Fifteen days after violence rocked Nandigram, supporters of the Bhumi Ucched Pratirodh Committee are thinking that it is time to pay back.
Take the case of S K Haji, a resident of Osman chowk and a BUPC supporter. He has lost his house and his crops have been burnt down. He does not know where his two sons and his wife are.
"I do not know where to go right now, but I will not spare them (the attackers). They have taken everything. I will not allow them to live peacefully," swears Haji, his eyes smouldering.
Haji is not alone. There are others who are ready to follow in the footsteps of the 40-year-old man.
Sheikh Fazlu, another BUPC supporter, says he does not know what happened to his three sons during the violence. "But we will be back," he says defiantly.
"Neither the Central Reserve Police Force nor the Communist Party of India - Marxist's hired cadres will stay here forever. One day they will have to leave Nandigram. Then what will happen to the people who have made us suffer? They will be paid back in their own coin three times over," says BUPC treasurer S K Asrafultulla.
"We have to first organise ourselves to fight the crimes CPI-M men have committed," says BUPC president Abu Sufian .
"Our battle was not against a political party, but against the state government, which wanted to uproot us in the name of industrialisation. But the CPI-M jumped in and took it up as their cause," Sufian said.
"We will organise the people for another mass movement. The CPI-M does not have any public support and will not be able to survive," he said.
And Krishna Majhi wants to avenge the killing of her husband in the clashes. On November 10, she saw her husband being shot dead near their house. She then ran away with her daughter to seek shelter in a relief camp.
"They are animals. I know who killed him. I will not rest till I avenge his death," she says.
Basudev Mondal of Kaikhali, recovering after being shot in the stomach on October 10, says "If we have to survive, we will have to fight. They torched my house and destroyed my crops before my eyes. I know the moment I return home, they will pounce on me. They have pushed me to the wall. I have to fight back," says Mondal, who is now at a relief camp.
CPI-M leader of Khejuri Himanshu Das, when asked what would happen if the BUPC regrouped and attacked, replied with a grim smile, "We are always prepared. We have to survive."
