Not many. Badal Roy, a zonal committee member of CPM in Nandigram who had been out of his home for the past 11 months is a relieved man now having returned to his home in Sonachura. Asked what conditions the party has put for these villagers, he says: “We have issued a set of guidelines for returnees and one has to abide by that,” said Roy. These include formation of a joint committee in each village that will “oversee all village matters,” and a village protection force in which a member from each family has to be present and mandatory participation in processions.

So it isn’t surprising to see that overnight, people in Sonachura, Garchakreberia, Takapura, Adhikaripara, Maheshpur and Gokulnagar — BPUC strongholds all — are speaking the CPM’s language. Sheikh Anwar Ali of Amgachia, however, can barely disguise his anguish: “We are being used as coins. You toss it once and we are with the BPUC. You toss it again and we are with the CPM.”

Inside Nandigram villages, the scars of the past fortnight’s recapture are still fresh. At Amgachia where last Saturday CPM goons fired on a peace procession that killed two people, bullet marks are clearly evident in the palm trees that line the road. There are some trees that show entry and exit holes.

Even today, a day after the CRPF columns have moved in to Nandigram, in the deep interiors, fresh arson and looting was reported. The CRPF is mostly restricted to patrols on the main arterial roads and static pickets. Asked why they were not being asked to go inside the villages to check violence, Superintendent of Police S Panda said: “They are now at strategic points. We will send them inside the villages when we think that is necessary.” With CPM cadres having conquered Nandigram, that may not be a necessity.