http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=1&theme=&usrsess=1&id=204960
CRACKS IN RED CITADEL
Statesman News Service
KOLKATA, May 21: For the first time during its three
decades of uninterrupted rule the CPI-M today suffered
the worst defeat in rural Bengal, its main support
base, when Nandigram, the whole of East Midnapore,
Singur, South 24-Parganas and North Dinajpur voted the
Marxists out giving a body blow to the Buddhadeb
Bhattacharjee-government's controversial and audacious
policy of industrialisation through farm land
acquisition. The Trinamul Congress and the Congress
wrested the Zilla Parishads from the CPI-M in three
districts completely overshadowing the Left Front's
victory in 13 districts.
Nandigram and Singur not only stood out as metaphors
for the resentment in rural Bengal against the LF
policy of industrialisation that spilled innocent
blood on the fertile soil of East Midnapore, but
spurred the agrarian community in other parts of the
state to vote resoundingly against the policy that
threatens to forcibly take away their only means of
livelihood ~ the land ~ via an archaic colonial-era
legislation. The CPI-M was shell-shocked by the defeat
in Midnapore East and South 24-Parganas and its
Central committee member, Mr Benoy Konar, couldn't
conceal the feeling of disbelief : "Even at 8 a.m.
this morning we felt we were going to win in the two
districts."
The CPI-M won the North 24-Parganas Zilla Parishad by
the skin of its teeth and won the ZP with a
substantially reduced majority in Hooghly (home to
Singur). It could just pip Congress to the post in
Murshidabad, the ZP wrested from Congress strongman Mr
Adhir Chowdhury who is crying foul and retained all
other ZPs but most with reduced majorities. And
following this pattern, panchayat samiti with 8,798
seats and gram panchayats having 41,516 seats are
likely to be even worse for the Marxists. The support
of the minority community for the CPI-M, too, showed
severe strain. The people of Midnapore East especially
the electorate of Nandigram reacted strongly against
the Left Front government's policy of
industrialisation through farmland acquisition and its
continuous terror tactics. This is a major setback for
the ruling CPI-M for the first time in the history of
Left regime here. The Trinamul Congress wrested
control of the East Midnapore Zilla Parishad by
bagging 35 seats out of 53 Zilla Parishad seats this
time. In the previous panchayat polls in 2003, the
Trinamul Congress had only two seats out of 51 Zilla
Parishad seats. This time, the breakup is Trinamul-35,
Suci-1, CPI-M-14, CPI-2 and DSP-1.
In all four seats of Nandigram - I and II blocks,
which saw violence after protests against the
government's bid for land acquisition for a chemical
hub, the Trinamul candidates have won the polls by
defeating the CPI-M candidates including a heavyweight
leader. Sheikh Sufian, a Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh
Committee leader backed by the Trinamul, defeated his
rival CPI-M candidate Mr Ashok Jana by a margin of
over 13,000 votes whilst Mr Pijush Bhunia, another
Trinamul leader defeated Mr Ashok Bera, a CPI-M zonal
committee secretary by over 21,00 votes.
Beside this success in the trouble-torn Nandigram
area, the Trinamul Congress has been able to snatch a
Zilla Parishad seat from Khejuri-II block, which is
known as the red bastion.
Another jolt for the Left Front came in the form of
South 24-Parganas where they could only win 31 out of
the 73 seats in the ZP. The Trinamul made a major
turnaround by winning 34 seats alone and with its
alliance partner Suci bagging five seats, the two
parties look set to form the Zilla Parishad. The
Congress grabbed three seats. During the last
election, the LF had won 61 seats in the 66-seat ZP.
In North 24-Parganas, the Left Front managed to scrape
through in the 51-seat Zilla Parishad by winning 27
seats. During the last polls, the Left Front had
bagged 49 seats. The Trinamul Congress, which emerged
as the main Opposition party here, secured 18 seats
and the Congress bagged eight seats. The Trinamul got
most of the seats in Bongaon, Bashirhat and Barasat
subdivisions. Mr Kamal Das, Trinamul district
secretary in North 24-Parganas, claimed that Trinamul
would have gained absolute majority in the Zilla
Parishad had the CPI-M not resorted to large-scale
rigging in the polls.
The Left Front secured 36 out of 47 ZP seats in
Hooghly, while the Trinamul bagged the remaining 11,
including three seats from Singur. In 2003, the CPI-M
had wrested all the 47 ZP seats in Hooghly. The CPI-M
district leaders said the "malicious campaign" against
the CPI-M over the Tapasi Malik murder case resulted
in their defeat in Singur.
Meanwhile, the only gain for the Left Front came in
the form of Murshidabad, where they secured 32 seats
following a close fight with the Congress, which
bagged 31 seats in the 63-seat ZP. In the 2003
panchayat polls, the Congress had won 33 seats in
the district.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1080522/jsp/frontpage/story_9304845.jsp
Nandi Payback
CPM bleeds in land-and-minority backlash; loses 3
councils, gains 1
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Calcutta, May 21: The Left today suffered the biggest
poll jolt since the 2001 Assembly verdict as it lost
two districts to Mamata Banerjee and one to the
Congress in the panchayat polls, raising the question
whether land acquisition for industry was exacting a
heavy political cost.
Shaken though it was by the loss of Nandigram-scarred
East Midnapore and South 24-Parganas, the CPM
announced: "There will be no going back on the policy
of industrialisation."
Murshidabad was its sole — and big — revenge on the
Opposition as it won the district back from the
Congress, but it had only 13 of the 17 zilla parishads
(district councils) in the bag compared with 15 in
2003.
Land acquisition for industry was an issue in the two
south Bengal districts of East Midnapore and South
24-Parganas, though not in North Dinajpur, where the
Left could not forge unity among its constituents.
In East Midnapore and South 24-Parganas, both heavily
minority-dominated districts, fears over losing land
took a religious colour, fed by the discontent among
the minorities brought out by the Sachar Committee
report.
East Midnapore gained notoriety because of the
prolonged violence in Nandigram over an aborted land
acquisition attempt while South 24-Parganas will be
the site for large projects to be built by the
Indonesian Salim group.
In neighbouring North 24-Parganas, which the Salim
road project will touch and where notices for land
acquisition have been issued, the Left won by the thin
margin of three, with Mamata's score having soared
from two to 16.
The results in West Midnapore, Burdwan, Bankura and
Purulia, where too large tracts of land have been
taken over for industry, are a warning against jumping
to the conclusion that the panchayat verdict is a slap
in the face of the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee
government's industrialisation drive.
In all four districts, the CPM has not only won but
has posted huge victories, even improving on its 2003
tally in some cases. The difference, however, is that
in these four districts, there was no controversy over
acquiring land.
Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee refused comment
on the results.
Benoy Konar, the CPM state secretariat member who
addressed the media today instead of the party's
Bengal secretary Biman Bose, said: "It will be
simplistic to infer that people voted against
industrialisation. We failed to convince farmers in
these two districts (East Midnapore and South
24-Parganas) where people have apprehensions about
losing land."
The apprehensions overrode expectations of benefits
from the showpiece Tata small-car project at Singur,
where the CPM lost all three zilla parishad seats to
Trinamul. In 2003, the CPM had won the three but had
lost the Assembly seat to Trinamul in 2006.
If Nandigram led to the loss of East Midnapore for the
CPM, the party won Hooghly, of which Singur is a part,
though not with the ease of 2003. Trinamul opened its
account in the district, grabbing 11 seats.
Mamata was distributing rasogollas after the results
became known, finding a reason to smile after two
consecutive routs in the 2004 Lok Sabha and the 2006
Assembly polls, which halved her 2001 MLA count of 60.
"Jene rakhoon, etai CPM-er sesher suru (Make no
mistake, this is the beginning of the CPM's end)," she
said.
"In 2003, we had only 16 zilla parishad seats. But
this time we have been able to wrest not only two
zilla parishads on our own but even won over 120 zilla
parishad seats."
Mamata interpreted the results as a "mandate against
state-sponsored terrorism", but added that the people
had also voiced their protest against the move to
"grab farmland from the poor in the name of
industrialisation".
The chief minister can expect more trouble arising out
of this conclusion for his industrialisation
programme. Trinamul said it would not "allow the
administration to take away an inch of land from
unwilling farmers".
Although the Congress lost Murshidabad, the victory in
North Dinajpur was being seen as an achievement for
Priya Ranjan Das Munshi, the Union minister who had
called on Congress supporters to vote for the
strongest candidate in their areas, even if it meant
backing Trinamul.
If this led to an informal coming together of
anti-Left forces in North Dinajpur, the Left itself
was bitterly divided in the district, as it was also
in South 24-Parganas.
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