It's difficult to restore peace in Nandigram: Basu

KOLKATA: It is very difficult to restore peace in Nandigram despite chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee’s best efforts, veteran CPM leader Jyoti Basu said on Sunday.

“As I understand, it is really very difficult. But the chief minister has stated that he is trying hard,” Mr Basu, the former West Bengal chief minister, told newsmen in response to a query if he was hopeful that peace would return to Nandigram soon.

On the role of opposition parties, he said, “Their attitude is not correct. They know that there is a court case and an administrative inqury is on. They are alleging that there have been incidents of rape, but who are those raped and what are their names?”

Basu, who attended a meeting of the party’s labour wing CITU, however, stressed the need to bring peace in the area. “How is it possible that one part of the state is outside the purview of the state administration? About 200 of our party supporters have been evicted.”

Hundreds of villagers — mostly owing allegiance to CPM — have been evicted from their homes in Nandigram in recurring violence between Marxist supporters and those of the Trinamool-led Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee, he said.