Statesman News Service KOLKATA, March 16: Noted jurist and former Supreme court judge Mr Justice VR Krishna Iyer has severely indicted Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee%u2019s Marxist government for unleashing %u201Cterror%u201D on Nandigram and has once again reminded Marxist leaders both here and in New Delhi that %u201Csocialism means humanism and not terrorism%u201D. In a letter written to Mr Prakash Karat, CPI-M general secretary, the retired Supreme Court judge has demanded that %u201Caction at party level must be taken%u201D against Mr Bhattacharjee%u201D if governance over humanity is to be exercised for the benefit of the peasantry%u201D. In his letter dated 15 March, the veteran jurist has said, %u201CI am sure thousands like me will be shocked by the Nandigram incident. Please, please have some regards for those who feel that socialism is not terrorism, but humanism; and misrule by gun will not be the rule of the Left in State authority%u201D. Writing from Kochi, he has said: %u201CI had and still have great hopes that the Marxists, if in power, will rule with compassionate ideology and win votes and people%u2019s cooperation beyond party barriers. But to my horror, the terror practised yesterday at Nandigram fills me with dread and disappointment.%u201D Mincing no words the retired judge came down heavily on Mr Bhattacharjee saying %u201Cthe illusion of exploitative power has led the ministry to govern by the gun. The consequent bloodshed demands your urgent attention and commands the party%u2019s authority to arrest the frequency of police barbarity and the resultant bloodshed%u201D. Mr Justice Iyer prefaced his letter to Mr Karat by reminding him that he was law minister of the first Communist government in Kerala from 1957 to 1960 %u201Cunder the charismatic chief ministership of EMS Namboodiripad who was also a great Leftist thinker%u201D. Then expressing his %u201Cgreat disappointment%u201D with the Buddhadeb government he writes, %u201CBut alas, in West Bengal things are murky, capitalism is happy, poor peasantry is in a state of privation and suffering from deprivation.%u201D He then goes on to say about EMS%u2019s first Communist government in Kerala in 1957, %u201CWe came to power by the ballot and rarely, if ever used the bullet, with the result that the police violence was hardly used as an instrument against the peasantry to suppress their will. But look at the contrast now. The brutality and bloodshed, unleashed by the police force is now bulleting the humble humanity.%u201D Mr Justice Iyer then makes a fervent appeal to Mr Karat. %u201CI not only lodge my protest but entreat you and the party to take immediate action and restore the basic proposition that Communist government is there not for exercising its power with violent weapons. And action at party level must be taken if governance over humanity is for the benefit of the peasantry.%u201D The noted jurist concludes his letter thus %u201CDo forgive me for expressing my strong feelings with the expectation that the fundamental belief and practice of a Left administration is to work for the humble people and not for the proprietariat by using the brute force of the bullet%u201D. Mr Justice Iyer%u2019s demand that %u201Caction at party level must be taken if governance over humanity is for the benefit of peasantry%u201D is being variously interpreted in top CPI-M circles. Some are interpreting that the noted jurist, who is much revered not only in the CPI-M but also in other Left parties, is demanding that Buddhadeb be sacked from chief ministership. They point out that Mr Justice Iyer in his earlier letter of 20 February last to Mr Jyoti Basu over the Singur land acquisition issue had said that, %u201CBuddhadeb disenchants me and many like me who have the Marxist perspective of working for the common%u2019s welfare as he says he is running a capitalist and not a socialist government.%u201D. He had also written that %u201CTata socialism as against Gandhian redemption of destitution, has persuaded the present chief minister to deprive the agriculturists of Singur of nearly a thousand acres of fertile land to facilitate the construction of a Tata motor car factory.%u201D But those who have taken a more charitable view of the demand say that Mr Justice Iyer, who is also viewed as a conscience keeper of the country%u2019s Communists, wants the party to let off Buddhadeb, at least for this time, by issuing only a %u201Cstrong stricture%u201D against him.
