Buddha in Nandigram today

Finally, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will be present in the heart of battle-scarred, blood-stained Nandigram

Finally, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee will be present in the heart of battle-scarred, blood-stained Nandigram . It took him exactly 10 months and 15 days to schedule his second visit to what used to a non-descript, sleepy rural belt, but which his abortive mega-chemical hub plans have turned into a war zone. The last time he addressed a party rally at Khejuri was on 11 February. But 24 hours ahead of tomorrow's visit, the question remains whether he will be going there as the state's chief minister to offer a healing touch or boost the morale of CPI-M cadres whose brutal recapture of the villages in November has evoked condemnation from the Governor, the Prime Minister and the civil society. Can Mr Bhattacharjee assuage the feelings of villagers whose relatives have fallen to police bullets, while hundreds of them have been brutalised by armed CPI-M goons who have looted their belongings, set their huts on fire and even allegedly raped women ? Why is it that the chief minister doggedly refused to visit Nandigram when it was bleeding for the past 11 months ? Governor Mr Gopal Krishna Gandhi had rushed to the place within hours of the carnage on 14 March when 14 villagers were killed in police firing. It's intriguing that only after the resistance against Mr Bhattacharjee's plans to acquire about 25,000 acres, including over 10,000 acres from Nandigram for the mega-chemical hub, was crushed with the help of the state machinery and armed CPI-M cadres that the chief minister finds time to show up at Nandigram. The RSP today questioned the need for the visit which is “woefully belated.” Mr Manoj Bhattacharjee, RSP central committee member, said had the chief minister gone to Nandigram months before in keeping with the views expressed at a Left Front committee meeting, the blood-letting could have been avoided and “Nandigram wouldn't have become a blot on the Left movement.” It's likely that the chief minister would try to win over the bruised and battered people with developmental plans. But the people there are in no mood to takes his words at face value.

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