People's Democracy

US Consul General Discusses Nandigram With Trinamul Leaders

ON November 14, the day on which the Trinamul Congress-called bandh was a failure, the US consul general Henry Jardin met Trinamul Congress leaders and discussed the Nandigram issue for a long time. Subsequently, consuls of several other countries, too, discussed the issue with a Trinamul Congress leader from Delhi.

Henry Jardin on earlier occasions had closeted himself with Bengal opposition leaders including the leaders of the Jamiat-i Ulama-e Hind. Two questions are of importance here. First, why did the US consul general and other consuls chose to discuss the Nandigram affair with the Trinamul Congress alone, of all political parties having units in Bengal? Second, why did not the consuls take the matter up with the state LF government in place instead of seeking to have information from a particular political party? (B P)