It is a lie that is widespread in the online and offline world that the English media in India as well as the intellectuals are silent over the issues in Nandigram. Yes, a set of intellectuals are keeping silence over Nandigram and it is not surprising as some of their political leanings are clear. But the other set has openly came forward and firmly expressed their stand before the public. And they did not hesitate to criticize the intellectuals like Naom Chomsky. And yes, this 'they' include Mahashweta Devi, Arundhati Roy (Oh! Wasn't she termed as a Communist and some kind of terrorist before?), Nivedita Menon etc.

As for the English media in India, just search with "Nandigram + Killings + (put the name of the English media house here)" and you will find so many news items from all major English media houses that covers the whole events out there in Nandigram as well as columnists harshly condemning the incidents and criticizing the Communist government out there. Tehelka, the no:1 enemy of the right-wingers, also has a good coverage of the issue (checkout one of their print editions in November). But this is something that our extremely right-wing friends do not see and they keep complaining that the media is "pseudo-secularist" or "biased". Probably what they want is everybody to forget Gujarat (like they say "move ahead, forget Gujarat 2002", I'm wondering if they would care to say the same about Nandigram) and concentrate only on Nandigram so that their political interests are protected. This group is in a hurry to establish that Gujarat is nothing but Nandigram is something.

Yes, Nandigram equates to Gujarat upto an extent, but it stands separated at least for one reason. The West Bengal chief minister has admitted that “Nandigram was a political and administrative failure” and apologized publicly about his statement about 'the same coin'. This is one thing that separates Nandigram from Gujarat where it's chief minister walked out of the TV studio when he was faced with questions about the killings and did not apologize for the killings that his government allegedly supported. The members of the parivar, that his party is also a child of, are still talking in front of the hidden cameras about the need of eliminating Muslims and Christians from this country. This is what puts fear in common man or the concerned ones about the Hindutva politics in India. And the latest news has showed an elected Chief Minister in the world's largest democracy talking about taking law into his hands [2] and applying jungle justice in his state.

These remarks amount to brazen acknowledgment and justification for the government itself violating due process of law even if that entails cold blooded murder.

What lessons would citizens draw if such official conduct is allowed unchecked? If the government itself sanctions deliberate violation of law and murder as instruments of state policy, on what grounds should citizens condemn jihaadi and ideological terrorists who justify violence by invoking their own vision of creating a different India?

That is a question we need to ask ourselves too.

There is no justification for both killings. I know I will be termed as a Communist or the regular right-wing basher for saying this aloud, but I got used to those name callings and it doesn't surprise or worry me anymore. And when a group of people being hurried in talk to protect their political interests and pretending to be the 'real secularists' and tag those who question them as 'pseudo-secularist' and ' commie', one must speak up.