The CPI(M)'s bloody takeover of Nandigram has brought to the fore simmering anger with West Bengal's ruling Marxists. Even pro-Left intellectuals have taken to the streets

The country should be thankful to West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee for justifying the violence by his party cadre in Nandigram, claiming that it was "legally and morally justified", and that the Opposition there had been "paid back in the same coin". 'Others' drove the Marxist cadres out of Nandigram; so his party men have used counter force to get back. Violence for violence.

The only hitch is that it is a Chief Minister who is justifying violence by his party men. When the man who is responsible for maintaining law and order justifies some people taking law into their hands, there could be no hope for observing the spirit of the Constitution. So, going by Mr Bhattacharjee's logic, Maoists would be "justified" in using violence if they have a 'cause', and terrorists would be "justified" in using violence in establishing their rule.

Not that this horrible "justification" for violence is new in the history of Marxists. Communists have always believed in the use of violence as an article of their political faith, along with treachery and lies. Only the other day, CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat celebrated the 90th foundation day of the Soviet Union and picked up a bust of Lenin from the godown of his party office to restore it to its pristine position. In the land that was once Soviet Union, even the name of Lenin has been erased from the annals of history. Leningrad is now St Petersburg. The theory that Communists are justified in using violence, deceit, lies, treachery, etc, while dealing with their enemies is attributed to Lenin. Mr Bhattacharjee was merely quoting from Marxist scriptures.

If a group of people is justified in using violence to settle scores, what are the police there for? The Marxist Chief Minister was indirectly saying that as far as he was concerned, the sole purpose of the police was to help his party men carry out their high-handed action without hindrance from others. In other words, policemen should be present to protect Marxists to run riots!

No wonder, Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi was disgusted enough by the Marxist violence to publicly declare it as reprehensible and unacceptable. He has now called for a report. Normally, a Governor has the means of calling the Chief Minister and asking him to explain privately about any issue the State Government is dealing with. But that the Governor had to issue a public statement shows that all his efforts to let the Chief Minister see reason had failed earlier. The latest that the Marxists claim is that Maoists had infiltrated into Nandigram and perpetrated violence. But that claim turned out to be false when Home Secretary Prasad Ranjan Roy said no Maoist was found in the place.

But the country cannot dismiss the Marxist Chief Minister's justification of use of violence by his party cadre as an aberration. It is an article of faith for the Communists. They have used it in the past, in the years immediately following independence, which any way they dismissed as jhooti aazaadi, in Andhra Pradesh and elsewhere. When the movement failed, they blamed one set of leaders. In West Bengal, the CPI(M)'s use of coercive tactics by its labour leaders led to a flight of capital from that State -- something that Mr Bhattacharjee himself admitted a year back as a mistake.

When the Nandigram agitation started, it was the CPI(M) cadres who sought to crush the agitation by strongarm tactics helped by the police. This led to several hundred deaths and large swaths of populations taking refuge in public buildings. It was the first time the Marxists found the people opposing them courageously.

The Communists saw Nandigram as a signal that power might slip out of their hand. They then cordoned off the area, kept the media out of reach of the villages in the disturbed sector and went about systematically terrorising and re-establishing their dominance. Creating Communist cells that virtually hold the Government to ransom and rule the land is age-old Communist tactics.

It is not just in West Bengal that this is happening. It has been happening in the northern Malabar area of Kerala where again local forces have begun to challenge the Marxists' ruthless hold on the area. There has been a flurry of violence in Kannoor, Talacherry and other areas of Malabar where the Communist dominance has been locally challenged.

The Congress and the RSS cadres have been killed in broad daylight in public places. Whenever the Left Front Governments ruled there, the police were ordered to assist this process. Unfortunately for the Marxists, the defection of some of their leaders like MV Raghavan from their kill-and-carry mission has weakened their hold. The Communists have raised the pitch of their violence to counter this loss. With their return to power, they have the instrument of the Government to assist them in this violent attack on democracy.

So far we were wondering where the Left intellectuals have gone who otherwise were protesting against what they considered violation of human rights. Though they continue to remain loyal to the Marxist creed and are maintaining silence, at least artistes and others touched by the scale of violence in Nandigram against the people by the Marxists have had the courage to demonstrate against the West Bengal Government openly. This is perhaps a silver lining. The Marxists have realised that they cannot take the intellectuals for granted.

The CPI(M) is using its leverage with the UPA Government to ward off Central intervention. But it seems that Nandigram will ring the tocsin for the Marxist party.

Courtesy: www.dailypioneer.com, November 16, 2007