‘Revenge’ brigade beats a retreat

- CBI crackdown forces back comrades

One of the 10 suspects arrested with arms near Nandigram. Picture by Pradip Sanyal One army is on the retreat in Nandigram, its mission foiled by last week’s police firing and its aftermath. “We never expected things to be so volatile after March 14 (the day of the mayhem) and we’ll have to leave without finishing our assignment,” rued a CPM activist when this correspondent met him at a place near Tamluk. The 30-year-old is part of a seven-member “Red Brigade” from Keshpur that rode into town nine days ago but is now on its way back because of a CBI crackdown. The brigade had fought the CPM’s turf battle against the Trinamul Congress in the late 1990s. The action squads of the CPM are popularly known as “Red Brigades”. “It was the same situation. We were prepared to help our men reclaim the areas in Nandigram that they had lost in recent weeks. The motive was to take revenge and attack our rivals but we are clueless now,” he said. Holed up in a room near Khejuri since they arrived on five bikes from West Midnapore’s Anandapur, close to Keshpur, the squad was given arms and ammunition by local leaders. “Party leaders in Keshpur sent us and provided arms. We were sent very secretly and nobody knew about it, not even our family members. We have been doing this over the past nine years but…” the man trailed off. So what went wrong this time? The indiscriminate firing, he says. “We knew that the villagers will put up stiff resistance. But the police mishandled the situation and scuttled our plans. We never expected them to react in such a manner and turn Nandigram into a killing field,” revealed the leader of the group, sitting on the floor of the tiled room. In the corner were seven rucksacks — uncomfortable reminders of a job left unfinished. “We would have been successful but the police caused the problem. We had decided to maintain a distance from the police this time and would have attacked only when the police would be able to get them (opponents) to retreat. But this did not happen,” he said. Another member of the “brigade” rued the timing. “The very next day (after the firing), the high court asked the CBI to carry out an investigation. The outcry over the firing also put us in a fix.” After the arrest of their comrades yesterday, the nervousness is apparent, as is the realisation that it’s time to return. “We were always in touch with our leaders in Keshpur, but last night, they asked us to pack up and return. We are returning with a sense of guilt that we could not do anything this time,” the leader said, waving a Nandigram map dotted with targets. But another member felt it was only a matter of time before the “brigade” came back. “The party might need our services after some time and, who knows, we might have to come back again. Our lives are dedicated to the party.”

IMRAN AHMED SIDDIQUI IN NANDIGRA http://www.telegraphindia.com