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DE RUEHCI #0345/01 3171456
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O 131456Z NOV 07
FM AMCONSUL KOLKATA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1757
INFO RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI IMMEDIATE 1661
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI PRIORITY 0747
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI PRIORITY 0752
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 0488
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 0488
RUEHGO/AMEMBASSY RANGOON 0344
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 0113
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 0398
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUEIDN/DNI WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA 2150

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KOLKATA 000345 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREF ASEC IN
SUBJECT: COMMUNISTS BRUTALLY CRUSH OPPOSITION IN RURAL WEST BENGAL 
 
REF: A. A) KOLKATA 340   B)  KOLKATA 0323   C) KOLKATA 0145  D)  KOLKATA 104 
     ¶B. E)  KOLKATA 0095  F)  KOLKATA 0092  G)  KOLKATA 0088  H)  0017 
     ¶C. I)  CALCUTTA 0017  J)  CALCUTTA 0011  K)  06 CALCUTTA 0578 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  From November 6 to 11, Communist Party of 
India-Marxist (CPM) activists conducted a brutal campaign to 
"recapture" the rural West Bengal area of Nandigram from the 
opposition Bhumi Uchhed Protirodh Committee (BUPC) (Committee 
Against Eviction From the Land).  Following initial CPM 
successes in seizing villages through violent attacks on the 
local BUPC supporters, the CPM-controlled state government 
announced a "peace package" for the BUPC.  However on November 
10, CPM cadres continued their attacks and fired on unarmed BUPC 
peace marchers - including women and children - killing three 
people.  WB Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi expressed dismay with 
the CPM's strong-arm tactics and characterized their actions as 
"unlawful and unacceptable."  Objections even arose among the 
CPM's Left Front allies, who issued a joint statement saying 
that the responsibility for Nandigram lay with the CPM alone. 
Police remained mute spectators throughout much of the violence 
in Nandigram and only took action against local artists, 
academics and intellectuals, arresting them when they conducted 
a peaceful protest in Kolkata.  Additional protests occurred on 
November 12, when opposition parties Trinamul Congress, 
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and others imposed a general strike 
(bandh) throughout West Bengal, which resulted in more arrests 
of protesters and additional violence. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) Summary Continued:  Given the CPM's dominance in West 
Bengal, it is unlikely that it will face any significant censure 
or fallout from its brutal tactics in Nandigram.  The GOI 
leadership has refrained from criticizing the CPM, reflecting 
again the great influence the CPM has in helping to maintain the 
ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.  West 
Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is being seen as 
the "emperor without clothes," who heads the state government 
while abdicating the dirty business of political turf battles to 
the dictates of the party.  The CPM also gave short shrift to 
its urban intellectual supporters, arresting those that 
protested and resorting to Stalinist measures of intimidation 
and murder to ensure that its rural political base remained 
intact.  End Summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
THE CPM DROPS THE HAMMER AND SICKLE IN NANDIGRAM 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶3.  (U) Disregarding public outrage and protests, the CPM's 
cadre-army recaptured Nandigram from the BUPC during November 
6-11 as state and Central Reserve Force Police (CRPF) watched. 
The CPM's extensive campaign was well coordinate with three 
separate groups, each with over 200 CPM activists, entering the 
Nandigram area from various directions on November 7.  The CPM 
pulled these men from other districts in West Bengal, including 
notorious figures such as Sukur Ali and Tapan Gosh, who have 
warrants pending for their involvement in an earlier 2001 
massacre of Trinamul Congress supporters in Chhoto Angaria 
village.  Calling this a "homecoming" for its evicted 
supporters, the CPM militias attacked villagers supporting the 
BUPC, forced them to leave their homes, and burned their 
property.  Following the violence that erupted in Nandigram on 
November 6 (Ref.  A), this latest onslaught enabled the CPM to 
regain most of the territory it lost to the BUPC in January of 
this year.  The official death toll was five, with reports of 
numerous people injured and raped. 
 
------------------- 
VIOLENCE IS "PEACE" 
------------------- 
 
¶4.  (U) On November 8, once certain of the CPM's victory, the 
GOWB announced a "peace package" for the BUPC:  compensation for 
victims of police shootings on March 14, a review of criminal 
cases registered during the violent protests, and withdrawal of 
cases against those who may have been falsely accused.  The BUPC 
in return allowed the police to set up camps in Nandigram and 
the freedom to search for suspected Maoists.  However, WB Home 
Secretary P.R. Ray said repeatedly that there was no evidence of 
 
SIPDIS 
Maoist insurgents in Nandigram. 
 
 
KOLKATA 00000345  002 OF 003 
 
 
¶5.  (U) Although the peace package was announced, CPM workers 
continued their attacks.  On November 10, CPM cadres fired on 
unarmed BUPC peace protestors - including women and children -- 
from the villages of Nandigram Bazar, Garchakraberia and 
Sonachura, killing three.  BUPC supporters claimed that the 
police offered no protection to the marchers even though they 
had asked the police for assistance in advance.  The CPM 
allegedly also took 300 of the marchers hostage for use as human 
shields in subsequent operations against BUPC-occupied villages. 
 The same day at Satengabari, CPM cadres shot a woman in both 
legs and then reportedly raped her and her two daughters.  There 
are unconfirmed reports of a large number of bodies being taken 
away and dumped by CPM supporters.  The scope and intensity of 
the terror forced many BUPC supporters to feign being CPM 
loyalists, while the rest fled to relief camps. 
 
---------------- 
STIFLING DISSENT 
---------------- 
 
¶6.  (U) The CPM also attacked those who protested the violence 
perpetrated by their workers.  After the initial attacks had 
taken place, WB Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi issued a November 9 
statement expressing dismay at the CPM's action and termed it 
"unlawful and unacceptable."  The CPM leadership quickly and 
publicly criticized Gandhi for being partisan and acting outside 
of his constitutional mandate.  Subsequently, Gandhi called on 
Former Chief Minister Jyoti Basu expressing full confidence in 
him (implying a lack of confidence in Chief Minister Buddhadeb 
Bhattacharjee) and requested him to restore peace in Nandigram. 
During November 11-12, well-known intellectuals and cultural 
figures (including Leftists) in Kolkata organized processions 
protesting the Nandigram operation.  Some protesters were 
arrested by police during a "lathi charge" (beating with sticks) 
and released later. 
 
¶7.  (U) After the attacks, the state CPM leadership claimed 
"peace" had finally descended on Nandigram.  However, the CPM's 
Left Front allies (Communist Party of India (CPI), Forward Bloc 
and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP)) upset by the violence 
issued a statement saying the responsibility for Nandigram 
rested with the CPM alone.  RSP Minister Kshiti Goswami 
announced his wish to resign from the Left Front cabinet to 
protest CPM's atrocities in Nandigram. 
 
¶8.  (U) Opposition parties responded by calling for strikes 
(bandh).  The Trinamul Congress initially announced a program of 
indefinite "Bangla achal" (Bengal to a standstill) and on 
November 12, supported a bandh called by the leftist Socialist 
Unity Center for India (SUCI), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 
and the Congress Party.  The public response to the strike was 
spontaneous and widespread.  Train and road transport services 
were paralyzed, and an attack on reporters from a Bengali daily 
(pro-CPM Aaj Kaal) was reported.  Clashes between strike 
supporters and opponents were reported from North Bengal, 
particularly Cooch Behar.  About seven buses in the state were 
damaged.  More than 300 bandh supporters were arrested all over 
West Bengal.  However, SUCI and the BJP called off the second 
day of their scheduled strike on November 13, while Trinamul 
leader Mamata Banerjee toned down her rhetoric and said that her 
party's program would be not to immobilize the people but to 
hamper the government's functioning.  On November 13, SUCI 
observed "Martyrs' Day" for the Nandigram victims, and Trinamul 
scheduled protests at government offices, but the state slowly 
returned to normal.  Civil society leaders and Kolkata's 
intellectuals have planned a massive non-partisan rally in 
Kolkata on November 14 and Banerjee announced that she would 
participate in the rally without her party flag.  Given the 
CPM's power, the opposition has few options for building on the 
general outrage over Nandigram, aside from token protests. 
 
----------- 
MASTER PLAN 
----------- 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Post's contacts said that the CPM's Delhi and West 
Bengal leadership planned the Nandigram operation in utmost 
secrecy over a span of three days prior to the attack.  While 
instructions on the ground were issued to armed cadres by the 
 
KOLKATA 00000345  003 OF 003 
 
 
area's district leaders, CPM General Secretary Prakash Karat was 
apparently fully informed of the plans.  At the state level, 
labor leader and Central Committee Member Shyamal Chakrabarty 
took the lead in directing the district leaders and cadre-army. 
Chief Minister Bhattacharjee, who is in charge of police, 
reportedly held them back while the CPM supporters attacked. 
The CRPF, deployed by the national government but permitted to 
function only under the state government's instructions, was 
prevented from entering Nandigram by CPM activists until after 
the CPM had regained control.  Also during the violence, members 
of the press, opposition leaders and human rights activists were 
prevented from entering the area. 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶10.  (SBU) The CPM was brutal in its Stalinist tactics of murder 
and intimidation to ensure that its rural political base 
remained intact in Nandigram.  With the CPM's dominance in the 
state, the opposition has been unable to respond effectively. 
Pictures of anti-CPM leaders in Nandigram forced to wave CPM's 
red flags by the CPM activists and commenting to the press "What 
else can I do?" summed up the mood of hopelessness.  Also 
notable was the muted response of the national UPA government. 
Few GOI leaders have made public statements on the Nandigram 
attacks, aside from some critical comments by Information and 
Broadcasting Minister PR Dasmunshi.  Prime Minister Manmohan 
Singh and Minister for External Affairs and West Bengal Congress 
MP Pranab Mukherjee have said little about the violence.  The 
reticence of the Congress Party and its coalition partners in 
the UPA government to castigate the CPM appears to be another 
example of the CPM's influence on the weak national government. 
According to Trinamul Congress MP Dinesh Trivedi, the Congress 
is more worried about keeping the CPM's support, which allows 
the UPA coalition to govern, than holding the CPM accountable 
for its actions in Nandigram. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) Comment Continued:  CPM leaders appear unconcerned 
about the little criticism they have faced, including from many 
intellectuals who until recently backed the party.  Similarly, 
CPM leaders seem unfazed at the prospect of their smaller 
Leftist partners possibly breaking away from the Left Front. 
The state leadership repeatedly emphasized it was happy with the 
party's success in restoring "peace" and in sending CPM 
supporters back to their homes in Nandigram.  The perceived 
success in Nandigram was a boost to the morale of the low-level 
party workers in the run-up to the 2008 village-level panchayat 
polls, when these cadres again will be mobilized to perform 
their "duties" for the party.  The operation was also a message 
to dissenting village populations in other districts (where many 
ration riots have been occurring) that they should toe the party 
line or face the consequences. 
 
¶12.  (SBU) Comment Continued:  Also, the apparent rift between 
the CPM's "Bengal group" and the national leadership of Prakash 
Karat that had arisen over the issue of the U.S.-India nuclear 
deal appears to have been addressed by the Nandigram operation. 
Karat and the CPM's central leadership reportedly directed the 
attacks and in taking decisive, ruthless action to settle the 
Nandigram question, left Bhattacharjee looking irrelevant.  With 
the resulting condemnation being so limited, the Karat faction 
will now claim a victory for the CPM, strengthening their 
position over Bhattacharjee and others in the Bengal group when 
it comes to speaking for the party. 
JARDINE