In January 2007 villagers in Nandigram, Purba Medinipur, rose against a plan to acquire land for a chemical hub special economic zone to be developed with Indonesia's Salim Group. Their Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee (BUPC) shut out the police until 14 March 2007, when a police operation ended in firing that killed 14 people; the Calcutta High Court called it "wholly unconstitutional" and ordered a CBI probe. A violent CPI(M) "recapture" followed in November 2007, the project was dropped, and the movement helped end 34 years of Left Front rule in 2011.
A chemical hub across the river from Haldia
Nandigram lies across the Haldi river from the port town of Haldia in what was then East Medinipur (now Purba Medinipur). The West Bengal government proposed a special economic zone and chemical hub "in an area covering around 10,000 acres in Nandigram Block-1", the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) later recorded NHRC.
Amnesty International said the project, planned under the Centre's petroleum, chemicals and petrochemicals investment region scheme, needed at least 4,000 hectares and was to be developed jointly by the state's industrial development corporation and the Indonesia-based Salim Group Amnesty International. On 28 December 2006 the Haldia Development Authority circulated an informal notice showing the likely location NHRC.
Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, re-elected in 2006 with 235 of 294 seats, was pushing industrialisation while farmers in Singur, Hooghly, were resisting land acquisition for Tata Motors' Nano plant Deccan Herald. See the Singur Tata Nano protests.
January 2007: dug-up roads and a new committee
The first clash came on 3 January 2007 at the Kalicharanpur gram panchayat office. In the CPI(M)'s account, Trinamool Congress activists demanded that the land notice be scrapped, ransacked the office and then attacked the police vehicle that came, injuring 11 policemen and burning the jeep Outlook (CPI(M) version). A National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights fact-finding team was told instead that police lathi-charged villagers who had marched to a panchayat office over the notice, and the villagers then torched police vehicles India Together.
Roads, culverts and bridges into Nandigram Block-I were then dug up. The CPI(M) Central Committee said around 2,500 people had to leave their homes and that a party panchayat member was burnt alive on 7 January CPI(M) Central Committee. Protesters' accounts say CPI(M) members who had moved to neighbouring Khejuri fired on villagers from across the canal India Together. Tolls for early January vary: the CPI(M) says three attackers died at a relief camp on 6 January, while the NCDHR team put the January dead at 11 Outlook India Together.
The resistance took the name Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee, or committee against eviction from land. Amnesty described it as including activists of the Trinamool Congress, the SUCI, the BJP, the Congress and former CPI(M) supporters Amnesty International. From mid-January it kept police and other agencies out of five gram panchayats, and about 2,000 people seen as CPI(M) supporters sheltered across the canal in Khejuri, the NHRC found NHRC.
The police firing of 14 March 2007
According to the CPI(M), after all-party meetings that the Trinamool, the Congress and the committee boycotted, the district administration decided to move in and restore roads and administration Outlook (CPI(M) version). The force met resistance at two places, Bhangabera (Sonachura) and Gokulnagar India Together.
Official sources told UNI on the day that 13 people, including a woman, were killed in police firing and one villager died when a bomb he was about to throw went off in his hands; 14 policemen were among the injured UNI via Oneindia. The NHRC put the injured at 300, including 52 policemen NHRC. The High Court identified 13 of the 14 dead and said 162 people were injured Outlook (High Court order) Documented.
Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi said the news "filled me with a sense of cold horror" and asked: "Was this spilling of human blood not avoidable?" UNI via Oneindia
Survivors told the NCDHR team that armed CPI(M) cadres moved alongside the police, some dressed as policemen, and that 100 to 150 people were killed with bodies taken away in lorries Claim · villagers to NCDHR. The same team said official and local figures differed so much that "either party could be wildly exaggerating" India Together. No official body has confirmed a toll above 14.
The courts step in
On 15 March 2007 a bench headed by Chief Justice Surinder Singh Nijjar took up the firing on its own and directed the CBI to inquire and report within seven days UNI via Oneindia.
On 16 November 2007 a division bench ruled:
The action of the police department to open fire at Nandigram on 14.03.07 was wholly unconstitutional and can not be justified under any provision of the law.
Calcutta High Court, order of 16 November 2007, as published by Outlook
The court rejected sovereign immunity as a defence and ordered Rs 5 lakh for each family of the dead, at least Rs 1 lakh for each injured person and Rs 2 lakh for each identified rape survivor. It told the CBI to identify offenders and start criminal proceedings where needed Outlook (High Court order).
The state appealed. On 13 December 2007 the Supreme Court restrained the CBI from starting criminal proceedings against police officers over the firing but let the probe continue Oneindia. Before the court in February 2008 the state denied the alleged excesses UNI via Oneindia Government's position.
The project goes, the blockade stays
On 19 March 2007 the East Medinipur District Magistrate notified that the state would not acquire land for industry in Nandigram. The BUPC did not lift its blockade and even extended its influence into Nandigram Block-II, the NHRC recorded NHRC. Amnesty said the committee doubted the project would really be moved and added demands for justice and compensation Amnesty International.
The government moved the Salim chemical hub plan to Nayachar island near Haldia, where it ran into environmental objections IPS. After the 2011 change of government the Salim hub was scrapped and the land was allotted for other projects, which also stalled Business Standard.
The November 2007 "recapture"
On 27 October 2007 the state asked the Centre for CRPF companies; on 5 November the Centre said none were free because of elections elsewhere NHRC. On 6 and 7 November CPI(M) cadres "overran the blockade with the help of outsiders and criminal elements", the NHRC found. The police outpost at Tekhali had been withdrawn late on 6 November, and its team found the police approach "totally partisan" Documented.
The NHRC recorded 7 deaths and 32 injured, including 16 police, between 6 and 12 November, with nearly 2,500 villagers seen as BUPC supporters driven out NHRC. Amnesty said at least 15 were reportedly killed and 100 injured. Officials gave its delegation five names, while local authorities said at least 42 people were reported missing Amnesty International.
Claims at the time ranged far wider. On 12 November official reports counted two dead, Trinamool MLA Suvendu Adhikari said 20 and Mamata Banerjee alleged 200 Claim · TMC. CPI(M) state secretary Biman Basu denied that any BUPC member had died, saying "Let them give the names and addresses if they can", and said 27 CPI(M) supporters had been killed over eleven months UNI via Oneindia Claim · CPI(M).
The Governor called the "armed recapture" "unlawful and unacceptable" Amnesty International. Bhattacharjee stood by his defence of the party:
They instigated the incident and they were paid back in their own coin in the last two-three days.
Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Kolkata, 14 November 2007, per UNI
He said about 900 houses had been burnt UNI via Oneindia. The state's own report counted 560 houses fully and 399 partly damaged NHRC. Six CRPF companies were ordered in on 11 November and made a flag march the next evening NHRC.
Fact-finding teams also reported sexual violence against women in March and November. Amnesty found few complaints registered and conflicting police counts: a CRPF officer cited five rape cases, the local station two Amnesty International. The CPI(M) in turn alleged sexual assaults on women from its supporters' families by Trinamool-backed groups CPI(M) Central Committee. This page names no survivor.
Nandigram, 2006 to 2026
Land notice
Haldia Development Authority circulates a notice on the likely SEZ site NHRC.
First clashes
Deaths on both sides; the BUPC blockade begins.
Police firing
14 killed as police try to enter; Governor speaks of "cold horror".
Recapture
CPI(M) supporters overrun the BUPC area; CRPF arrives on 12 November.
Firing ruled unconstitutional
High Court orders compensation and continued CBI probe.
Left Front loses power
The Trinamool comes to power, ending 34 years of Left rule.
CBI charge-sheets
Filed at Haldia; the 2017 one names two IPS officers and a third officer.
Murder cases revived
High Court revives ten 2007 murder cases.
BJP holds Nandigram
BJP wins the Nandigram by-election by 1,22,753 votes.
Villagers and the CPI(M) tell it differently
Protesters' account
Villagers say they rose to protect their land after the Haldia notice, that armed CPI(M) men attacked them from Khejuri in January, and that on 14 March police and cadres fired on crowds that had placed women and children in front, killing many more than 14 India Together. They say the November recapture was a planned armed operation that police allowed, a view the NHRC and Amnesty broadly supported on police inaction Amnesty International.
CPI(M) and Left Front government account
The party says the trouble began when people "misled" into believing officials had come to acquire land attacked a panchayat office, followed by attacks on panchayat members and police, and that its supporters were driven out, killed and assaulted for months. It says police went in on 14 March to restore roads and administration after being attacked with bombs and guns, that "not all" deaths were from police firing, and that the agitation continued, even after the Chief Minister pledged on 9 February that no land would be taken without consent, because it was political CPI(M) Central Committee Outlook.
How Nandigram changed Bengal's politics
In the 2008 panchayat polls the Trinamool won 35 of 53 zilla parishad seats in East Midnapore, and the movement "ultimately helped the Trinamool Congress to come to power in 2011", ending 34 years of CPI(M) rule Millennium Post. Bhattacharjee, Chief Minister until May 2011, died on 8 August 2024; obituaries tied his fall to Singur and Nandigram Deccan Herald The Wire.
The legacy later split its leaders. Suvendu Adhikari, a key organiser of the agitation, left the Trinamool in 2020 and, as the BJP candidate, beat Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram in 2021 by under 2,000 votes IANS. In that campaign he called her the "real traitor of Nandigram", alleging she promoted officers linked to the firing Deccan Herald. The Trinamool observes 14 March as "Nandigram Divas" for those killed in the firing Scroll.
Charge-sheets, withdrawals and revivals
The CBI filed two charge-sheets at Haldia in 2013. One named 132 private persons and sought sanction to prosecute two sub-inspectors and a doctor; the other named 37 private persons and sought sanction against two additional SPs and a sub-inspector. Sources said the Trinamool government had not granted sanction, and the CBI did not examine Bhattacharjee as it found no evidence against him PTI via Deccan Herald.
The charge-sheet said the assembly was "an unlawful assembly". The CPI(M) said this proved Bhattacharjee had not ordered the firing; Mamata Banerjee said "only six low-ranking police officers have been named while those who had ordered the firing have not been named" Free Press Journal.
A third charge-sheet came in 2017. After state consent, the CBI charged Satyajit Bandyopadhyay and Debashis Boral, both IPS officers, and a third officer, with culpable homicide not amounting to murder, among other offences Millennium Post The Wire. Bandyopadhyay joined the Trinamool in November 2020.
In 2020 the state withdrew prosecutions against movement figures, including Banerjee's election agent SK Supian. The High Court revived them on 5 March 2021 on PILs, one filed by a BJP leader, and the Supreme Court stayed that order for Supian LiveLaw SabrangIndia.
In February 2025 a bench led by Justice Debangsu Basak ordered ten 2007 murder cases from Nandigram and Khejuri revived, saying withdrawal "would cause public harm and injury" Deccan Herald.
The missing have also reached the courts. In July 2024 the High Court ordered death certificates for three men missing since a procession at Gokulnagar on 10 November 2007 Deccan Herald. No conviction or acquittal in the 14 March firing case has been reported in the sources reviewed.
Where things stand in 2026
The BJP won West Bengal in May 2026 and Adhikari became Chief Minister. He won Nandigram again but kept Bhabanipur, and on 9 October 2026 the BJP's Hasirani Rath won the Nandigram by-election by 1,22,753 votes PTI via ThePrint.
The 2007 cases are still in court. In September 2026 the High Court barred police from acting against Congress by-poll candidate Milan Pradhan in a 2007 case, questioning why an investigating officer had acted only after nearly 19 years. The state said the cases, withdrawn in 2020, were revived in 2021 LiveLaw.
Sources
- NHRC: Commission's order on Nandigram issue, 8 Feb 2008
- Amnesty International: India, urgent need to address large scale human rights abuses during Nandigram "recapture" (ASA 20/001/2008), 15 Jan 2008
- Outlook: "Wholly Unconstitutional..." (operative part of the High Court order), 20 Nov 2007
- Outlook: The CPI (M) Version, 16 Mar 2007
- CPI(M): Central Committee statement on Nandigram, 2007
- India Together: Nandigram, an atrocity on dalits (NCDHR fact-finding), 5 May 2007
- UNI via Oneindia: WB Governor calls Nandigram excesses an outrage, 14 Mar 2007
- UNI via Oneindia: Calcutta High Court orders CBI inquiry into Nandigram killing, 15 Mar 2007
- UNI via Oneindia: CPM challenges BUPC to furnish details of those killed, 12 Nov 2007
- UNI via Oneindia: I was right in defending CPI(M)'s retaliation, says Buddhadeb, 14 Nov 2007
- Oneindia: Supreme Court defers West Bengal government's plea on Nandigram, 25 Feb 2008
- UNI via Oneindia: West Bengal govt denies before SC excesses at Nandigram, 25 Feb 2008
- IPS: Protests overshadow communist state's chemical hub plans, 14 Jan 2010
- PTI via Deccan Herald: Govt sits on sanction to prosecute police officers, CBI files charge sheets, 29 Dec 2013
- Free Press Journal: Mamata flays CBI's Nandigram charge sheet, 30 Jan 2014
- Business Standard: Bengal govt likely to take back 12,000 acre land in Nayachar, 9 Jan 2016
- Millennium Post: Nandigram carnage, CBI files charge-sheet against 2 IPS officers, 2 Jul 2017
- The Wire: IPS officer charge-sheeted over Nandigram firing joins TMC, 2 Dec 2020
- Scroll: Chose to fight anti-Bengal forces from Nandigram to honour those killed in 2007, says Mamata Banerjee, Mar 2021
- Deccan Herald: BJP, TMC lock horns over legacy of Nandigram land agitation, 16 Mar 2021
- LiveLaw: Supreme Court stays High Court order reviving Nandigram cases against SK Supian, 26 Mar 2021
- SabrangIndia: Calcutta HC stays arrest of others in Nandigram violence of 2007, 31 Mar 2021
- Deccan Herald: Calcutta High Court orders death certificates for three Nandigram men missing since 2007, 18 Jul 2024
- Deccan Herald: Former West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee passes away, 8 Aug 2024
- The Wire: Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee obituary, 8 Aug 2024
- Deccan Herald: Calcutta High Court orders revival of 10 murder cases during Nandigram movement, 13 Feb 2025
- IANS: Mamata skips Nandigram, chooses familiar turf to face ex-aide, 17 Mar 2026
- LiveLaw: Calcutta High Court protects Congress Nandigram candidate in another case, 24 Sept 2026
- PTI via ThePrint: Record win for BJP in Nandigram by-poll with margin of over 1.22 lakh votes, 9 Oct 2026