There are underlying messages in this outcome that certainly go beyond the issue of mere farmland acquisition for industry. The government backtracked from the land acquisition bid at Nandigram in the face of stiff opposition. But what it did not rescind was the “cadre raj”. The people of Bengal were witness to some of the worst versions of CPM-sponsored cadre raj that had had a cascading effect that went beyond the confines of Nandigram or Singur. The state police and the party’s armed cadres working in tandem to terrorise, torture and kill villagers might have been a familiar face of the rulers in the late ’70s, but it certainly is not acceptable any more in 2008.

This is where Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee failed to reform. This is where people saw through his duality. He successfully projected himself and the government to the urban audience by setting up urban infrastructure, increasing civic amenities, opening up a window of opportunity for the educated urbanite. The emphasis on IT, on foreign direct investments, on building roads, bridges, shopping malls and his robust industrialisation seemed to have gone well with the urban voters. He had at least changed the discourse from utter depression to an air of optimism for cities and urban centres. One was witness to his utter dismay at a 12-hour opposition-sponsored bandh that would cripple the IT sector or industry attendance. He was redefining the party and the government’s priority, largely fixing the urban electorate.

But he probably exposed his inner dogma when he dealt with the problem at Nandigram and Singur or the ration riots. Here, the chief minister was speaking in another voice. For example, the same chief minister who talked investments, who could strongly denounce bandhs and militancy in industry, could talk about “paying back the Nandigram people in the same coin”, backing up his cadres’ bid to forcibly capture villages. It sounded as if Bhattacharjee or his party comrades were speaking in the language of the late ’70s, and without any remorse. It had taken just 10 months for Bhattacharjee or his comrades to make amends now and admit that what the cadres were allowed to do was grossly wrong.

... contd.