The Centre on Wednesday stopped short of pinning down the CPI(M)-led government in West Bengal over Nandigram violence, but the Left did come under pressure when the Union home minister Shivraj Patil asserted in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday evening that he had issued written directives to the state government on the issue.
?We have given directives to the state government in writing that no one should be forced to leave his or her home. Everybody should be brought back and given full protection,? Patil said in the Lok Sabha while replying to the debate on Nandigram. He added that the Centre had information that ?some outsiders had instigated people from behind to take to violence. They also brought sophisticated weapons into the area?.
Patil also said the directives were ?on the lines of what leader of the Opposition LK Advani had spoken of?. Initiating the discussion, Advani had asked the Centre to issue directions to the state government under Article 355 and dismiss it if it failed to follow them.
That the Centre, however, was unwilling to take the West Bengal government to task was evident when Patil contended that he would not use any stringent approach. ?Some people do not use harsh words. We want to convey things gently,? he said.
Earlier in the debate, a belligerent CPI(M), determined to thwart attacks from all corners on Nandigram, went on the offensive when it accused its detractors of fuelling the crisis and allowing Maoists to take advantage of the situation.
The BJP used the occasion to try and create a rift between the UPA and the Left by reminding the Centre that it had constitutional responsibility to protect lives of people in the country including Nandigram.
The CPI(M), however, was clear about the direction that they wanted the debate to take. ?Where is the case of re-capture of Nandigram? For months the CPI(M) supporters were hounded and ousted from Nandigram and were compelled to live in camps where they underwent untold sufferings. If they (the supporters) want to go to their area and meet their near and dear ones, would that be coined as re-capture,? CPI(M) MP Mohammad Salim said in the Lok Sabha.
Accusing BJP for soft-pedalling Maoists, Ali claimed that Advani had on one occasion said that if need be, the help of naxalites be solicited to oust CPI(M) from West Bengal. He also questioned the propaganda of the Trinamool Congress and Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Samity (BUPC) that SEZ in Nandigram would uproot all peasants.
