The New Nation - Internet Edition

Reuters, Kolkata

A strike to protest the killings of villagers opposed to West Bengal's communist-ruled government shut down schools, offices and businesses on Monday in a challenge to the ruling coalition's main ally.

At least 20 people were injured in clashes between police and strikers in the state capital, Kolkata. Strikers set two buses on fire and ransacked a hospital and a railway station, police said.

The strike was sparked by the killings in the last week of at least six villagers in Nandigram, a few hours drive southwest of Kolkata, as they battled communist supporters. Dozens of villagers were injured in the clashes.

Nandigram won national recognition by successfully opposing communist government plans to set up industry on farming land. But hostilities have not abated as the state's communist supporters tried to win back control of the village cluster.

"The communists are killing innocent villagers in Nandigram and have not even spared women and children," said Mamata Banerjee, chief of the Trinamul Congress, the state's main opposition party which called the strike.

The violence in Nandigram has been a political embarrassment for the Communist Party of India (Marxist) which has its stronghold in West Bengal. The party shores up the Congress-led coalition along with three minor left groups.

The conflict has resonated nationally. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government said it would send federal police to Nandigram, and the main national opposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party, has voiced support for the strike.

Communist party leaders and police have blamed the recent violence on Maoist rebels who have set up base in Nandigram and were helping Trinamul activists with arms and training.

But the communist party's own allies have criticised the government, and some ministers in the leftist coalition threatened to resign over Nandigram.

The West Bengal government's decision to abort the project has helped galvanise nationwide opposition to similar special economic zones, aimed at encouraging industry and exports through tax incentives.

The communists returned to power for a seventh term last year, pushing a reformist programme of industrial expansion, but regular strikes and continuing violence over land reforms could hurt their effort to woo industry, analysts said.

"Industry will definitely take a backseat if the violence does not stop and the initiative to restore peace is not taken by the communists," economist Abhirup Sarkar said.