Red is Back in Vogue

The civil war in India has reached a new high. 50 policemen
were killed by Naxalites in Dantewada on 15th March,
while an unofficial estimate yields the same number of deaths in
Nandigram on 14th March, of the villagers protesting against
WB government adamant on takig away their land.

This comes barely 10 days after a Member of Parliament from
Jharkhand, Sunil Mahto, known for his strong anti-naxalite
stance, was shot dead.

Choice of Dantewada for the killings is not very surprising
either, since it is where the government started its Salwa
Judum campaign which pitches residents of the same village
against one another(Naxalites vs. non-Naxalites).

And, it's in the vicinity of Dantewada where TATA and ESSAR,
two of India's richest corporate houses, have been accused
of grabbing the land forcefully from the villagers for a
peanut compensation, as can be read in the memorandums against
TATA and ESSAR.

Why should a state be so powerful that it can evict its people from
their lands for negligible compensation and without any proper
rehabilitation? In the case of Nandigram and Singur, villagers
are being asked to give up a lush green land, for money and
some menial job which the proposed plants may or may not generate
for them.

Ironically, it's Bangladesh, West Bengal's eastern neighbor, which, only
a few months ago, produced a Nobel laureate for his successful efforts
at alleviating poverty.