Nandigram women not to give up fight

Saket Sundria and Kajari Bhattacharya
The statesman
NANDIGRAM, Nov. 27: If the chief minister expressed astonishment at why people in Nandigram have not given up their struggle even after the government declared that there would be no chemical hub in Nandigram, he may well learn the answer from Narmada Mashi, Mrs Monica Maity and Mr Bhagbat Giri. “I will die but not part with my land,” said 70-year-old Mr Bhagbat Giri of Gokulnagar. The old man, visibly shaken and trembling after witnessing the violence unleashed by CPI-M cadres, is still determined not to give in. He mistook these reporters for a CID officer and a government agent. "I know you are here to find out who are opposing the government. But I am not scared," he said. A woman who was allegedly gang-raped on 14 March, a 70-year-old woman who cannot forget how she knelt in the canal and begged gun-toting goons to let her live on the same date, an elderly couple who have been forsaken by their only son and whose house was burnt down in the 6 November carnage in Takapara ~ they are all adamant that they would rather die than give in to the self-serving will of the ruling party. "We will never vote for the red flag! It's better to welcome death that vote for those who are trying to take our land! We will fight to the death for our land like Matangini!" shouted the old woman who everyone calls Narmada Mashi, as those who stood around her in the Nandigram relief camp started in surprise at the venom in her voice. The reference to freedom fighter Matangini Hazra, who was shot dead by the British police in Tamluk, a gateway to Nandigram, is common among those who fear for their lives and land in this troubled area.Mrs Monica Maity of Takapara had a look of despair in her eyes as she related her tale of horror. "They burnt down our house. Everything we owned is finished. It's harvest time, and they are going to reap our crops as we are away from the village. They raped daughters in front of their mothers. What kind of people do that? Our only son has forsaken my ill husband and me. We don't know what to do; where to go. “But a note of determination crept into her voice when she was asked what she would do after leaving the relief camp. “We simply want to save our land. These people cannot continue this way for long. Their end is nigh," she said. And like everyone else who has lived through the horrifying events of the past 11 months, Mrs Maity started to weep.