NANDIGRAM, NOVEMBER 7: Desperate to regain control, CPM cadres rampaged through Nandigram I block today, entering village after village as they fired blanks in the air. Terrified villagers fled, seeking shelter in school buildings and relief camps. By evening, the numbers in the camps had swelled to 3,000 plus.

Not only did the CPM urge Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee not to deploy the CRPF in the area but it also kicked off an unprecedented row by openly attacking the state Home Secretary for his remark that gunshots were fired from an area dominated by the party.

The violence prompted Raj Bhavan to issue a statement saying Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi was monitoring the situation and had brought to the notice of the state and the Centre the “divisive activities by outsiders”.

Such was the ferocity of the attack by CPM cadres today that for the first time in 10 months since the blockade of Nandigram against a SEZ plan which has since been dropped, the Bhoomi Uchched Protirodh Committee (BUPC) — the Save Land Committee — was on the backfoot, pulling out from village after village and looking for cover in relief camps.

On the other hand, nearly 1,500 CPM supporters, who had been living in the camps all these months, started moving back to their homes.

With most villages still out of bounds — armed squads have dug up trenches and snipers have taken positions — panic-stricken villagers had difficulty even fleeing, most on foot and others on cycle rickshaws.

BUPC leaders demonstrated outside the police station, demanding in vain that the police act. East Midnapore police chief S S Panda said: “We know all this, but what can we do? If we step out, we are blamed. Let them (parties on both sides) call a meeting and tell us to crack down, then we shall see.”

To regain control of Nandigram, local CPM leaders have formed squads — each has nearly 20 cadres — positioned at 10 points along the border with Khejuri, a CPM stronghold. They have been carrying out simultaneous attacks at different points, instead of attempting to move into one area. The CPM plan has worked: six villages have been emptied — Maheshpur, Gokulnagar north and south, Keshavpur, Kanungochak and Simulkundo. Keshavpur, Gokulnagar and Kanungochak had become bastions of the BUPC and Maoists.

In Kolkata, Mamata Banerjee demanded that the Disturbed Areas Act be immediately invoked in Nandigram to restore normalcy. Nirmal Jana, a CPM district committee secretariat member, said: “Ask the government why the police are not entering the area or acting.”

But Chief Minister Bhattacharjee was under pressure from his own party not to deploy the CRPF in Nandigram. “The Chief Minister has been asked by Front partners to postpone the decision to deploy CRPF in Nandigram and they urged him to arrange all-party meetings to restore peace,” confirmed veteran CPM leader Jyoti Basu after a meeting of the Left Front today.

State Home Secretary Prasad Ranjan Ray was also targeted by the CPM with Biman Bose, who’s also a politburo member, alleging that “the Home secretary is giving all misinformation and disinformation.The Home Secretary has made statements without checking facts”.

Ray had said yesterday that gunshots were fired from the Khejuri-end, the area dominated by the CPM.

Bose’s remark drew an angry response from Ray: “I have not told a lie. I get information from the police and district authorities. I have no other agency to bank on.”

This morning, Ray and the DGP met the Governor and briefed him on the situation in Nandigram. In the evening, the Principal Secretary to the Governor issued a statement: “The Governor is observing the rapidly evolving developments closely. He has discussed the matter with the Chief Minister.”

The release said that the Governor had received reports of violence and “divisive activities by outsiders” and had brought it to the notice of the state and Central governments. “He (Governor) trusts that even at this late hour, representatives of the people and the government will confer together to find an end to the fears besetting the people of Nandigram. He shares the widespread desire of the people of the state that those compelled to leave their homes, farmsteads and means of livelihood in Nandigram will be able to go back to them and that everyone in Nandigram will be spared the agonies of an insecure present and an uncertain future,” the release stated.