Date:14/11/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/11/14/stories/2007111457801200.htm

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Invoke Article 356 in West Bengal: Advani

Special Correspondent

Plea to Governor on return from Nandigram; “behaviour of establishment illegal, unacceptable”

— PHOTOS: ARUNANGSU ROY CHOWDHURY

CAUSE FOR CONCERN: Bharatiya Janata Party leaders L.K. Advani and Sushma Swaraj visit a hospital in Nandigram on Tuesday to console the people injured in violence.

KOLKATA: L.K. Advani, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, on Tuesday urged West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi to submit to the Centre a detailed report on the recent developments in Nandigram and recommend the invoking of either Article 355 (Protection of every State against internal disturbance) or 356 (President’s Rule) of the Constitution.

The Bharatiya Janata Party leader called on the Governor on the return here of a nine-member National Democratic Alliance delegation from a visit to the troubled area.

Mr. Advani said, “The behaviour of the establishment in Nandigram is illegal and unacceptable.”

The NDA would seek a discussion on Nandigram in the coming session of Parliament. “We believe that while a discussion on the nuke deal is important, no less important would be a discussion on Nandigram.” Mr. Advani said, “While the Communist Party of India (Marxist) may be obsessed with an international issue like the nuke deal, the nation itself is very concerned at how the CPI(M) government led by Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee has nuked the farmers in Nandigram and has nuked the government of India also.”

A CPI(M) activist recovers arms hidden on the banks of the Talpati canal near Sonachura, deep inside Nandigram. Later the CRPF seized the arms.

During his visit to Nandigram, Mr. Advani said all NDA members would point out in Parliament that what was happening there “is something unprecedented in the political history of independent India. It is basically a question of democracy and a question of governance,” he said

Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, who claimed that she was not being allowed to visit Nandigram by the administration and the CPI(M), “which had laid siege to the area,” was not part of the NDA delegation but sent party MP Mukul Roy to accompany it.