khejuri on November 6th. We were told that we would be returning home on November 10th… First the party gunmen entered and then we entered behind them… We, a couple of kilometers behind… I could hear the firing but we could not see anything,” said Prashanto Sit, CPI (M) Panchayat Committee member.

The fact is that these developments widen the political divide and deepen the conflict. Not surprisingly, therefore, the political conflict between CPI (M) and the Trinamul Congress over territorial assertion of political power in Nandigram is not over yet.

Such was the intensity of the simmering anger within the CPI (M) for having been ousted from its bastion of over three decades that the endgame couldn’t have been anything but violent. Scraps of evidence recovered from the conflict zone show extensive preparations on both sides for the armed conflict. There is conclusive evidence to show that ammunition was bought from the Ammunition Factory, Khadki, in Pune. Both CPI (M) and BUPC brought in gunmen from outside Nandigram. CPI (M) leaders made candid revelations to the author that the party was worried about Trinamul Congress’s likely triumph in the impending Panchayat Elections in Nandigram and surrounding areas if BUPC’s consolidated its 11 month-long siege and control over Nandigram. “They wanted to use Nandigram as an example to take over power in West Bengal. They wanted to take over the Panchayat Samiti in Nandigram, and then take over MLA and MP constituency,” said Ashok Bera, CPI(M) Zonal Committee. A view affirmed by CPI (M)’s strongman from Haldia, Lakshman Seth: “Political game plan to capture our ground. Our political field. Their intention is to oust our CPI(M) party from Nandigram. If this model had succeeded they could have used this model elsewhere.”

The implications of using extra-constitutional and political party sponsored armed militias to settle political conflicts has serious internal security implications. Whether it’s the armed militias of the Hindu Right or newly formed Tribal and Dalit militant outfits in Assam and Maharashtra, backed by political parties, the fact is that these developments widen the political divide and deepen the conflict. Not surprisingly, therefore, the political conflict between CPI (M) and the Trinamul Congress over territorial assertion of political power in Nandigram is not over yet. “Our cadres were not afraid. On November 10th we recaptured Nandigram it was day of festivity and celebration,” said Ashok Bera, CPM Zonal Committee. But fear still stalks in Nandigram. When CPI (M) cadres went on the rampage all the policemen deployed at Nandigram were holed up in the town’s police station. Now when the CPI (M) is expecting retaliatory attack from the Bhumi Uchched activists they expect the police to be vigilant and to counter it.