PRESS STATEMENT BY BJP NATIONAL
PRESIDENT SHRI RAJNATH SINGH
ON THE UNPRECEDENTED VIOLENCE IN NANDIGRAM

BJP National President Shri Rajnath Singh today announced that a high level party delegation comprising Shri S S Ahluwalia, Smt Karuna Shukla, Shri Balbir Punj and Shri Ashok Pradhan would be visiting Nandigram over the next couple of days to make an on-the-spot assessment about the ground situation there.

Expressing concern over the explosive situation in Nandigram, Shri Rajnath Singh said that both the West Bengal Government and the Central Government had miserably failed in addressing the grievances of common people who had been left at the mercy of violent Marxist sympathizers. "My gravest concern is over the warlike situation which has cropped up in Nandigram. Hundreds of people have been driven out of their homes in the face of the unabated violence being unleashed by the CPI (M) cadres", he said.

Lambasting the State Government in West Bengal, the BJP President said that the Marxian way of establishing a SEZ through unprecedented violence is unacceptable for any civilized society. "The violence in Nandigram has exposed the real face of the Left parties whose concern for the Aam Aadmi has given way to their gross insensitivity towards humanity. It has reaffirmed that the State of West Bengal is sitting on a virtual tinderbox. The people in West Bengal are already witnessing the worst kind of food riots in the history of Independent India. The overall situation in the state clearly reflects the complete breakdown of law and order and also the glaring incompetence of the Government in ensuring adequate food to the deprived and needy sections of society" he added.

Shri Rajnath Singh said that "the situation in Nandigram has completely gone out of the administration's control. Many innocent people have already lost their lives and there is a widespread fear that this situation may turn even worse leading to unprecedented bloodshed in Nandigram". He added that the BJP strongly expresses its solidarity with the farmers and villagers who are fighting against the injustice being meted out to them by the State Government.

The BJP National President demanded that all those men, women and children driven out of Nandigram and its surrounding areas by the armed goons must be safely restored to their homes and the current state of mayhem must immediately come to a stop. "The siege of Nandigram must be lifted at once and the centre should intervene to restore normalcy. The elements responsible for the killings must be brought to book and the injured and the dead be suitably compensated', he added.

(Shyam Jaju)
Office Incharge