The “silence of a crematorium” has overrun Nandigram and Singur, former West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said in a statement issued just ahead of the second phase of the assembly elections, even as the 76-year-old ailing communist leader tore into both the Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party over the “alarming situation” in the state. Nandigram will see a rip-roaring contest in the second round of the polls on April 1, with chief minister Mamata Banerjee set to take on her one-time close TMC aide and now BJP rival Suvendu Adhikari.
In an audio clip released late on Monday by the state CPI(M) unit on social media, Bhattacharjee says, “When we governed the state, our slogan was ‘Krishi amader bhitti, shilpo amader bhobishyot’ (agriculture is our foundation, industry is our future). We achieved success in the agricultural sector and took significant initiatives when it comes to industrialisation. Then, the TMC came to power and created an atmosphere of terror. There is a serious crisis in the agricultural sector and industrialisation…The youths are directionless and demotivated, there is no social security and women are unsafe in Bengal. To survive, the youths are leaving Bengal in search of better opportunities and overall the situation is alarming. Their dream is shattered. This cannot go on like this. In the past ten years, no industry has come up in Bengal. There is the silence of a crematorium in Nandigram and in Singur.”
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee took charge as chief minister in 2000 after Jyoti Basu while the state was struggling to cope with unemployment, refugee problems, and resentment against ‘class enemies’. Knowing his priority was to break the image of Bengal as an unfavourable place to invest, Bhattacharjee adopted several measures to woo investors. The most prestigious one was the Tata Nano car factory at Singur in Hooghly district. However, Mamata Banerjee managed to turn public opinion in her favour when she came to power in 2011 riding waves of the anti-land acquisition movements in Singur against the Tata Nano plant, and in Nandigram against the Salem group’s chemical hub project.
“On the one side there is the TMC running the state in an undemocratic way and on the other side the BJP is creating an atmosphere of anarchy in West Bengal. Therefore, it is my earnest appeal to all to save Bengal from the TMC and BJP and vote for ‘Sanjukta Morcha’ (Left Front, Congress and Indian Secular Front),” Bhattacharjee said.
The CPI(M) leader’s statement came days after Mamata Banerjee targeted Suvendu Adhikari and his father Sisir Adhikari, who also recently joined the BJP, accusing the ‘baap-beta’ (father-son) duo of having a hand in the Nandigram police firing which claimed 14 lives on March 14, 2007.
“How come the police spared the ‘baap-beta’ in Nandigram? The police could not have entered Nandigram without their consent. It was not possible without their consent. They called the cops here in 2007,” Mamata had said at a rally in Nandigram.
Mamata’s statement drew severe criticism from the Left Front leaders because the TMC during the anti-land acquisition movement maintained that it was Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee who ordered the Nandigram firing.
Bhattacharjee was the chief minister of West Bengal from 2000 to 2011. He has been suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and other old age-related ailments for the past few years.
On December 9, 2020, he was put on ventilator support in the critical care unit of a private hospital after he became unconscious due to severe breathing problems. He was discharged and kept under strict observation of doctors at home. Even at his 770-square-foot Palm Avenue residence in south Kolkata, he was on oxygen support.
He has been away from public and political life for the past few years due to his ill health. In 2015, he stepped down from the CPI(M)’s politburo and central committee, and gave up membership of the state secretariat in 2018.
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