Guv seeks punishment for Nandigram culprits

KOLKATA/NEW DELHI: Even as the CPM continues to rage against the judiciary for its intervention in the Nandigram issue, West Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi said the state government should honour the high court’s directions and punish the wrong-doers.

Mr Gandhi, who visited the violence-hit village on Sunday, empathised with the victimised people. “It will take time for the trauma of people to subside... Normalcy is returning, but not an easy process,” said Mr Gandhi.

A team of the National Commission of Minorities that visited Nandigram had came down heavily on the state government. The commission had said that it found “serious incidents of molestation of women and rape of minor girls” in Nandigram. The commission had also said that it was a pre-planned attack on the people of the village, executed with the connivance of the state government.

The governor, who has been critical of the state government’s response, had earlier termed the CPM’s “recapture” of the village as unlawful and unacceptable. “The ardour of Deepavali has been dampened in the whole state by the events in Nandigram. Several villages in Nandigram are oscillating from deepest gloom to panic,” Mr Gandhi had said in a statement.

In this context, Mr Gandhi’s visit to Nandigram on Sunday was significant. The governor, who had said the developmental mode for a particular region should suit the interests of its people, said Nandigram had a great future for agriculture.

Reports said the governor, who walked more than a kilometre, visited interiors of Satengabari, Ranichak and Sonachura nearly three weeks after the recapture of the area by armed cadres of CPM. Hundreds of villagers gathered at Satengabari to narrate their tale of woes to the governor.

Mr Gandhi also visited a refugee camp at a school where anti-land acquisition Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee supporters were lodged, and spoke to them. The inmates of the camp narrated their plight and expressed fear in returning to their homes. He said wrong-doers must not be exonerated and CRPF should continue for some more time. “This is the message I got from the people here. They all want peace and security,” Mr Gandhi said.

The governor is expected to submit a report on the situation in Nandigram soon. The governor, who was in the Capital last week, had discussed the issue with the President and the Union home minister.