Nandigram is a culmination of the West Bengal CPI(M) buying the logic of neoliberal economic policies. An anguished supporter of the CPI(M) asks why the party leadership in the state cannot, even within the capitalist framework, show an alternative path to industrialisation for the rest of the country.

A CPI(M) SUPPORTER

 

T

he events in, around and related to Nandigram, which came to a head on March 14 when 14 people lost their lives, mostly in police firing, are a watershed in the history of the Left in India. Not only has it put in sharp focus the inability of the Left so far to work out a coherent political strategy to run state governments against the backdrop of neoliberal reforms being pursued in India by successive governments at the centre; it has also opened up deep fault-lines within the Left which is surely not in the interest of a strong and united Left Front (LF) in West Bengal. The CPI(M) has, understandably, come under intense criticism over this matter as it heads the LF government in West Bengal and is also the most significant left wing force in national politics. Sympathisers and friends have been confounded since it is the CPI(M) which has led the charge against prime minister Manmohan Singh and his neoliberal cabal ever since the formation of the UPA government. For political opponents of the CPI(M) and anti-communists generally, Nandigram has provided useful ammunition.