Barun Roy: The great betrayal

ASIA FILE

Neither the media nor the intellectuals who ran down Buddhadeb cared to look at the Trinamool's record.

Amid all the jingoism surrounding the turmoil over Nandigram, two unfortunate things have happened in West Bengal that, to my mind, could have fallouts worse than the prevailing political hysteria.

One is a noticeable, and uncharacteristic, stiffening of Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's attitude with regard to the conflict, which is unfortunate but not entirely surprising under the kind of relentless, vicious, and often below-the-belt attacks he has been subjected to lately. He has been forced into a position where he has no option but to fight back, and this doesn't augur well for future political peace in the state.

The other is an openly partisan shift in the attitude of the press, which is totally unexpected, absolutely undesirable, and downright dangerous. Unexpected, because the press is supposed at all times to be an independent voice of reason and reassurance. Undesirable, because its moral authority as an arbiter of public opinion stands diminished. Dangerous, because it removes the only safety net people have against political power plays and assaults on their interest and welfare.

As the crisis snowballed, one expected the press to take a firm stand between the warring sides and tell them in no uncertain terms that they both were guilty of wrongdoing. In that duty the press has failed, and now it takes great pleasure in flailing a cornered chief minister, making him the butt of every ridicule, and painting him in the poorest possible light, all in the name of serving the people's cause. Some vernacular newspapers have even used language only used by mastans among themselves.

As all discerning people should know, the latest sin in Nandigram "" the forced recapture of its villages by armed CPI(M) cadres early this month "" was the after-effect of an another sin committed 11 months earlier: the capture of the area by elements of the Bhoomi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee (Resistance Committee against Eviction from Land), supported by opposition political parties like Trinamool Congress and equally armed. That push drove hundreds of villagers, who happened to be pro-CPI(M), out of their homes to live in temporary shelters outside the troubled areas. But no protest rose from leaders of the civil society then, and the press preferred to turn a blind eye.

The Resistance Committee came into being on the heels of the government's original idea to locate its proposed hub for chemical industries in Nandigram. That idea was later abandoned in the face of fierce opposition. The chief minister publicly apologised for the unfortunate killing of 14 Resistance villagers in a police firing on March 14 and made a categorical announcement that no hub would ever be established in Nandigram.

But the trouble didn't stop. It wasn't allowed to stop by the Trinamool Congress and its likes. Had a strong voice of protest been raised by the press at the time telling all trouble-makers that it was in the state's interest to call off the agitation, disband the Resistance Committee, accept Bhattacharjee's apology and undertaking, and let the original evictees return to their homes for the sake of peace, much of what happened subsequently, including the armed re-capture, could possibly have been avoided.

That didn't happen. There was no effort by the press to express the voice of reason even when a section of the intelligentsia, supposed to be another pillar of social conscience, started toeing the Trinamool line and proclaiming that not even an inch of agricultural land can be acquired for industrial purposes. The press didn't think it was part of its duty to question and stop the spread of such an irrational proposition. Is it ever possible for anybody to guarantee that not even an inch of farmland will be affected when new industries are established or roads are laid and urban areas come into being?

Bhattacharjee needed support also on the bigger issue of what's good for West Bengal and its people, not its self-seeking politicians. West Bengal does need new investments to develop a new economic infrastructure and open up new frontiers of employment, even in agriculture, and for the first time in many years, is beginning to get it. Is it in anybody's interest, except for Trinamool and its ilk, to stop this flow? And, in the changed global economic context and in the light of China's extraordinary economic achievement, is it bad to seek private capital for development when that's the only effective capital available? Is it wise or democratic for anyone to try and unsettle a settled government before its term, to settle scores on the streets?

With the civil society woefully split on Nandigram, the people at large believed the press would step in and provide the answers, being the only safe repository of its trust. That trust has been betrayed for the sake of instant glory and facetious news bytes.