Left Front partner terms Nandigram movement as democratic

Kolkata, Aug 2 (UNI) The Khammam police firing once again brought to the fore differences within the ruling coalition in West Bengal as Left Front partner Forward Bloc today said the opposition movement going on in Nandigram was ''democratic.'' '' We think the Nandigram movement is democratic. It started in protest against land acquisition and the people's wrath spiralled after the police firing,'' Forward Bloc state Secretary Ashok Ghosh said.

His comments came in the wake of CPI(M)'s refusal to equate the Khammam incident, in which Marxist activists fell to police bullets, with the March 14 incident in Nandigram where police of the Left Front Government fired on farmers, backed by the Trinamool Congress-led opposition.

A day after Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee accused the CPI(M) of playing a double role over police firing at Nandigram and Khammam, veteran Marxist leader Jyoti Basu said on July 29 that the incidents could not be compared.

The nonagenarian leader observed that police were forced to fire in Nandigram when they were attacked with bombs and other weapons while at Khammams, police fired on a peaceful gathering.

CPI(M) Central Committee member Benoy Konar also told reporters on July 31 that his party considered the Khammam movement as democratic, but not the one in Nandigram.

Going a step ahead, the party's peasants' wing leader also said there was no question of providing compensation to the victims' families in Nandigram even though the Andhra Pradesh Government had announced compensation for the kin of those killed at Khammam.

However, West Bengal Home Secretary Prasad Ranjan Ray today said the Government was seriously considering giving compensation to the families of the families of Nandigram victims, but no final decision had been taken in this regard.

Taking a serious view of Mr Konar's statement, Mr Ghosh said what the CPI(M) leader said was against the Left Front's decision and virtually called for his public censure.

'' We wonder how could a veteran leader like him speak in such language. It is against the stand of the Left Front. We shall ask Front Chairman Biman Basu to clarify whether the Front is in agreement with Mr Konar's statement,'' Mr Ghosh said.

Alleging that Mr Konar's remarks were creating confusion among the Front partners, Mr Ghosh said he did not think that the statement had been endorsed by Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee or Mr Jyoti Basu.

In reply to a question as to whether the Forward Bloc was opposed to setting up of the proposed chemical hub, Mr Ghosh said his party was against any SEZ. ''In the developed countries SEZs are not encouraged. We have to give repeated thoughts to it,'' he said.

UNI