Nandigram rocks Kerala assembly

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: If villagers in Nandigram feel that the West Bengal government and the Centre are not adequately concerned about their plight, they can take heart that opposition MLAs down south in Kerala are infuriated about the police action there.

The Congress-led opposition United Democratic Front on Thursday walked out of the assembly when the speaker disallowed discussion on l’affair Nandigram. While the speaker felt the matter did not merit discussion because it pertained to another state, Congress leader G. Karthikeyan who raised the matter felt otherwise.

Opposition leader Oommen Chandy argued that the matter deserved discussion in the House considering that two members of the assembly had visited Nandigram but the speaker was unrelenting.

After walking out in protest over the speaker’s refusal to raise the Nandigram issue, Mr Karthikeyan told media persons that there had been precedents of the House discussing matters happening outside the state.

The Nandigram issue has come in handy for the Congress in Kerala which suffered a crushing defeat in last year’s assembly election. The matter has been timely for the UDF in Kerala, coming as it does on the heels of the CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan found carrying bullets in his handbag at the Chennai airport, and the party taking a U-turn in deciding to accept a loan from the Asian Development Bank after having opposed the idea when the Congress was in power.

The KPCC had even sent a delegation to Nandigram this week, to make an on-the-spot study of the situation there. The delegation was led by KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala and comprised Congress leaders M.I. Shahnawaz, M.M. Hassan, K.V. Thomas and G. Karthikeyan.

Earlier this week, CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan had dismissed Nandigram as a “non-existent issue”, stating that the West Bengal government had made it clear that land would not be acquired against the wishes of farmers.