What will Noam Chomsky say now? Will Arundhati Roy’s outrage be dimmed? Today, when West Bengal Chief Minister finally regretted his us-and-them remarks on Nandigram, could he have done enough to begin to heal the rift between buddhi-jibis (Bengali for intellectuals) and Buddha-jibis (those loyal to West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee)?

The streets of Kolkata and cyberspace have been crackling with a confrontation amongst the Left sparked off by the events at Nandigram. Statements and counter-statements had been flying so thick and fast that a split even loomed over the Fourth Internationalist.

Consider the dimensions of the confrontation. Former Viswa Bharati Vice-Chancellor and painter Shuvaprasanna use the word “fascist” for Buddhadeb’s government. Aparna Sen, who absented herself from the Kolkata film festival, says, “I could not bring myself to be associated with it after the renewed spate of violence in Nandigram.”

But actor Saumitra Chatterjee counters: “Those who had been evicted have got back to their homes by cunning, strength and manipulation (chale, bole and koushole). What is wrong in that? They (referring to intellectuals who had condemned the CPM’s role in Nandigram) are not “buddhijibi” (intellectuals) but “buddhujibi” (dim witted).”

Then there are those sitting on the fence. Filmmaker Gautam Ghose, who attended both the pro- and anti-CPM rallies, was nonetheless aghast at Buddhadeb’s talk of “our people” (CPM activists) and “they” (opposition workers): “A political leader can make a distinction between ‘us’ and ‘them’, but a chief minister can’t. What he has said is uncivil. He shouldn’t have used such language.”

... contd.