Review: Nandigram: A Tale of Developmental Violence

Reviewed Work(s): Nandigram: What Really Happened? by

Review by: Arup Kumar Sen
Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 43, No. 37 (Sep. 13 - 19, 2008), pp. 31-32
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
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 - BOOK REVIEW

both methodological and practical - of theand decentralisation that colour people's

contribution to this volume, he demonstrates
a tangible shift away 'nom the histories of thecentral issues that concern the study of
understanding of their and other's reli-
19th century, which sought to instil in gious traditions. Rich in content about
Hinduism. As Vasudha Dalmia aptly points
particular aspects of Hinduism, as well
out, in most introductory books on Hindu-
Hindus, a pride in their shared past. Instead,
as presenting a range of methodological
ism the period of the reform movements is
contemporary Hindu histories see the past
presented as the final phase in the devel-
as a monumental, epic struggle between the approaches to the study of the subject, The
opment of this particular religious tradi-
forces of good and evil, of Hindu and Muslim, Oxford India Hinduism Reader, a merging
and as a tool to recapture state power. tion. However as we well know, Hinduism
of two previous volumes, is an ideal intro-
The great value of The Oxford Indiacontinues to change and .develop (as anyductory undergraduate text, not only for
Hinduism Reader is its departure from the the study of Hinduism, but also for the
religious tradition is wont to do) under the
chronological approach to the teaching
new frames of immigration and globalisa-study of religion in general.
and study of Hinduism. The detailed in-
tion. What these many essays reveal are the
troduction provides a solid overview twin,
- competing forces of centralisation
Email: nacciyar@gmail.com

The fact-finding report on Nandigram

Nandigram: A Tale of has situated the story of people's resist-
ance and state violence in the light of the
Developmental Violence socio-political profile of the region. The
area earmarked for land acquisition as
part of the proposed sez project is inhab-
ARUP KUMAR SEN ited by mostly Muslims and lower caste
Hindus. The cpi(m) controlled five out of
concept
Nandigram: What Really Happened? (Based of
six panchayats in the affected area"de
before
a long
on the Report of the People's Tribunal onhistory.
Nandigram); the last panchayat elections.
Daanish Books, Delhi, 2007;ppxviii+ 102, Rs 175.
development The major focus of the report was to
in
Dictionarydocument the state terror in Nandigram
edited
the during March 14-16, 2007. de-p
violence in Nandigram should be situated
eminent In the after-
tual,in theGustavo
above perspective. math of the state-sponsored violence
Est in
of development Nandigram, the eminent historian, Tanika in
Outburst of Violence
gation of Sarkar, rightly warned that
its long"the true story
the After a landslide victory in the assemblyof the terror at Nandigram between
"metaphor of
election in 2006, the Left Front govern-March 14 to
hegemony and March 16 will probably
a nev- p
of ment under the hegemonic leadership ofer be disclosed
history, robbin in its fullness"' Reading
tures of
Communist Party the
of India (Marxist) - cpi(m) some of the testimonies of victims
oppand

vigorously pursued
forms of eyewitnesses cited in the report fills one so
the policy of inviting
their
ment discourse,
big capital to West Bengal. The government"with a sense of cold horror". a
trial adopted
mode coercive methods to acquire around Subrata
of Sarkar submitted to pro
the tribunal
1,000 acres of fertile
nition of agricultural land ina copy of the March 14-16term
the case register
way Singur in the Hooghly social
of of Nandigram block hospital.
district for the Tata evol The case
There is an intimate connection be- register shows 26 bullet injuries of which
group. The group has erected a factory in
tween development and violence. In the
the acquired land for manufacturing low- 15 or 16 were in the upper part of the body
early 1990s, Claude Alvares wrote thecost cars. The "success story" in Singur wasincluding head, chest and abdomen. A
followed by ruthless state violence insignificant number of bullet wounds seemed
story of developmental violence in India
Nandigram for acquiring agricultural landto have been caused by firing from the
as part of a project on science and violence
for a special economic zone (sez) project. back while the crowd was running away.
carried out by Ashis Nandy. He argued that
the past three decades have seen develop- The book under review is based on the The brutality of the massacre was accom-
ment become war and that governments
Report of the People's Tribunal on Nandi- panied by violation of basic medical norms
gram (May 26-28) held especially in the in the treatment of the injured in different
from the south have teamed up with inter-
context of state terror in Nandigram from government hospitals. After scrutiny of
national financial institutions to slaughter
their own folk. In the forward march of March 14, 2007 onwards. The people's tribu- several discharge certificates issued by the
neoliberal globalisation in India in the
nal was chaired by justice S N Bhargava, local hospitals in Nandigram and Tamluk,
former chief justice, Sikkim High Court. the tribunal found that almost in all cases
first decade of the 21st century, we have
noticed an escalation of violence against
The book has updated the contents of the there was not a single mention of injuries
people and destruction of their subsist-
report to include major incidents in Nandi- being caused by bullets. A definite tendency
gram up to December 2007.
ence lifestyles. The recent state-sponsored of hiding facts was noticed.

Economic & Political weekly 12X3 September 13, 2008 31

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 BOOK REVIKW :==::==-

High not
book under review. The Calcutta repo
The sending proper reports regarding the
Court
judgment on the March 14 police firing
that nature of injuries of such workers.
the
(November 16, 2007) and the governor's
cularly The coercive land acquisition strategy of
t
statement (November 9) have been
police re-
the Left Front government has sownf the
printed in the book. The Report of anseeds
party Inde-of counter-violence. Very recently,
h
"teach
pendent Citizens' Team from Kolkata theon
local resistance in Singur has taken a
a
violent turn. After the physical assault on
the state of affairs in Nandigram (Novem-
Nandigra
one of the
ber 30) is also reprinted in this volume.
cases ofworking engineers of the Tata
The recent happenings in Nandigram
armed factory, the workers got scared and many
r
were of them
testify that the ideology-based politics of startednot
deserting the factory site.
the dominant Left in West Bengal
recomme has
The current situation in Nandigram is more
alarming. Two local committee
been transformed into politics of govern-
order to secretaries
ofrole
ance and that violence plays a major
dents the cpi(m) in Nandigram
of were shot by
West thelast
in this politics. In connection with the Be
gunmen on two consecutive days, with
solemn
panchayat elections held in May one
2008, de
dead and the other fighting for life. It
should
West Bengal witnessed major incidents
used ofbeaga
mentioned in this connection that
called restoration of law and order and thethe
violence in many districts. Moreover, cpi(M)was completely routed in both
control of administration". Singur and Nandigram in the last panchay-
dominant Left blatantly used the adminis-
trative machinery in order to retain at elections. No one knows as to whether
their
November Violence
power. It was reported in the mediapopular
that justice in West Bengal will be ex-
the judiciary issued a showcause notice
The cpi(M)-led government of West Bengal to in the language of counter-violence
pressed
did not listen to any sane voice. In the
early in the
officer- in- charge of the Nandigram po- coming days. But, it is high time to
November 2007, thousands of cpi(m) lice
cadre interrogate
station for allegations of torture of po- the language of development,
litical workers belonging to opposition
including allegedly hired goons invaded which the dominant Left in West Bengal
parties
the villages under opposition control and inside the lock-up. The superin-
has inherited from the neoliberal "right".
tendent
recaptured them by brute force. The tale of of the Haldia subdivisional hospi-
November violence has found entry in tal the
had also been served such notice for Email: arupksen@gmail.com

Books Received
Babu S, Sutheeshna, Sitikantha Mishra and Bivraj Saith, Ashwani, M Vijayabaskar and V Gayathri (eds)
Hussain, Monirul (2008): Interrogating Development:
Bhushan Parida (2008): Tourism Development State, Displacement and Popular Resistance in (2008): ICTs and Indian Social Change: Diffusion,
Revisited: Concepts, Issues and Paradigms, Response North East India, Sage Publications, New Delhi, Poverty, Governance, Sage Publications, New Delhi,
Books, New Delhi, pri 363, price not indicated. pp 175, Rs 270. pp 418, Rs 750.

Bailey, Paul (2007): Censoring Sexuality: Poulenc's Sanyal, Kalyan (2007): Rethinking Capitalist Develop-
Joshi, Sushma and Ajit Baral (eds) (2008): New Nepal,
Priest, Seagull Books, Oxford and Calcutta, New Voices: An Anthology, Rupa & Co, New Delhi, ment: Primitive Accumulation, Governmentality and
PP H7i price not indicated. pp 188, Rs 195. Post-colonial Capitalism, Routledge, New Delhi,
pp x + 275, Rs 595-
Banerjee-Dube, Ishita and Johannes Beltz (eds)Koshy, Susan and R Radhakrishnan (eds) (2008):
(2008): Popular Religion and Ascetic Practices: Transnational South Asians: The Making of
Shetty,
a P K, Ajay Parida and M S Swaminathan (2008):
New Studies on Mahima Dharma, Manohar Pub- Neo-Diaspora, Oxford University Press, New Delhi, Biosecurity, National Institute of Advanced Studies
lishers, New Delhi, pp 253, Rs 695. pp vi + 378, Rs 695. and M S Swaminathan Research Foundation,
pp x + 255, price not indicated.
Carrin, Marine and Harald Tambs-Lyche (eds) (2008):
Malhotra, S K (2008): Next Economics: Simple, Assump-
People of the Jangal: Reformulating Identities and Tadjbakhsh, Shahrbanou and Anuradha M Chenoy
tionless, Falsifiable, Shakuntala Devi Memorial
Adaptations in Crisis, Manohar Publishers, Delhi,
Trust, New Delhi, pp vii + 644, price not indicated. (2008): Human Security: Concepts and Implica-
pp 302, Rs 750.
tions, Routledge, London, pp 273, Rs 495.
Marjit, Sugata (ed) (2008): India Macroeconomics
Chatterji, Joya (2008): The Spoils of Partition: Bengal
Terada, Yoshitaka (2008): Music and Society in South
and India, 1947-1967, Cambridge University Press, Annual 2007, Sage Publications, New Delhi,
pp 175, Rs 495- Asia: Perspectives from Japan (Senri Ethnological
New Delhi, pp 342, Rs 795.
Studies 71), National Museum of Ethnology,
Dharmadhikary, Shripad (2008): The World Bank Mukherjee,
as a Aditya, Mridula Mukherjee and Sucheta Osaka, pp 284, price not indicated.
Knowledge Producer, Manthan Adhyayan Rendra, Mahajan (2008): RSS, School Texts and the
Badwani, pp* xvi + 80, Rs 100. Murder of Mahatma Gandhi, Sage Publications, Thomas, Pradip Ninan (2008): Strong Religion,
New Delhi, pp 112, Rs 195. Zealous Media: Christian Fundamentalism and

Dhavan, Rajeev (2008): Reserved! How Parliament Communication inlndia, Sage Publications, Delhi,
Debated Reservations, 1995-2007, Rupa & Co,
Palsetia, Jesse S (2008): The Parsis of India: Preserva- pp xvii + 205, Rs 495.
Delhi, pp xviii + 319, Rs 395. tion of Identity in Bombay City, Manohar Publishers,
New Delhi, pp xii + 368, Rs 750. UN (2008): World Economic Situation and Prospects,
D'Souza, Errol (2008): Macroeconomics, Pearson Educa- Academic Foundation, New Delhi, on behalf of
tion, New Delhi, pp xxx + 482, price not indicated.
RIS (2008): Trinity of the South: Potential of India- the United Nations, pp xxii + 170, Rs 595.
Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Partnership, Academic
French, Philip and Julian Petley (2008): Censoring Foundation, New Delhi in association with Re- Vaid, K N (2008): The Unforgettable Decade (1938-1948):
the Moving Image, Seagull Books, London and search and Information System for Developing The Struggle for Freedom in Faridkot State - A Per-
Calcutta, pp 122, price not indicated. Countries, New Delhi, pp 202, Rs 795. sonal Account, Centre Point, Mumbai, pp 85, Rs 200.

32 September 13, 2008 13321 Economic & Political weekly

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