Intellectuals show trinamool the Distance

The opposition Trinamool Congress'(TMC) effort to observe the third anniversary of police firing on farmers in Nandigram got a jolt as the artists and intellectuals, whose protest helped the Opposition to mobilise public opinion against the ruling Left Front government, started distancing themselves from Mamata Banerjee's programmes. On this day three years ago, the police had fired on the unarmed farmers and killed 14 people.

The brutal assault on the farmers unleashed by the state administration shocked the civil society and gave birth to a movement where a large section of the urban middle class lent their support to the farmers' cause and thus created a formidable resistance to the state government's bid to acquire land for the proposed chemical hub there, eventually leading to the massive defeat of the Left in the last general election. Today, at Nandigram, thousands of people assembled to observe Nandigram Day and paid homage to the martyrs who died in police firing there.

But it was a TMC affair where Union minister Mukul Roy and local MP Shubhendu Adhikari along with some other local leaders were present. But, no artist and intellectuals, who normally take part in such programmes, were seen there.

Though the programme was scheduled to continue till late afternoon, it was concluded much earlier.

In Kolkata, according to Madan Mitra, her close aide and TMC MLA, said Mamata Banerjee was supposed to lead a procession at south Kolkata to commemorate the day around the same time when Kolkata Knight Riders would play at Eden Garden today.

Also, during the day there were similar programmes organised by the local TMC leaders at Dum Dum and Rajarhat. But there also the artists were conspicuous by their absence.

Some of them, like Jay Goswami and Saonli Mitra would recite poetry at a local theatre to observe the day.

But Kaushik Sen, Aparna Sen, Bibhas Chakraborty and some other prominent names are absent. Bratya Basu, a leading playwright and stage personality, admitted that there has been a conscious effort to distance them from the TMC.

Interestingly, ever since Kabir Suman, the popular singer-turned TMC MP openly criticised Mamata Banerjee and her party on the question of endorsing Centre's anti-Naxalite measures, a fissure has appeared in the artists' camp.

The artists, who till the other day were with Mamata Banerjee and supported her tirade against the ruling Left, now all of a sudden became silent or at best not visible in the political arena any more.