Kolkata, Mar 24: Trinamool Congress Chief Mamata Banerjee has sought action against West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee over the recent killings of 14 persons in police firing at Nandigram.
Mamata called upon the Centre to intervene in the matter.
"(Prime Minister) Manmohan (Singh) people are the real asset of the people you are in power with. So, you should control the strings. Just like Narendra Modi, the chief of Gujarat, has his hands in the infamous Godhra riots, the chief minister of Bengal has his hands in the riots in Nandigram and Singur. Why is it that action should not be taken against him? You should behave responsibly," Mamata said.
Police opened fire in Nandigram, 150 kilometers southwest of Kolkata, on March 14, on residents and political activists protesting land acquisition for Indonesian based Salim Group's proposed Special Economic Zone (SEZ) to be set up in the village.
In view of a rally called by the Trinamool Congress in Nandigram on Sunday, Bhattacharjee had on Friday held an emergency meeting of the State's top officials, directing them to take all necessary steps to prevent a recurrence of a Nandigram-like violence.
Following an all round outcry over the Nandigram killings and coming under pressure from the Left allies, the State Government later shelved the project.
The CBI, on Thursday submitted the Nandigram report to the Calcutta High Court. The agency has reportedly stated that outsiders along with the police fired at the people without provocation.
The report, which has not been made public, has concluded that .315 bore bullets, used in country-made guns, were used by the outsiders to kill some persons, who were on the 'hit list'.
Critics say that instead of public consultation, an 1894 colonial-era land law was manipulated to "acquire" land.
The killings have become a national controversy with the Centre putting on hold the low-tax SEZs, touted as important for boosting India's industrial growth and closing the manufacturing gap with China.
At least eight strikes have been called in West Bengal in the past six months against the government's economic reforms.
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"In economic life there is extreme inequality and exploitation. Although colonialism no longer exists openly in the political and economic sphere, still it persists indirectly, and this should not be tolerated... In this respect you should remember that in economic life, we will have to guarantee the minimum requirements of life to one and all... There cannot be any sort of adjustment as far as this point is concerned. The minimum purchasing requirement must be guaranteed to all. Today these fundamental essentialities are not being guaranteed. Rather, people are being guided by deceptive economic ideas like outdated Marxism, which has proven ineffective in practical life and has not been successfully implemented in any corner of the world. Why do people still believe in such a theory, which has never been proved successful? The time has come for people to make a proper assessment of whether they are being misguided or not." |
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"Human beings have still not been able to form a human society, and have still not learned to move with the spirit of a pilgrim. Although many small groups, motivated by self-interest, work together in particular situations, not even a small fraction of their work is done with a broader social motive. By strict definition, shall we have to declare that each small family unit is a society in itself? If going ahead in mutual adjustment only out of narrow self-interest or momentary self-seeking is called society, then in such a society, no provision can be made for the disabled, the diseased or the helpless, because in most cases nobody can benefit from them in any way... in that case there always remains the possibility of some people getting isolated from the collective. All human beings must attach themselves to others by the common bond of love and march forward hand in hand; then only will I proclaim it a society." |