Church joins land acquisition protest in West Bengal

The Leftist state government of West Bengal is certainly seeing red these days. The latest to join in the chorus of protest against land acquisition by the government with the farmers in Singur and Nandigram, are the Christians who have announced an agitation against the state government's attempt to occupy a 14–acre hospital property at Jeaganj in Murshidabad on the "pretext of starting a clinic."

Leading the protest at Jiagunj in Murshidabad, where the hospital is located, is the Church of North India (CNI) and the Bangiya Christiya Pariseba (United Christian Forum, affiliated to the All India Christian Council (AICC) as partner in eastern India).

"We will take up the matter with the Chief Minister. The hospital premises is church property. It is our earnest request to the government to return it to the church," said Bishop Brojen Malakar of the Barrackpore Diocese.

Nearly 500 people assembled, January 31, in front of the 113–year–old hospital, spread across 14 acres, and demanded that the premises be handed back to the church.

"We will continue our movement till our demand is met," said Herod Mullick, general secretary of the Bangiya Christiya Pariseba. "We are ready to run the hospital in consultation with the government but we will not allow it to take over the entire 14 acres."

Representatives later submitted a memorandum to District Magistrate Subir Bhadra.

The representatives have also decided to submit memoranda to the Governor, the Chief Minister and to the Union Ministry of Minority Development and Welfare and to the National Minority Commission. "We will also ask Biman Bose, state secretary of the CPI(M), to intervene," said Mullick.

According to Mullick, the dispute started in 1988. "The hospital at that time was in a deplorable condition for lack of repairs. The diocese was going through a financial crisis and had no funds to repair it," he said.

The diocese subsequently handed over the hospital to the government temporarily, he said. The two sides had agreed that the government would renovate it and hand it back in 1995. A managing committee, under the chairmanship of the district magistrate was set up for the purpose.

"The renovation was never undertaken," Mullick alleged, adding that the government wanted to usurp the church property now.