More letters to the Public Editor

These letters are back-dated. So, bear with them.
Letter # 5
07 Nov 2007
In Nandigram, it is now a reign of terror unleashed by the CPI-M, and will not stop till all opposition is totally wiped out as was in the cases of Chhoto Angria and Keshpur. That 15000 people were hounded out reminds us of Marichjhapi, and the ruthlessness reminds us of the terrible incident on the Bijon Setu.. There is no remedy to this carnage perpetrated by CPI-M because the ruling coalition at the centre which can possibly dislodge this anti-people government in West Bengal will not do so, lest they themselves are dislodged from their seat of power. So, we hear not a word of concern from Sonia Gandhi or Manmohan Singh, not to speak of a visit.
However, we cannot really say that all this was unexpected. Both Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, in his warning “this is only the Act I; Act II is still to come” after 14 March, and Laxman Seth: “we have to fight till the last drop of our blood” (On the record: 3 Nov) were enough warnings indicating the shape of things to come.
In the context of CPI-M-sponsored bloodbath on 6 Nov, your editorial “A human Problem”((1 Nov), though giving a very true and balanced picture, sadly sounds like a sermon which no one is going to listen to. Yes, with so many belligerent people like Biman Bose, Benoy Konar and Laxman Seth all set to ‘regain lost ground’ your call for “need to shed belligerence on either side” is a cry in the wilderness, as does Amlan Datta’s - “for a concerted movement for overcoming the contemporary crisis and for a gradual process of restoring sanity (“Evolution and impasse” : 28 & 29 Oct).
We can only say “Cry, beloved country”, and pray.