Is Comrade Napoleon Scared?

So there was this Panchayat Election in Nandigram, West Bengal, - the recent hotspot of political debates.
The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was employed there to maintain peace and fearless polling. Alok Raj, the Deputy Inspector General of the CRPF is doing his job well. So he gets this phone call.

Arijit has given a short background of the scenario. He forwarded some news clips. As I read through the news clips, I felt that Mr. Seth is actually very scared and feeling insecure! That is why he is trying to blame the CRPF, trying to frame fake charges against Aloke Raj. All these proves only one fact, he is not an intelligent politician. Had he been so, he should have kept quiet because these Panchayat election holds little significance for him. The State Government is there backing him. If they think this is good for Nandigram, that must be true! The plans will eventually be implemented, because there is actually no one to protest. Opposition parties? Trinamool (Congress or BJP do not have a strong presence there)? They themselves don't know what they want to do, have no direction at all and always misguided, confused and disorganized! Even if they protest, that will not be for the people of Nandigram, that will ultimately be for garnering favor of media and their national political alliance.
The tragedy of the "communist" ruling in West Bengal is that over the years there have been number of laments and protests but no alternative to the current rulers has born out of the people of West Bengal. That is what essentially "communism" does in the long run - worshiping of mediocrity, total dependence on the authority and losing the urge/ motivation of rebellion against the authority even if they are unjust. So probably in a Orwellian sense West Bengal is a successful example of outcome of successful communist ruling.

The moral of the story, Laksham Seth is unnecessarily scared. He will be the winner in the long run.

"No one believes more firmly than Comrade Napoleon that all animals are equal. He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?" - Animal Farm

Am I too pessimistic?

Nandigram and beyond!

So much agitation is going on on this issue, and me being from Medinipur, I always get questions like, 'What exactly is goign on there?'
Honestly, I am totally confused and ill-informed! I am away from Medinipur for last three years now, and the news I get is from my some-what-pro-left-liberal parents who are not really into politics and believe in what newspapers say and from newspapers. Essentially the sources are almost the same! So disillusioned, I stayed away from this issues. But this is getting stronger day by day.
I don't know where we are heading ... things look very grim.
Here is a nice analysis of the Nandigram situation.
The point is Nandigram is just an outburst of our governmnetal policies, "social awareness", political propaganda, "democracy"... but what happens to the real people? Where will they go?
Its all dark in the future.

Confusing politics

After Singur its Nandigram. It is so confusing... especially sitting far away and almost disconnected from daily news (I don't have a TV and stopped taking Newspaper). My sister is appearing for her XIIth, probably the most important public examination that determines the student's future. Day after tomorrow is her first exam. She called me this evening and said,
"I have a surprise news for you. Can you guess?"
I thought of the wildmost news and answered very matter-of-factly,
"Your exam has been postponned."
She was stunned!
"How did you come to know? Are you watching TV?"
This was my time to get puzzled.
"No I just told you the most unprobable thing. Is your exam really postponned?"
"Yes, We have a All-Bengal Strike day after tomorrow..."

Bandh, Hartaal, Strike ... These were slightly off-the-track for last couple of years. Thanks to unputdownable Mamata Banerjee and industrialization of West Bengal, they have come back with a bang! Tomorrow and day after tomorrow are consecutive bandhs called by various poilitical parties. So the students can wait, let the issue be politicalized first.
In Singur the Tatas wanted to build an automobile industry. They took hundreds of acres of field for that. Protesters came, as most these lands were moderately fertile and few part was very fertile. So the farmers will lose their business. Well, the industry will certainly create employment for more people than all those who will lose their land, but still...
So entered Ms Mamata Banerjee and Trinamul. They put up heavy protests, which were followed by riots, bandhs and hunger strike. Everything in vain! Tatas are on their way to build up the industry. It was not a very successful campaign for Mamata. So at Nandigram they had to play more cautiously.
At Nandigram Govt. is planning for a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) for Chemical Industry to rip the benefit of proximity of Haldia port and petrochemical industry. Eventually most of Nandigram is barren salty land. But protest is more vigorous here. Opponents have allegedly brought cadres from outside of Bengal to protect their stronghold. They have even cut-off the roads to prevent incoming traffic in the whole area. This situation lasted for almost a month and today the police were there to evict the outsiders and clear the land. I heard ten people has been killed by police. This has added more spice to the tasty dish of political turmoil. So there is Bandh. Tomorrow called by SITU and day after by Trinamul and Congress.
Whatever news I get are mostly from my parents when I call them. They are commoners. Singur or Nandigram shouldn't bother them. But still they are bothered like all other Bengalis. What I don't understand is that when everybody is talking of unemployment, poverty, crime rate, etc, an industry like automobile or a SEZ may light up the scenario for sure. There is certainly a price ot pay, the land, in these cases. But if you think economically the industry will generate more employment and revenue than hundred acres of land. Ofcourse it wold have been a real concern if we were running short of farming land. But at least at present we are not. Some say, they could have chosen a barren land for automobile industry. Sure, they could but the infrastructure is poor and moreover you should give some positive points to the man who is going to invest. Again Nandigram is a barren land. But still there is no dearth of protesters!
I think its not the immediate effect of losing land and homes. What we should think about is the social impact of having such big industries. Economically an automobile industry will bring forth a huge amount of small scale industries in its vicinity. (I'm not clear about of Chemical Industry, but anyway they are on barren land!) This means a lots of employment. This will lead to decrease in antisocial activities as the youths will be engaged and employed. Yes the nearby villages will become more and urban losing its virginity and culture. That is a trade off. But we are already going towards that, only industrialization will make it happen faster! Similarly if more and more industries come up, then we may land up in shortage of farming land. But at present, I presume, we don't have that musc fear. What we need more is to strike a balance between industry and farming. And now we are really lacking in industry.

By the way, bandhs are normally called on Fridays and Mondays (especially the ones called by Trinamul) so that one can enjoy a long weekend! Otherwise they could have combined their protests by calling a bandh on same day as SITU, i.e., on Thursday.